Committee members in Buyuni said that the visit led to a change in their mindsets – they understood that it is important to support conservation, and they came to believe that it is possible to align conservation and community development. Trip participants especially valued the visit to the Wildlife Division under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT), over the visits to nature conservation organizations, because it is in this government department that decisions about protected area management (albeit not about national park management, which is the responsibility of a separate agency: TANAPA) are taken. Thus, more time should be spent on this institution during future similar trips. From the perspective of Kesho Trust, it would be good to try and engage more strongly with other organizations involved in community and conservation engagement in Tanzania, next time such a visit is conducted.

To actively engage and collectively act, towards societally, environmentally, political and economically sustainable approaches and solutions to tackle ocean challenges, Waterevolution has developed a specific cross-sectoral communication platform that laid the foundations of a strategic alliance. The key lesson learned in implementing this component is related to the difficulty to build partnerships and promote interaction between two completely different sectors. To overcome this challenge, a great investment of time and efforts was made to create interactions opportunities and a clear commitment from both parties to work together to achieve sustainable ocean management. To actively engage and collectively act, towards societally, environmentally, political and economically sustainable approaches and solutions to tackle ocean challenges, Waterevolution has also developed a specific cross-sectoral communication to target information according to the specific audience.

• Short- or medium-term private resources have been fundamental to construct, systemize and prove that the approach is practicable.
• A long-term success depends on governmental investment or on the existence of specific funding through heritage assets. Both are also useful for the supply of equipment and necessary infrastructure.

• Learn from experiences of similar institutions to establish the appropriate monitoring and evaluation system parameters

• It is crucial for the strategic plan to be an inclusive document with ample participation from all stakeholders

• Developing all necessary systems (accounting, other operations systems) often takes longer than expected. It is important to establish realistic timelines for establishing a CTFs operation. Tasks for the appropriate set-up of operations multiply quickly.
• Support from donors and partners; not only in cash, but also in-kind, is key during the initial 1-2 years of operations.
• Mistakes along the way will occur and it is important to recognize and address these quickly and continue to move forward.
• It is key essential to have formal and informal advisor and other kinds of technical support. Many other CTF are currently under operation and can provide important insights in this process. RedLAC is a key resource for example.

• It is challenging to find the right balance between government and civil society representation in governance structures at the national level. Government actors may feel that majority non-governmental governance structure will exclude them from decision making and civil society may feel that majority government boards will result in inefficient institutions controlled by government.
• Donors have a strong preference for NCTFs governance that is independent from government control, although government may participate in it.
• Finding a balance in NCTFs constitutive instruments and other agreements to different points of views, needs and requirements, and reassure all stakeholders that the governance structure and decision making process will be transparent and inclusive is essential.

• Building political commitment is a lengthy process that requires technical and policy inputs at multiple levels in government from technical staff, to middle/senior management positions and the highest levels ministers/heads of governments.
• Donor’s commitment provides countries with additional security and confidence with regards to their political commitment and knowing that partners are ready to assist.

GIS analyses were useful to determine the spatial allocation of the sea in a way that maximizes societal benefits and mitigates possible conflicts. Although the system was used to support transboundary MSP, inadequate sub-regional governance mechanisms constrain the implementa¬tion of the marine zoning plan by either country. Although framework legislation and national environmental management strategies are in place, formal institutional systems for national and transboundary marine management need to be clearly established. The realisation of effective transboundary cooperation and regional governance is needed to determine the appropriate and feasible institutional arrangements. Likewise, the fostering of environmental political will is essential for the development and implementation of new environmental management policies, plans and institutions.

The usefulness of integrating interdisciplinary information and multiple sources of knowledge for marine spatial planning is well documented, yet the actual framework and practical methodologies for acquiring holistic ecosystem-based information is lacking. We found a participatory GIS approach useful for identifying, collecting, integrating and understanding interdisciplinary information. Practical GIS analyses were applied to produce relevant ecosystem-based information. Additionally, the application of a participatory GIS approach (in terms of both information integration and visualization) proved beneficial in the conduction and presentation of information generated in ways that increased stakeholder understanding, thus supporting marine governance. Despite the overall success of participatory GIS, the maintenance of the MarSIS will require additional capacity building, particularly in terms of GIS skills.