The Centre for Coastal Management has organised the first session of the 2019 series of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) short courses. The five-day course was organised as part of activities of the USAID/UCC Fisheries and Coastal Management Capacity Building Support Project being implemented by the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Cape Coast, from 25^th to 29^th March 2019. The short course was aimed at building the technical capacity of personnel of governmental departments whose work falls within the remit of the coastal zone of the Central and Western Regions of Ghana, using integrated and cross-sectoral approaches. The design of the course draws on practical and applicable lessons and experiences to broaden the knowledge of practitioners to bring forth the coastal zone management issues in the development agenda. In addition, the course incorporates lessons on managerial skills necessary to initiate and sustain the change required in coastal zone areas of Ghana.

Fourteen participants, made up of ten males and four females, were selected from the Fisheries Commission, Forestry Commission, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Development Planning Commission, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Academia and media for the just ended session. The delivery of the course involved lectures, fieldwork, demonstrations, group work, and exposure to tools for managing coastal areas such as co-management and community-based coastal resource management.