Kakama, Grace Andrew and Petursson, Jon Geir and Kristofersson, Daoi Mar and Ibengwe, Lilian Joshua and Tomasson, Tumi (2025) Role of microfinance to improve livelihoods of small scale inland and coastal fisheries communities in Africa. Handbook of Sustainable Blue Economy. pp. 1-26.
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Small-scale fisheries (SSF) and their associated value chains are an important part of the African blue economy, especially to livelihoods of coastal people along its marine and inland waters. The diverse actors in the SSF sector are faced with multiple constraints, where access to financial services is a significant challenge. This chapter illustrates how the SSF sector has limited access to formal financial services. Instead, there are some types of microfinance providers, operating different models at different scales. We systematically review the published scholarly literature, with the objective to identify scientific evidence on how microfinance is contributing to SSF in Africa, provide policy guidance, and identify knowledge gaps. The review identified a limited number of peer-reviewed publications, albeit with interesting findings from several African countries. SSF communities face challenges in accessing financial services, including limited financial capacity and literacy, lack of assets for collateral, geographical distance from financial institutions, and the lack of income and cashflow data. These challenges expose fishing communities to informal lenders who provide micro loans at high interest rates. Our conclusion is that microfinance has a key role to play in ensuring delivery of financial services to SSF communities and advancing their financial inclusion. It reveals a lack of more scientific research on the impact of microfinance for SSF in Africa and development of appropriate financial services to meet the needs of the sector. Governments and other stakeholders need to work together to tackle these challenges through a holistic approach.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Livelihoods, Small-scale Fisheries, Inland Fisheries, Coastal Fisheries, Fishing Communities, Africa, Inland Waters, Blue Economy |
| Subjects: | Right to Resources |
| Depositing User: | Kokila ICSF Krish |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Sep 2025 10:55 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Sep 2025 10:55 |
| URI: | http://icsfarchives.net/id/eprint/22255 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
