Browsing by Author "Said, S. S."

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    Blue economy discourses for effective ocean governance: a case of Zanzibar
    (The University of Dodoma, 2023) Said, S. S.
    Blue economy is a popular concept in modern marine and ocean governance. It seeks to establish sustainable practices for ocean resources and use the opportunities found in the oceans to enhance social and economic development. Yet, stakeholders co-opt this concept in competing and often contesting ways. This study examined the blue economy discourses among stakeholders for effective ocean governance in Zanzibar. The study involved the bureaucrats from the Ministry of Blue Economy and Fisheries (MoBEF), politicians (Ministers and Members from the House of Representative - Zanzibar, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and citizens. Data were collected through Key Informant Interviews (KII), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and documentary reviews and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings show that the participants from the four categories (bureaucrats, politicians, NGOs and citizens) hold four main blue economy discourses for ocean governance: sustainable use of marine resources for socio-economic development while preserving the environment, political slogan used by the political leader to amass power; an instrument for protecting and preserving marine resources and ecosystems; and a system of economics that will bring money to all Zanzibaris. Overall, the findings indicate that effective ocean governance in Zanzibar requires full participation and coordination of all stakeholders from the government institutions, private sectors, civil society orgnisations and the local community. To ensure that the blue economy policy of 2020 delivers impact to the socio-economic development of Zanzibar, the government needs to re-examine its strategy to implement the blue economy policy. In particular, stronger coordination between and among the government departments, ministries, directories, units and agencies is needed to ensure synergies and coherence in policy implementation. A more suitable interventions is to devise a comprehensive strategic short and long term training and sensitization programme to all stakeholders in Zanzibar on blue economy as an economic concept, a policy and administrative tool to achieve government objectives on blue and goals. Based on the findings, this study recommends that the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar (RGoZ) needs to assess the outcome of the blue economy awareness programmes that have been done in grassroots, needs to devise strategies to ensure that citizens are practically involved in the implementation of blue economy policy and needs to create platforms to share information about the Zanzibar Blue Economy Policy.