Because personal connections create ocean change

Common agenda and shared vision

At WIOGEN’s kick-off meeting, members were asked to provide their input to create WIOGEN’s shared vision and common agenda. The initial network aim, to create a transdisciplinary science partnership through diverse and inclusive engagement in the Western Indian Ocean region, quickly shifted to a strong focus on social policy: as Julius Francis, the Executive Secretary of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) at the time, highlighted in his input on the experiences in the WIOMSA network, better science communication and collaborations with the private sector are areas where WIOGEN can further the usefulness of transdisciplinary research in social policy.
Over the years, the network members have adapted WIOGEN’s agenda and vision, drawing from their shared experience in science-to-policy practice: that personal connections create ocean change. For this purpose, WIOGEN has developed into a fully trans-disciplinary coalition of researchers and policy makers working in academia, civil society and government in the region.

Stakeholder Engagement

To engage with a wide range of stakeholders, WIOGEN reached out to researchers and policy makers in established professional networks to encourage them to join WIOGEN. The two-day kick-off conference in November 2019 brought together 40 delegates from eight countries. From the start, the members of the fledgling network working in the Western Indian Ocean region were asked for input from their individual perspective: Which ocean governance needs are there in the region? And what can WIOGEN do to support the frameworks and processes that are already in place?

After joining one of the five thematic working groups, the participants of each group then elected one member to represent them in WIOGEN’s management committee. The committee meets regularly with the network’s coordinators from IOI SA and ZMT, who organize whatever the working group members need to fill in the gaps in science policy uptake and ocean governance.

Project and partnership management

The network’s coordinating team meet every week to touch base, take stock of the current requests by the management committee and to discuss which materials to prepare for the committee meetings. This close-knit working relationship of the joint African-German leadership and the management committee lays the groundwork for an effective project and partnership management that could constantly be adapted not only to shifting needs, but also to the global realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite lockdowns and travel restrictions, WIOGEN has managed to fund four network exchanges of WIOGEN members to workshops and conference of partner organizations, for example Small-Scale Fisheries and the African Dialogue on Ocean Accounting. The co-leads brought the network fully into the digital sphere, staging six virtual trainings and webinars on issues such as science communication via social media (producing policy briefs, stakeholder engagement, and ocean accounts. To boost young researchers’ visibility during the pandemic, the co-leads also came up with a website concept to showcase young researchers’ personal profile and areas of expertise.

Sustainability

In June 2022, WIOGEN came together in person for the first time since the kick-off meeting at the MeerWissen network meeting in Zanzibar to discuss the sustainability of WIOGEN in the years to come. The aim to establish a permanent, certified graduate school is currently being discussed, as well as the call to extend WIOGEN’s co-designed network to the entire African continent. The one-off virtual workshops and training events conceived during lockdown have already been developed further as a sequence of seven interactive online micro-workshops taking place in mid-2022 and will be turned into a long-term series of training events for graduates and policy makers on ocean governance. WIOGEN continues to listen to its members’ needs, and network members are encouraged to contribute their ideas for further topics they wish to be added at any time.