Aware, informed, empowered, capacitated

To achieve the recommendations in the SSF Guidelines, one must know about, understand and apply them. Therefore, raising awareness about them is a key part of implementing them. It is also important to understand the situation, challenges and opportunities facing small-scale fisheries around the world, and to use this knowledge to inform policies and decisions to support sustainable fisheries and community livelihoods.

Change has to happen at national and local levels. For that, fishers and fish workers need to know their rights and have ways to realize them. Organisations to carry the voice of fishers and fish workers to policy- and decision-makers must be supported and empowered. Likewise, policy- and decision-makers need the tools and capacity to engage small-scale fishers. All actors need a supporting structure that makes it easy for them to exchange ideas and concerns, and collaborate to make a difference. There is also a need to measure and keep track of progress.

The SSF Guidelines promote a human-rights approach, which goes beyond the fisheries value chain to address gender, social development, employment, climate change, disaster risks and trade. Implementing the SSF Guidelines is therefore also contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In FAO efforts to implement the SSF Guidelines include: Raising awareness; Strengthening the science-policy interface; Empowering stakeholder; Supporting implementation.

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