MEL Partner for the Women and Youth Economic Empowerment in Fisheries through Inclusive Market Access Program

The Project at A Glance

The Women and Youth Economic Empowerment in Fisheries through Inclusive Market Access program is a five-year (2024-2029) regional program implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania (including Zanzibar), DRC, Zambia, Nigeria and selected island states. This program, which is a collaborative initiative between the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Mastercard Foundation, TradeMark Africa (TMA) and implementing partners including Lattice, Kilimo Trust and Micro Save Consulting, is designed to empower women and youth in the fisheries sector by improving access to opportunities and addressing economic inequalities through creation of inclusive, resilient, and sustainable intra-Africa fish trade.

International Economics, in collaboration with NIRAS Consulting, is providing comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) support services to TMA over the lifetime of the program, covering all workstreams and all countries in which the program operates.

What We Found

The cross-border fish trade is a vital economic and food security driver across Africa, particularly in the East African Community (EAC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, (COMESA) regions, where informal trade may represent up to 40% of total cross-border flows. Trade corridors, such as those linking Lake Victoria’s fisheries to markets in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, and Rwanda, handle significant volumes of fresh and processed fish, while West Africa’s coastal and inland fisheries generate similar regional flows. Women and youth are central to post-harvest processing, marketing, and trade. Women’s participation in fish-related activities can reach 87% in some areas, yet they remain concentrated in lower-margin roles and earn less than men.

The sector is constrained by persistent non-tariff barriers, including bureaucratic delays, inconsistent Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) enforcement, and unofficial fees, alongside gender-based harassment and limited access to finance. Infrastructure gaps – particularly in cold storage and transport – further raise costs and losses. Informal trade dominates due to its speed, flexibility, and lower transaction costs, but formalisation initiatives, such as the COMESA Simplified Trade Regime, face mixed uptake due to limited awareness and inconsistent application.

Rapid aquaculture growth, averaging 11% annually, offers a key opportunity to meet rising urban demand and close Africa’s projected 11 million MT fish supply gap by 2030. Digital technologies and the AfCFTA framework present further potential to improve market linkages, enhance transparency, and expand opportunities for women and youth traders.

The program addresses systemic barriers across the fish value chain, focusing on four interlinked domains: business competitiveness, financial inclusion, institutional effectiveness, and the enabling policy environment. Planned interventions include capacity development, grants for enterprise upgrading, facilitation of cross-border trader networks, development of digital tools, and advocacy for policy reform. These are implemented through a network of partners operating in targeted trade corridors and fish market hubs across six countries.

Our Strategy and Impact

Operating as a strategic learning partner to the program, the team will design and operationalise a comprehensive MEL system aligned with the programme’s Theory of Change. This will include developing monitoring systems that the implementing partners will use. These systems will then be used by both the MEL partner and the IPs collaboratively to establish baselines, refine indicators, implement robust qualitative and quantitative data collection and ensure data quality assurance (DQA). These steps will be implemented through the application of mixed-methods approaches to monitor progress, assess performance, and undertake theory-based evaluations such as contribution analysis to assess the program’s influence on systemic change.

In addition, the team will facilitate adaptive management by synthesising evidence into actionable insights, supporting gender and inclusion monitoring, and integrating environmental and social safeguards. Ultimately, the team, in collaboration with the implementing partners, will generate reliable, relevant, and timely evidence to inform decision-making, demonstrate accountability to stakeholders, and ensure that program investments translate into sustainable, inclusive economic outcomes for women and youth.

Our Core Solutions

Applying our analysis and research knowledge, we help our clients maximise efficiency and improve their development objectives. Through the lessons learnt and the feedback mechanisms we implement in our monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) processes, we support institutional strengthening and the re-alignment of resources to ensure the sustainability and maximum impact of projects, helping our clients make well-informed strategic decisions.