Barriers to Integrating Financial Inclusion for Coastal Small-Scale Fishermen into Namibian Fisheries Policies and Regulatory Frameworks
The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources has been applauded intercontinentally for laying the groundwork to develop the Namibian fisheries sector since the dawn of the country’s independence in 1990. However, there are no financial inclusion policies for small scale artisanal fishermen. This p...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Book Chapter |
| Language: | eng |
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| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources has been applauded intercontinentally for laying the groundwork to develop the Namibian fisheries sector since the dawn of the country’s independence in 1990. However, there are no financial inclusion policies for small scale artisanal fishermen. This paper aims to report on barriers to integrating financial inclusion for coastal small-scale fishermen into the Namibian fisheries policies and regulatory frameworks. This chapter reviews the understanding of financial inclusion, the elements of financial inclusion such bank inclusion and financial credit schemes breaks for the economically marginalized small-scale fishermen and access to fish markets for the small-scale fishermen. It provides a review of various international policies and regulatory frameworks that should guide financial inclusion of the small-scale fishermen. Among, the international policies, it is shown that the FAO guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security, the Sustainable Development Goals 14, target 14b and 17 have the potential to promote and strengthen financial inclusion for the small-scale fishermen. The national level policies and regulatory frameworks do not make specific reference to the small-scale fishermen. However, the development of the National Plan of Action for the small-scale fishermen in Namibia will be a potential for including small-scale fishermen into the Namibian policies and regulatory frameworks, although the aspect of financial inclusion is still unclear. The barriers to financial inclusion are that financial institutions are hesitant to run into business with the small-scale fishermen because the majority of them do not have collateral and bank accounts, they do not have access to the market for their harvest, they lack education, training and capacity, and have limited production capacity. There is also the skewed perception that the recognition of the small-scale fishermen will result in the over exploitation of marine resources if their capacity to catch more fish is enhanced. The small-scale fishermen are urged to set-up support organisations to promote representative participation in the development of policies and vouch for financial inclusion. The Government of Namibia is urged to set-up schemes to provide financial credit guarantees for the small-scale fishermen. Moreover, capacity strengthening among small-scale fishermen are recommended to provide expertise |
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| ISSN: | 1534-6781 2214-9902 |