Coalition Building in San Miguel
Save The Waves
Coalition Building
Celebrating the indigenous history at World Surfing Reserves
Save The Waves
STW has demonstrated success as a leader of surf conservation and coalition building. We create strategic coalitions to carry out conservation projects at World Surfing reserves that have real impacts. In selecting partners on the ground, we find common interests, fill capacity gaps based on strengths, and set common goals to have an outsized impact in the places we work. Through this work, STW has built a reputation of trust working with local partners around the world.
For World Surfing Reserves and at Bahia de Todos Santos, we built a coalition between local surfers, environmental NGO's, local government agencies, businesses, artists and neighborhood groups to create holistic vision for the protection and enhancement of the region and coastline.
Conditions that are imperative to this building block include the development of a relationship between Save The Waves and leaders of the World Surfing Reserve effort, community cohesion and capacity in the World Surfing Reserve, and inclusive and diverse stakeholder engagement process that invites many voices to the table.
We have learned many lessons through years of building coalitions.
1. Communities must be at the heart of any conservation project or it will not work.
2. A coalition must include a broad and diverse group of actors in the community.
3. A coalition must share power equally and must also have an agreed upon local leader or institution.