TradeMark Africa is expanding cross-border trade in Africa’s fisheries sector, with the goal of creating more than 242,000 jobs for women and young people and increasing the region’s trade in fish and fish products by at least US$100 million by 2028.
The work is being delivered through the Women and Youth Economic Empowerment in Fisheries Programme, a five-year joint initiative between TradeMark Africa, the Mastercard Foundation and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat.
To ensure this forecasted growth is accompanied by strong social and environmental safeguards, TradeMark Africa commissioned RSK Africa to deliver a comprehensive safeguarding assessment across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. RSK Group Senior Social Consultant Naphca Kuboja said: “Measured against international environmental and social standards, the assessment examined the laws and policies protecting people who work in fisheries, the cultural drivers of exclusion and exploitation, the systems available for reporting and redress, and the environmental and social risks of an expanding industry, pinpointing where women and young people are most at risk and what needs to change to protect them as the sector grows.
“Formal and informal fisheries play a significant role in the regional economy, employing thousands of people across Africa. Women and young people make a significant contribution to the market’s financial success but face significant risks in carrying out their work. Our research provides TradeMark Africa and its implementing partners (Lattice Aquaculture, Kilimo Trust and MicroSave Consulting) and service providers (WorldFish and Eastern African Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women) with a knowledge base on the safeguarding issues women and young people face today, and on the direct and indirect environmental risks of delivering the programme in a sensitive ecosystem, so that protections can grow in step with the planned expansion.”
The assessment found that although women make up nearly a quarter of the world’s fishers and fish farmers and more than 60% of those working in processing (FAO, 2024), they remain the most exposed to risk, Naphca explained. “More than 90% of fishing vessels on Lake Victoria are owned by men, and just 0.1% by women (FAO, 2019), so many women traders depend on male boat owners for access to the catch. This dependency exposes them to exploitation, including gender-based violence and sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment. And while national helplines, one-stop centres and police gender desks do exist across all three countries, they are concentrated in towns and cities, leaving remote fishing communities with little practical access to reporting and support.
“The assessment also documents how deep-rooted cultural norms confine many women to shore-based processing and petty trade, excluding them from fishing itself and from decision-making, while economic constraints, little collateral, thin savings and credit products not designed with them in mind make it hard to build the capital needed to trade on equal terms (Ouko, K. O., et al. 2026).These are precisely the gaps the programme’s financial literacy training, inclusive finance partnerships and market linkages are designed to close.”
The team conducted an environmental assessment in addition to its social surveys. Naphca said: “These waters also attract wildlife such as crocodiles and hippos, which can attack people if they feel threatened, and human–wildlife conflict has increased in recent years, so finding ways to work safely in these environments is vital for personal safety and for broader conservation goals.”
The report makes a series of recommendations to embed safeguards within the programme’s core activities. Naphca said: “The recommendations pair financial literacy training with awareness of intimate partner violence; ‘Safe Trade’ and ‘Men Against Violence’ campaigns that engage men and boys as allies in preventing gender-based violence; confidential, multi-channel reporting supported by trained focal persons at landing sites; anti-harassment procedures for border corridors so women can trade across borders safely; and environmental screening and training on food safety, responsible fishing and waste management.
“Alongside these measures, the report identifies low-cost ‘quick wins’ at landing sites and markets – better lighting, sanitation, safeguarding signage and secure spaces – that measurably reduce the risk of harassment and gender-based violence, particularly after dark, and highlights well-designed sites in Tanzania and Kenya as models to replicate. Over the longer term, it notes that widening women’s pathways to owning boats, gear and businesses would help dismantle the dependency that drives exploitation.”
TradeMark Africa Business Competitiveness Director Anataria Uwamariya said: “Our ambition through the fisheries programme is to ensure women and young people can participate in, and benefit from, Africa’s fisheries trade on equal terms, with the skills, finance and market linkages they need to build competitive, sustainable businesses. But inclusive trade must also be safe trade. This assessment gives us and our implementing partners the evidence and opportunity to embed strong social and environmental safeguards across the programme, from training rooms to landing sites and border crossings, so that as trade grows, the women and young people driving that growth are protected, and the ecosystems their livelihoods depend on are sustained.”
Naphca said: “As the sector grows, there is the potential to replicate the methodology behind this study in other regions and contexts. Assessing both the environmental and the social factors of the fisheries sector’s expansion will contribute directly to women’s inclusion and prevent them from being alienated from owning their own part of the industry. Delivering safeguards will have far-reaching benefits, protecting people and livelihoods, as well as whole communities that depend on fishing for a living.”
