CFI Challenge Fund
The Coastal Fisheries Initiative (CFI) is a collaborative, global effort funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to preserve marine resources and ensure that small-scale coastal fisheries can continue to play their crucial role in society, contributing to food security as well as economic and social development.
The CFI Challenge Fund (CFI-CF) led by the World Bank connected artisanal fishing communities, businesses, investors, and governments that rally behind the common goal of improving the sustainability and productivity of coastal fisheries in Cabo Verde, Ecuador, Indonesia and Peru.
When the interests of these parties are aligned, they have the power to improve coastal resources and ecosystems, enhance the wellbeing of communities, and boost local and national economies.
To put this vision into practice, the CFI-CF supported coalitions in the four countries to develop concrete business ideas for innovative, long-term solutions, design responsible investment packages, and identify obstacles to their implementation to reach their common goal by:
- Analysing enabling and disabling conditions to develop criteria for viable investment packages.
- Promoting coalitions between seafood value chain actors, businesses, investors, and authorities.
- Strengthening the capacity of small-scale fishers, fish workers and fisheries entrepreneurs in business administration, production processes, product marketing, environmental and social sustainability, and more; and
- Managing knowledge and information generated in the process.
In addition, CFI-CF hosted Solutions to Overfishing, a global knowledge competition that fostered and mentored coalitions between fishing communities, the business and finance sector, and governments that came together to address inefficiencies in coastal fisheries in innovative ways.
The CFI-CF closed in February 2023, following an active exchange between partners and beneficiaries at the fifth annual CFI Global Partnership Consultation in Dakar, Senegal.
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