Fishers Networking as Resilience Measure of Small-Scale Fisheries by Women in Homa-Bay County, Kenya

Abstract

Resilience in nutritional standards and quality livelihood appear prominently among the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The fishers networking as a resilience factor is essential for ensuring sustainability through continuity, and availability of business needs as a way of ensuring enterprise sustainability. On this dimension, networking remains a resilient measure in addressing forms of enterprise disruptions, thus maintaining functionality and objectives. In networking, fishers create diverse linkages among themselves and all stakeholders along the small-scale fisheries value chain. This investigation aims to explore how building networking among small-scale fishers becomes a resilient measure for small-scale fisheries. The objective of this study is to examine the contribution of fishers networking as a resilient measure of small-scale fisheries by women in Homa-Bay County, Kenya. Applying the mixed method approach, the study analyzed quantitative and qualitative data collected from 342 small-scale women fishers. The findings from both data sources were triangulated and became the basis of the study findings. Both Descriptive and inferential analysis were used in the study.   Fishers networking had a moderate and significant relationship with the sustainability of small-scale fisheries. The findings revealed that r=0.591, R²= 0.349, F (1,341) =184.93, at P=0.000<0.05, confirming that fishers networking had a statistically significant contribution on the resilience of small-scale fisheries the coefficient of determination, R²= 0.349, indicating that fishers networking activities explain 34.9% of variations in the resilience of fisheries by women.  The paper contributes to the literature on the voluntary guidelines for securing sustainable small-scale fisheries, poverty reduction among small-scale fishers, and nutritional and fisheries policy in developing nations. Furthermore, it adds to the literature on networking by highlighting the importance of fishers engaging in a dialogue with one another, the market, policy and community.