Volunteering activities, such as constructing honey processing centers, tree planting, and nursery establishment, strengthened community ownership. Contributions like bricks and stones exemplified local investment in the project's success. Stewardship motivated community members to sustain the project beyond its initial implementation phase. Stewardship was the outcome of participatory planning, inclusivity, and capacity-building efforts, reinforcing project sustainability and ownership.

Training sessions equipped beneficiaries with skills in beekeeping, value addition, nursery management, and restoration. This empowerment enhanced local ownership, enabling community members to independently manage and sustain project components like nurseries and apiaries. The trainings were guided by the needs identified and supported through inclusive decision-making, ensuring relevance and community buy-in.

A participatory project committee process and platforms like the SMAG ensured diverse stakeholders, including government, NGOs, and local communities, contributed ideas. This inclusive approach empowered all participants to have a say in shaping activities, fostering collaboration and accountability. Inclusivity built trust and reinforced the outcomes of the needs assessment by incorporating a wide range of perspectives into project planning and execution.

This foundation block ensured the project was community-driven by identifying priorities such as beekeeping and training. By aligning project goals with the Chimanimani Climate Change and Watershed Management Policy and ward development plans, the project reflected community aspirations and offered a framework to guide interventions. This process provided a strong, participatory baseline for project design upon which the project success was built on.

T his building block focuses on raising awareness and providing tailored gender training to highlight the interconnectedness of GBV, particularly exploitative practices like "sex for fish," and environmental degradation in the fisheries sector. With men dominating fish harvesting and women constituting 90% of post-harvest activities, the sector reveals stark gender dynamics. The initiative educates communities and stakeholders on how these transactional relationships exacerbate resource depletion, harm biodiversity, and perpetuate power imbalances between men and women. Using diverse forms of communication, such as roadshows, community dramas, and GBV Watch Committee activities, the project aims to transform perceptions, foster collaboration, and inspire action to address these interwoven challenges.

This building block emphasizes the critical role of engaging men and boys in addressing GBV within the fisheries sector. Recognizing that gender equality requires collaboration between men and women, this initiative targets the predominantly male-dominated fisheries sector to foster a more inclusive and supportive environment. By involving men ie: fishermen, law enforcer, male stakeholders, landowners, transportation providers, and traditional leaders—in awareness raising, training, and GBV Watch Committees, the intervention seeks to transform negative attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate GBV, including exploitative sex-for-fish practices. It also leverages the influence of traditional leaders to drive societal change, ensuring that men play an active role in avoiding backlach and safeguarding women and addressing the interconnected challenges of resource depletion, illegal fishing, and GBV. 

This building block focuses on improving the management of GBV cases and facilitating access to justice for survivors within the environmental (fisheries) sector. Given the unique challenges, such as the remote locations of fishing camps and the limited reach of formal judicial systems, this intervention aims to bridge the gap between GBV referral pathways and the Fast Track Court system. Through community-driven mechanisms like GBV Watch Committees and engagement sessions with key stakeholders, survivors are supported in navigating complex legal processes. This initiative also works to raise awareness of the specific dynamics of "sex-for-fish" practices and ensure that judicial actors and environmental agencies collaborate effectively to address these intersecting challenges. 

Cross-sector partnerships were the basis for achieving success in mangrove conservation efforts. The journey began in partnership with the World Bank, which supported the development of the initial documents. As the World Bank phased out its involvement, IUCN stepped in as a reliable partner to continue the work. This transition included co-funding a staff member for six months, allowing them to represent both IUCN and the World Bank until the document development was completed.

IUCN then formed strategic partnerships with WWF and WCS, who contributed valuable biodiversity data for the National Territorial Development Plan (PNDT) and Marine Spatial Plan (MSP). Notably, WCS and the National Biodiversity Database was fully integrated into the developed documents. These partnerships were extended to all other planning and conservation stakeholders, by maintaining a continuous information sharing system to ensure streamlined knowledge, support, understanding and engagement.

Ultimately, the most crucial partnership was with the Government, to which the partners need to refer to in order to pass on the data to be uploaded to the national GIS system. Effective governance and policy-making are the Government’s mandate and responsibility, and for policies to evolve or be adopted, they must be accepted and integrated by Government leaders. IUCN’s role was to facilitate transparent, reliable, and efficient dialogue, leveraging its expertise and broad network to drive these discussions forward and ensure alignment with the Government’s objectives.

The process was the cornerstone for transforming ideas into tangible results. The first step was ensuring the availability of high-quality data and demonstrating its importance within both local and national contexts. In the case of mangroves, this included their role in spatial and development planning, included in the National Territorial Development Plan, which highlights their impact on coastal livelihoods, climate adaptation, and potential blue carbon credits.

Once the data was gathered, the next step was presenting it to IUCN’s partners and members, fostering a supportive alliance to create a unified voice for advocating with decision-makers. This process continued by establishing and maintaining an open, trustworthy, and technically robust dialogue with policymakers and their technical teams. A key component of this was understanding how governance, policy and legal frameworks are developed and implemented, ensuring that even if contributions weren’t fully aligned with initial expectations, they remained practical and applicable and are adopted.

Ongoing monitoring, along with continued support from IUCN, ensured that the strategies were effectively implemented and adjusted when necessary. It’s important to acknowledge that while conservation and adaptation efforts are globally supported, they often require significant budgets, that are not available locally. To secure funding, these issues must be at the forefront of governance planning, allowing for the budgets and co-financing by development partners to be available.

The vital role of mangroves in coastal ecosystems has been emphasised through a wealth of scientific data and research. This knowledge has become the entry point for educating planners and decision-makers on the socio-economic significance of mangroves, from providing community income to supporting coastal adaptation. Through studies conducted by SOMN on Mozambique’s mangrove use and data from the Global Mangrove Alliance, IUCN has united key conservation actors such as WWF, WCS, Centro Terra Viva, BIOFUND, ABIODES, and government institutions to establish a common voice in advocating for mangrove protection.

IUCN and SOMN played a pivotal role in the elaboration and approval of the National Mangrove Strategy, which outlined clear goals, approaches, and restoration principles and were endorsed by the Government and conservation partners. Building on this foundation, the strategy was integrated into national policies, particularly the National Territorial Development Plan. This plan not only drives sustainable development but also maps out Mozambique's rich biodiversity, including its mangrove ecosystems. This allows local governments and community leaders to identify key conservation hotspots and priority restoration areas. The strategy also provides geographical and quantitative data, enabling conservationists and NGOs to monitor and track progress in their interventions.