Core partners: Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography, Friends of the Nation, WorldFish and SustainaMetrix.

Transforming fisheries and coastal governance in Ghana is a complex and long-term challenge requiring the collaborative and adaptive effort of people, across sectors, with different values, perspectives and worldviews.

The Integrated Coastal and Fisheries Governance Initiative, Hen Mpoano, was designed as an expression of the ecosystem approach to coastal governance. This approach calls for combining bottom-up with top-down actions, and engaging stakeholders in every phase of its activities. Hen Mpoano therefore worked to foster active and sustained dialogue, drawing together civil society, government and market leaders to address the many issues shaping current and future conditions in the Western Region of Ghana.

Hen Mpoano: Our Coast, Our Future (at right) describes lessons learned throughout this process, told through the voices of the Ghanaian people, stakeholders engaged throughout the project including women and men representing traditional authorities, district executives, chief fishermen, fishmongers, planners, health care workers, enforcement officers and volunteers.