This report is a Draft Literature Review for Activity 1 of the USAID Women Shellfishers and Food Security Project, which is a co-creation of the University of Rhode Island and partners from West Africa – the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, the University of Ghana, TRY Oyster Women’s Association in The Gambia, and World Agroforestry. This project seeks to address the need for greater attention to food security for women shellfishers and their families while improving biodiversity conservation of the ecosystems on which their livelihoods depend. More robust models, tools, approaches, and processes are needed to enable and promote these sustainable food systems and natural resource management in coastal West Africa. The project will strengthen the evidence base, increase awareness, and equip stakeholders to adapt and apply successful approaches in areas of high potential for replication and scale-up in the eleven coastal West African countries from Senegal to Nigeria. It will draw on successful cases of a rights-based, ecosystem-based, participatory co-management approach to shellfish management by women in mangrove ecosystems in The Gambia and Ghana developed with USAID assistance.
