Rising against sex-for-fish exploitation in Zambia: Enhancing gender-based violence awareness and prevention in the fisheries sector

^{By IUCN and ActionAid Zambia}

In Zambia, Diana* receives threats and harassment from men when she is working at a fishing camp in the Western Province. These camps are the seasonal home and workplace of many women like Diana*, who depend upon the fish caught by men that underpin their businesses and household protein needs.

Indeed, when we imagine fishing, most picture men on boats – and for the most part, this assumption rings true as they make up approximately 90% of fish harvesting roles. Yet, the fishery value chain does not stop there, and only represents the start of a vast number of downstream fishing activities. Representing 90% of global fisheries post-harvest roles, women are usually the first buyers of fish at boat landing sites and process and market the fish – thereby forming approximately half of the overall sector (IUCN & USAID, 2019). The efforts of women and men to secure fish is part of a global economy, with fish supporting an estimated 600 million people’s livelihoods, constituting 20% of daily protein for 3.3 billion people (FAO, 2022). 

Almost universally, this means that women are dependent on fish resources obtained by men for their livelihoods. Unfortunately, as gender-based violence (GBV) is used across environment sectors to assert control over land and natural resources – and can be exacerbated in the context of environmental degradation and climate change – the fisheries sector is no exception. Women like Diana* involved in the fisheries sector in Zambia are exposed to exploitative sex-for-fish practices. And until recently, Diana*, did not feel safe reporting her experiences, or seeking help. 

Working together with ActionAid Zambia (AAZ) and its partner, the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is helping address such interlinkages between gender-based violence and the environment through the Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Environments (RISE) grants challenge. Managed by IUCN and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), under Advancing Gender in the Environment (AGENT), a fifteen year partnership between USAID and IUCN, the RISE grants challenge is the first and only grant of its kind. Addressing gender-based violence in environment contexts and climate-related sectors, the RISE grants challenge is a direct response to key research findings by IUCN on gender-based violence and environment linkages. 

As a RISE grants challenge winner, ActionAid Zambia and YWCA are implementing a grant to address the drivers of sex-for-fish exploitation affecting women in Zambia’s Western Province. Relying on fisheries resources to sustain their livelihoods, these women are disproportionately suffering the impacts of climate change on the fisheries sector, which has been worsening the availability of fish stocks. Shortages in fish stocks also generate unsafe situations for women because when livelihoods are impacted, household tension and violence can worsen (IUCN, 2020).

With RISE grants challenge support, the project is building upon existing interventions to enhance gender-based violence awareness and prevention in three districts in Zambia’s Western province: Sesheke, Nalolo, and Mongu. Together, partners are exploring new response mechanisms to address exploitative sex-for-fish practices. These include working with the local legal system, establishing and training women’s watch committees, and establishing community-based committees for the sustainable management of fisheries resources, among others. 

The project began implementation in early 2023. An important achievement to date has been establishing and empowering gender-based violence watch committees (GBVWCs) to raise awareness of the connection between gender-based violence and fisheries. Project partners led training sessions in Sesheke and Nalolo, engaging a total of 78 people (39 men, 39 women). In these training sessions, participants increased their capacity to manage these committees, learned about different types of gender-based violence such as exploitative sex-for-fish practices, and understood the role that different institutions like the police, or the Ministry of Health play in the procedures for handling gender-based violence cases.  

Group photo of participants from Sesheke during the GBV watch committee establishment and training with the one-stop center representative. Photo by ActionAid Zambia

The GBVWCs conducted eight awareness meetings in the last quarter, reaching a total of 300 women. Diana* was one of these women. During a meeting, she expressed how she felt she could finally safely seek support and information on how to report gender-based violence cases more confidentially thanks to the mechanisms established by the project. Some of these mechanisms include mother support groups, and providing women a safe and confidential referral pathway to disclose gender-based violence exposure. 

These changes are important as women like Diana* have noted that if they report a case to the police, they risk having their identity revealed, leading to the risk of receiving threats to the point of having to withdraw the case. Often, compensation is promised for withdrawing. When the survivor is not paid, and he or she/he returns to report again, it is often too late to seek legal justice.

Diana* explained how in the past, she didn’t know where to seek services as the nearest service providers like the police and health center are located about 35 kilometers away – or at least one day's walk – from the fishing camps where she works. At the GBVWC meeting she attended, Diana* learned about the different services available in the community and felt comfortable seeking a referral for services at a locally-based one stop center, which provides legal aid, raising her confidence in a positive outcome when seeking assistance. 

IUCN and USAID’s partnership through the RISE grants challenge seeks to address serious risks like those faced by women in the fisheries sector in Zambia. Through the RISE grants challenge, the project is raising awareness among women and men on exploitative practices like sex-for-fish and empowering them to address it. As environmental degradation and climate change exacerbate gender-based violence and environment linkages, urgent investment is needed to catalyze the implementation of solutions in this nexus. 

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_{*Not her real name}

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_{About the RISE grants challenge} 

_{The Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Environments (RISE) grants challenge identifies and funds evidence-based strategies to address GBV in environment and climate-related programming. Funded by USAID and hosted by IUCN under AGENT’s GBV-ENV Center, RISE aims to build approaches that help close information and knowledge gaps in relation to programming that addresses GBV and environment linkages.}

_{About the GBV-ENV Center}

_{The GBV and Environment Linkages Center is hosted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) under its Advancing Gender in the Environment (AGENT) partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It works to close the knowledge gap on GBV-environment issues while mobilizing learning and forging collaborative action towards ending GBV and securing environmental sustainability.}

_{About AGENT}

_{Advancing Gender in the Environment (AGENT) is a collaboration between the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to increase the effectiveness of environment programming through the robust integration of gender considerations, while improving gender equality and women’s empowerment outcomes.}

_{To learn more, visit genderandenvironment.org} 

_{Interested in learning more about gender in fisheries? Here are some additional resources:}

• _{Advancing Gender in the Environment: A sea of opportunities in Central America for gender equality and sustainability}
• _{Tejer la red para la prevención de la violencia de género: Manual de capacitación para proyectos de pesca sustentable en Centroamérica (in Spanish)}
• _{Navegando en nuestra masculinidad: manual didáctico del facilitador sobre masculinidades no violentas en contextos de pesca sustentable en Centroamérica (in Spanish)}