Top-level athletes have an important communications platform at their disposal and can lead by example, making them key contributors to the Healthy Waters Alliance’s goals. By using this awareness-raising potential, they can help bring attention to the degradation of freshwater and coastal ecosystems, increase visibility of practical solutions, and drive greater public engagement and action. 

Appointing athlete ambassadors dedicated to the cause strengthens the movement. With the launch of the Healthy Waters Alliance, World Rowing have engaged Christine Cavallo (USA) and Martin Helseth (NOR) as the first World Rowing Healthy Waters Ambassadors, and are now looking to expand this into a global Athlete Ambassador Programme with representatives from each continent.

Athletes inspire action more effectively than generic messages, making initiatives more relatable and engaging. For example, Norwegian Olympian Martin Helseth led a powerful environmental initiative through the World Rowing – WWF Healthy Waters Alliance to inspire action across Norway’s rowing community. The project demonstrated how athletes can effectively engage the public and protect nature by addressing water pollution in the Oslo Fjord. The initiative includes two key phases: 

• Phase 1: Clean-Up Week (3–8 June 2025) – Timed with World Ocean Day, rowing clubs in Oslo conducted seabed dives, shoreline clean-ups, and environmental education to tackle local pollution. 
• Phase 2: Oslo Fjord Restoration Day (23 August 2025) – This phase will focus on habitat restoration and youth involvement, supported by the local NGO Marea.

Helseth’s leadership exemplifies how athlete ambassadors can lead grassroots environmental efforts with global impact, aiming to foster a new generation of nature protectors in rowing and beyond. 

The Healthy Waters Alliance connects the Rowing community with WWF communities worldwide to foster collaboration. Together, they co-create and jointly deliver local projects and initatives that protect and restore healthy waters through awareness and hands-on action, benefiting rowing, communities, and ecosystems. Working with WWF ensures that actions implemented by rowing communities are relevant from a nature conservation perspective. 

 Projects can be initiated by National Rowing Federations, clubs, athletes, event organisers, or WWF local offices. After contacting the Healthy Waters Alliance, through submitting their interest via an online form partners agree on a locally impactful project recognized by the Alliance. These projects focus on community engagement, nature restoration, waste reduction and other areas.  

  The rowing community benefits from the platform through access to educational workshops, working groups, global visibility of local projects, and healthier waters for rowing. In turn, WWF offices gain partners who help raise awareness on the freshwater & coastal ecosystems' crisis and promote solutions, while engaging with event organisers to drive visibility at major rowing events with wide media coverage. 

Biological corridors play a crucial role in promoting dialogue and participation among multiple stakeholders. Until now, their main focus has been on conservation activities. However, they have significant potential for scaling up Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA). They are integrated into the national strategy for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. This strategy is supported by a Local Committee, which serves as a forum for consultation and collaborative sustainability initiatives. This committee comprises civil society organizations (CSOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government institutions, and municipalities.
To maximize the effectiveness of biological corridors in scaling up EbA measures, it is essential to establish a shared understanding and agreement among stakeholders regarding their role. This involves making explicit the role of biological corridors - and each stakeholder who participates - in sustainability and climate change adaptation strategies, but also also their specific contribution to social and economic local development. The road to this common understanding requires analyzing sectorial vulnerabilities, needs, and interests, but also oportunities, competencies and capacities with potencial to tackle common issues. In addition, clarifying basic concepts of climate change, adaptation, biodiversity conservation (EbA) with a people-centered approach, using sectorial specific language and active stakeholder participation, is key for reaching a common understanding.

Incorporating the local context – like environmental and cultural conditions in the regions and local languages – is essential when designing training manuals. This ensures accessibility and relevance of training content and alignment with the realities of the target audience’s environment. To ensure the sustainability and widespread adoption of the training materials, they need to be closely aligned with the needs and priorities of local institutions. 

 

A collaborative and participatory approach is central to the development of training materials. To ensure relevance, practicability, and ownership, a task force is typically formed—comprising representatives from ministries, academia, fish farmers, value chain actors, and researchers. Iterative processes, validation workshops, and stakeholder consultations are employed to refine the materials and ensure they reflect local needs.

Training should address not only the 'how' but also the 'why'. By explaining the rationale behind specific practices—such as reducing environmental impacts or promoting food and nutrition security—farmers gain a deeper understanding and are empowered to make informed decisions that align with sustainability goals. This goes beyond simply following instructions; it fosters critical thinking and adaptive problem-solving.

To build resilient and thriving enterprises, training should also incorporate elements such as business education, innovations along the value chain, and the use of decentralized renewable energy technologies. These components enable fish farmers to enhance their financial literacy, respond to market and environmental challenges, and implement innovative solutions for increased productivity and sustainability.

The initial step is conducting a thorough needs assessment and gap analysis by experienced technical team members from the project and partners. This process involves screening existing materials, consulting with stakeholders and actors in the fish value chain and identifying gaps in knowledge and practice. A field survey can be conducted to collect data on the needs of the beneficiaries and necessary framework requirements for training, e.g. technology availability, training duration, and intervals. 

The technical packages constitute a structured set of agroecological solutions adapted to the specific challenges of the Androy and Boeny regions. They are based on field experience, scientific research and the empirical knowledge of local farmers. Each technical package covers a key area of sustainable agriculture, including :

• Soil management and fertility: soil conservation techniques, crop rotation, use of compost and green manures.
• Erosion control: Installation of hedgerows, fencing, planting of nitrogen-fixing crops.
• Agroforestry: Combining food crops with fruit and forest trees for greater climatic resilience.
• Adaptation to climate change: Selection of local drought-resistant varieties, optimized water management, conservation agriculture.

These technical packages are accompanied by accessible teaching aids (illustrated guides, posters, videos) and are regularly updated through participatory evaluation workshops.

The Paysan-ne Relais (PR) approach is based on a local advisory system that enables the effective transmission of agroecological knowledge within rural communities. This model is characterized by its horizontal dissemination, where PRs, selected on the basis of their commitment and skills, play a key role in training and accompanying their peers in the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.

PRs are local farmers who apply agroecological techniques on their own plots and act as demonstrators for other farmers. They organize field visits, practical training and exchange workshops, facilitating learning by doing. Unlike conventional agricultural extension methods, which often rely on outside experts, the PR approach enables knowledge to be better appropriated and more finely adapted to local realities.

The process of setting up a PR includes several stages:

1. Selection of RPs
2. Initial training
3. Putting into practice
4. Ongoing support

Seed production standards in SQD certification are one of the special features of the system, and the main reason for its introduction. In fact, SQD standards are more flexible and take concrete account of the local context in which the seed is produced. In the case of the Boeny region, the basic standards adopted for the production of SQD-certified seed mainly concern :

• Cultivation rules: origin of the mother seed; spatial isolation of the cultivation field from any undesirable pollen; crop precedent; possible crop association; phytosanitary status of plants in seed multiplication fields.
• Field controls: the number of field controls must be carried out during the period of the cropping calendar when the distinctive characteristics of the varieties are easiest to notice; spatial isolation of the crop field; temporal isolation by a shift in flowering days if spatial isolation is not possible; varietal purity, i.e. the homogeneity of varietal characteristics of crops in the field.
• Technological standards verified in the laboratory to ensure seed quality: maximum seed water content; specific purity; varietal purity; germination rate; number of generations.
• Batch controls in storage warehouses and the maximum quantity of a batch of seed.

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