CEFAS23-05 RFQ for Litter Outreach, Education and Workshop in Maldives

The Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) is a key bilateral aid programme under the £500m Blue Planet Fund. The OCPP Marine Pollution strand will build on work in countries where Cefas and UK marine partnerships are already active, as well as forge new relationships in priority regions. The OCPP began by building on the successes of the Commonwealth Litter Programme (CLiP), using established foundations to expand technical training and capacity building in Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) eligible countries and foster collaboration internationally to tackle marine pollution, including a specific focus on marine plastics.

This OCPP work expands on the successes of the Commonwealth Litter Programme (CLiP), as well as efforts carried out via other organisations, through which UK scientists started to engage with relevant stakeholders in Maldives to assess the status of litter through microplastic sampling and analysis. To complement this, we wish to carry out ocean pollution training amongst local communities, combined with a training and awareness workshop looking at real data and information from Maldives.

Training Programme Cefas requires the successful Tenderer to provide a leadership training programme containing original material for interested and/ or suggested* communities in the Maldives, on ocean litter. The training will consist of at least five, 2-3-hour, online sessions for 10-12 people, and provide technical knowledge, exploring in-country solutions, support, mentoring and appropriate training materials, such that after several training sessions the participants understand the types and sources of ocean litter and are equipped to educate their community. The participants will be able to help their communities put into action the principles of Refuse, Reduce, Re-use and Recycle.

Circularity Assessment The successful Tenderer is also required to collect data for and carry out a circularity assessment for the Maldives. The data used to create the assessment will be provided to the Maldives government and people to inform their decision making on areas of interest.

Stakeholder Meeting Cefas also requires the successful Tenderer to organise and run a 1-day Stakeholder Meeting for ~20 stakeholders (this figure may change which will be discussed between both parties as needed) at a suitable location in Maldives after the training and circularity assessment are completed, to provide a forum for presenting and discussing litter data, positive ways to engage with the issues of litter and ideas for future initiatives around the prevention, mitigation and or remediation of litter.