Ioisa.org.za
Title
IOISA
Description
IOI-SA was established in the Botany Department (now part of the Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology) at the University of the Western Cape in early 1996, following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between IOI headquarters and the University of the Western Cape. IOI-SA operates a number of its own programs, and is sustained in part through linkages with other organizations involved in Ocean research and management in Southern Africa.
IOI-SA develops and offers high quality capacity building and research programs that improve upon the sustainable livelihoods of poor and underprivileged people living in coastal areas. IOI-SA responds to on-going assessment of the factors that contribute to livelihoods within the southern African region. IOI-SA maintains a particular focus on rural coastal communities, decision-makers, university students at postgraduate level, and schools. It achieves its mission through networking with other organizations in the region that are active in the sphere of marine and coastal management, and sustainable livelihoods.
IOI-SA exists to serve the Southern African region. Nevertheless, it is conscious of its location in Western Cape, within the milieu created by the Apartheid history of tertiary education in South Africa, as well as within the University of the Western Cape. It therefore strives to achieve its goals within the context of: the Mission Statement of UWC; growing regional co-operation and resource sharing among tertiary institutions as well as the public and private sector in the region; a need for corrective action and capacity building at UWC as a ‘historically-disadvantaged’ institution.
