Assessment of the integration of fisheries and aquaculture in policy development: framework and application in Africa

This paper assists African countries and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in improving the integration of the fisheries and aquaculture sector into policy documents dealing with poverty eradication, foreign currency generation, food security, the ecosystem approach to fisheries and aquaculture, and gender mainstreaming. For this purpose, the paper assesses whether the sector is adequately embedded in policy documents in Africa at both the country and regional level. The analysis addressed 54 African countries and 8 RECs. As a policy assessment tool, the multi-criteria analysis has been applied to compare two options - relevance and inclusion - across several performance dimensions. Based on the assessments performed, the extent of integration and discrepancy of the fisheries and aquaculture sector in policy documents has been calculated.The findings showed countries where the relevance of fisheries and aquaculture is not recognized, and where advocacy should be oriented towards raising awareness of the contribution of this sector. On the other hand, there are countries with a modest fisheries and aquaculture sector that have nevertheless implemented policies and reached high levels of inclusion. Recommendations both at country and REC level include improving the availability of information on the sector’s value chain to enhance visibility and awareness of its importance.