More than 70% of Tanzania’s coastal households live below the poverty line even as their daily survival depends on the ocean’s declining resources.
Along Tanzania’s coastline from Mtwara to Tanga, families rise and rest with the tides. The ocean feeds them, yet for many, it no longer pays. As fish stocks fall and climate shocks intensify, communities face a cruel paradox: they live next to abundance but earn from scarcity.
Action for Ocean (AFO) is working to change that narrative by building sustainable blue economy livelihoods that make conservation profitable, dignified, and lasting.
Through our Coastal Livelihood for Entrepreneurship and Resilience (CLEAR) Model, we help communities turn stewardship into opportunity. The model follows five phases; Engage, Build, Finance, Link, Sustain, as it guides coastal people to create businesses that protect the ocean instead of depleting it (incentivised conservation).
AFO’s approach blends training, sustainable blended-finance, and market access. We work with partners in the private sector and local government to unlock new value chains for seaweed, coral restoration, eco-tourism, and blue carbon credits ensuring every livelihood contributes to both income and impact.
By 2030, our ambition is to:
Support 1,000 conservation-aligned groups under the CLEAR Model.
Double household income among participating families.
Create 5,000 sustainable blue economy jobs, especially for women and youth.
Develop inclusive sustainable financing systems that link Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) to ocean enterprises.
This is the future of Tanzania’s coastal economy where communities earn by protecting, not exploiting, the ocean. Where seaweed farmers become exporters, divers become restoration experts, and youth turn innovation into livelihoods.
Our vision is not charity; it’s equity an economy designed by those who live with the ocean and understand its rhythm best.
When livelihoods thrive, conservation becomes unstoppable.
The CLEAR Model — Engage, Build, Finance, Link, Sustain — is Action For Ocean’s five-phase framework for turning ocean stewardship into income, helping coastal communities build businesses that protect the ocean instead of depleting it.
AFO blends training, blended finance, and market access to unlock new value chains — seaweed farming, coral restoration work, eco-tourism, and blue carbon credits — so conservation work directly generates household income.
AFO aims to support 1,000 conservation-aligned groups, double household income among participating families, create 5,000 sustainable blue economy jobs, and link Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) to ocean enterprises.
More than 70% of Tanzania’s coastal households live below the poverty line despite depending on the ocean daily — linking income directly to conservation is what makes restoration sustainable long-term.
