WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2015 39 Born and bred from the aquaculture sector, Aquaculture without Frontiers is a voluntary organization created to contribute to the alleviation of poverty through small-scale aquaculture. The organization recently celebrated its tenth anniversary with an updated vision and strategy. Many know that AwF was formed by Michael New, who was encouraged to start the organization by colleagues after delivering a keynote paper at the World Aquaculture Society conference in Salvador, Brazil in 2003. Michael’s idea was inspired by the activities of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and two articles published in The Economist. He ventured the idea that people retired from a career in aquaculture might volunteer their experience to help those less fortunate. Michael found that the idea of voluntary service in aquaculture appealed more broadly to a wide spectrum of individuals, from students to retirees. The initial board was a veritable who’s who of aquaculture and it ran then, as it does now, on the smell of an oily rag. AwF is not an organization built around creating a massive bank of donated funds, paying overhead and high salaries to staff, but on actually working with the great goodwill of people involved in aquaculture and doing things that create positive outcomes for the poor and hungry of the world. It is the real meaning of a charity – people give what they can, whether that is a few dollars or more importantly their time, knowledge and experience. The organization is a real gem in today’s world of professional NGOs and it is a credit to its founder and all who have and continue to serve its needs. Having said that, we lost some momentum during a transition period. John Forster, Dave Conley and Cormac O’Sullivan greatly assisted the organization during that time, with constant input and wise council; they have been a source of strength on the board. For a time, it felt like we were going backwards, but we took stock, made changes and moved forward with greater and stronger steps. First was the updating of AwF’s strategy, vision and mission. Aquaculture Learning Centers (discussed below) will be a major Aquaculture without Frontiers on the Move for the Next Period Roy Palmer key in the future of AwF. We have eased back on smaller projects and are trying to create a more sustainable model wherever we tread. We are building capability and capacity in one area at a time so that essential networks of people are well established and can function independently when we leave. Entrepreneurial activities are seen as essential as we assist people to lift themselves out of poverty. Clearly not everyone can establish and run their own fish farm, but there will always be people who are prepared to take extra risks and who are leaders. If entrepreneurs are developing enterprises that employ people, pay a fair wage for a fair days work and are transparent in their activities, then they are helping to improve the world and need our encouragement and support. Our business model means we are reliant on our incredible volunteers. We have reviewed our processes on how we manage and work with these fantastic individuals. Slowly and surely we have built a committee and secretariat to manage the volunteer program. Our Volunteer Committee (Cormac O’Sullivan, Ignacio Llorente, Stacey Clarke with Paul Liew running the Secretariat) are working hard to ensure that we have an efficient databank of all volunteers and that we stay in regular contact, keeping them current with activities and opportunities. We continue to seek new volunteers, so anyone interested in assisting us on our journey can complete the form in the Volunteers section of the AwF website. Aquaculture Learning Centers Our strategic plan is based around building Aquaculture Learning Centers (ALCs). Our first ALC is in Tancol, Mexico, in collaboration with Universidad Tecnológica del Mar de Tamaulipas Bicentenario (UTMarT). The new center in Tancol will be used to educate students and practitioners about aquaculture and hospitality and will have connections to the Mexican federal government (SAGARPA) and the Tamaulipas state government. (CONTINUED ON PAGE 40) TOP. TOP. AwF Women and Gender working group meeting at GAF5 in Lucknow, India. BOTTOM. AwF partners Tonatiuh Carrillo Lammens (left) and Héctor Hugo Gójon Báez (right) of Universidad Tecnológica del Mar de Tamaulipas Bicentenario on Laguna Morales. Born and bred from the aquaculture sector, Aquaculture without Frontiers is a voluntary organization created to contribute to the alleviation of poverty through small-scale aquaculture. The organization recently celebrated its tenth anniversary with an updated vision and strategy.
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