Action For Ocean
Action For Ocean scales ocean conservation initiatives that protect marine ecosystems & strengthen coastal livelihoods in Tanzania
Action For Ocean (AFO) is an Africa-rooted, community-led ocean conservation organization founded in 2016 to strengthen the stewardship of marine ecosystems while improving livelihoods for coastal communities. The organization works across the Western Indian Ocean region, partnering with local communities, governments, researchers, and philanthropic institutions to design and implement long-term, locally owned conservation solutions. AFO was established in response to the growing pressure on coastal and marine ecosystems in Africa, and the limited access of frontline communities to flexible, long-term conservation finance.
Mission and goals.
AFO’s mission is to enable community-led ocean conservation that delivers ecological recovery, climate resilience, and inclusive economic opportunity. Its core goals are to (i) support fisheries co-management and locally governed marine managed areas, (ii) restore critical marine and coastal habitats such as mangroves and seagrass, (iii) advance sustainable, nature-positive livelihoods—including seaweed farming and value-added marine enterprises—and (iv) strengthen local institutions and governance systems so conservation outcomes endure beyond project cycles. AFO places equity, local ownership, and intergenerational stewardship at the center of its approach.
Past and current activities.
Since its founding, AFO has supported participatory fisheries management, seasonal and permanent closures, and community-led enforcement across multiple coastal seascapes. The organization has facilitated marine habitat restoration, combining scientific monitoring with indigenous knowledge to guide adaptive management. In parallel, AFO has implemented livelihood and finance initiatives that reduce pressure on marine resources, including women-led savings groups, climate-resilient seaweed value chains, and enterprise support for coastal producers. Current activities include grant deployment for community governance and conservation action, technical assistance to local partners and community institutions, piloting innovative conservation-finance mechanisms, and building data systems to track ecological and socioeconomic impact.
Future planned activities.
Over the next five to ten years, AFO aims to scale its impact across additional coastal geographies in Africa by expanding community-led fisheries management, marine habitat restoration, and sustainable livelihood programs. Planned activities include structuring pooled funding mechanisms and blended-finance approaches that channel capital directly to community institutions, deepening partnerships with African governments and regional bodies, and strengthening learning platforms to share best practices across seascapes. Through this work, AFO seeks to demonstrate that locally led, well-financed ocean stewardship can deliver durable biodiversity outcomes, climate benefits, and long-term prosperity for coastal communities, while contributing to global ocean conservation goals.
Fundraisers
Official fundraiser
Fund Women-Led Seaweed Farms in Tanga & Kilwa, Tanzania
"We don't get to ask for a better price. The buyer comes, he weighs it, he pays what he pays. Even when I know it's worth more, I sell it anyway , I still have children to feed." - Mwajuma Hamisi Kombo, Tanga That's what seaweed farming looks like for many women along Tanzania's Tanga and Kilwa coastlines today, one of the few steady incomes available to them, done the hard way. In Tanga's Mkinga district, two in three farmers earn under $40 a month , and 94% say cost is the only thing stopping them from planting more. In Kilwa, women are paid roughly 700 TZS per kilo less than half what Tanga farmers get for the same crop, because they've never had the equipment or bargaining power to demand better. Action For Ocean (AFO) works with communities to build trust-based community institutions to close that gap: groups of up to 15 members, majority women, formed around a Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA). The VSLA does three things a bank won't it lets members pool their own capital together ; it creates a loan pool women can borrow from without collateral , the barrier that shuts them out of formal lenders; and it becomes the training ground for conservation stewardship, leadership, record-keeping, and best-practice seaweed farming skills, plus other income streams as a cushion against a bad season. This work sits inside the Africa Fair Seaweed Finance Facility , a growing pan-African vehicle already reaching an estimated 1,200+ women farmers across Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, aiming to mobilize $50 million in blended finance and reach 25,000 women by 2030 . Equipment alone isn't the fix. AFO also negotiates buyer agreements under its Fair Purchase Principles guaranteeing farmers a minimum price and income regardless of who ends up buying the harvest and builds shared drying and aggregation points to cut the post-harvest losses that quietly erode a farmer's earnings before she ever reaches a buyer. It's already working: incomes on this model have risen from $30 to $80 a month, with a $140 target by 2026, and yields have climbed from 7 to 28 tons per group per year. What your gift does: $25–$100 — contributes directly toward one farmer's equipment share. $1,000 — fully equips one woman with her own farming kit. $15,000 — equips an entire 15-woman group, debt-free, from day one. Every group we equip now farms through the next planting cycle. Help the next one start debt-free.
- Raised
- $0
- Next milestone
- $100
Donors
Nancy Iraba