Consultancy to lead communications, digital visibility and engagement for the WIO LMMA Alliance

Project Reference: P04216

Donor reference: DR04216.69

IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,400 Member organisations and around 15,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.

IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.

Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.

In September 2024, the first Western Indian Ocean (WIO) Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) Forum was held in Mahajanga, Madagascar, bringing together more than 200 participants from nine countries. The Forum resulted in the adoption of the WIO LMMA Declaration and a strong collective call to establish a regional LMMA Alliance. The WIO LMMA Alliance was subsequently officially launched at the Our Ocean Conference (OOC), with a Steering Committee composed of community leaders from across Africa providing leadership and guidance to the Alliance. The Alliance is designed to ensure that coastal communities and LMMA practitioners have a stronger collective voice in national, regional and global processes and that community leadership remains at the centre of regional LMMA development.

The WIO LMMA Alliance aims to address key regional challenges, including the absence of a shared understanding of LMMAs, uneven development across countries, and limited representation of LMMA communities in national, regional and global platforms. It also seeks to promote gender equity and inclusivity in LMMA management, strengthen local leadership and facilitate greater access to knowledge, technical support and financing for community-led marine conservation. The Alliance builds on existing networks and initiatives in the region, avoiding duplication of efforts and working as an umbrella platform to foster collaboration, learning and collective action. It also draws on Madagascar's leadership and lessons learned from MIHARI, the largest LMMA network in Africa, to support the sharing and replication of successful community-led approaches across the region. The broader vision is to contribute to the establishment of a Pan-African LMMA Alliance, with the WIO serving as a starting point and regional learning space.

In support of the establishment of the Alliance, Mission Inclusion (Mi) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) implement the Regenerative Seascapes for People, Climate and Nature (ReSea) project in partnership with local feminist organizations in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar and Comoros. The project is funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) as part of the Partnering for Climate initiative. Its broader goal is to enhance the physical and socioeconomic resilience of coastal communities in these five countries by accelerating uptake of nature-based solutions and gender-responsive conservation practices to protect, restore, and sustainably manage marine and coastal ecosystems and unlock a regenerative blue economy. The ReSea project contributes to the Western Indian Ocean-led Great Blue Wall (GBW) initiative by supporting the establishment of a network of sustainable, resilient, and inclusive seascapes in the target countries through a people-centric approach.

The GBW initiative is built around four key pillars that align with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Pillar 1: Blue Planet focuses on scaling and improving the management and governance of protected and conserved marine areas, with a strong emphasis on equity, gender-responsiveness, and local stewardship—supporting countries to achieve Target 3 of the GBF. Pillar 2: Blue Nature aims to restore and conserve critical ecosystems through gender-responsive Nature-based Solutions (NbS), aligned with GBF Target 2, and guided by the IUCN Global Standard for NbS. Pillar 3: Blue People promotes a regenerative and inclusive Blue Economy by empowering local communities, especially women and youth, in nature-based value chains for climate adaptation, aligned with GBF Target 9. Pillar 4: Blue Partnerships is a cross-cutting pillar focusing on strengthening connectivity at all levels and across different dimensions, including social, ecological, institutional, local, national, regional, international and cross-sectoral connectivity.

Within this broader context, the WIO LMMA Alliance contributes to the Great Blue Wall's ambition for transformative and inclusive ocean governance by strengthening community-led marine governance and supporting the development, recognition and expansion of LMMAs across the region. The overall WIO LMMA Alliance initiative aims to drive transformative change through a functional and inclusive Alliance, increased numbers of LMMAs under effective and sustainable management, legal recognition of LMMAs, financial and technical self-sufficiency including mechanisms for direct access to funding, strengthened local leadership, research and knowledge generation, and stronger LMMA visibility and voice.

Following its establishment and official launch, the Alliance is now entering an important phase of consolidation and growth. Its regional role, community leadership and growing portfolio of activities require a stronger and more coherent public presence to ensure that the Alliance is visible, understood and effectively represented across the WIO and beyond. There is therefore a need to strengthen the Alliance's communications strategy, visual identity, digital presence, storytelling and engagement across social media and other platforms. A dedicated communications team is required to support this process, working closely with the Alliance Steering Committee and IUCN, as well as the IUCN Communications Team and ReSea Communications Team, while ensuring that communications remain community-led, accurate, inclusive, ethical and practical to sustain over time.

We are seeking a strong, experienced and multidisciplinary communications team capable of providing both strategic leadership and hands-on delivery. The team should have a proven track record of increasing the visibility and positioning of organizations, networks, alliances or initiatives, particularly in conservation, climate, development or community-led work. The proposed team should collectively cover strategic communications, storytelling, digital and social-media communications, visual design, video production and editing, website development and fundraising/donor communications.