The tiny island of Maio – part of the Cape Verde archipelago, 750 miles off the west coast of Africa – is world renowned for the rich marine life of its Atlantic waters. It is the third most important nesting site for loggerhead turtles in the world, and is increasingly recognised as an important breeding area for a number of shark species.
The island has a huge potential for tourism and has made a serious commitment to tourism, building several tourist facilities. For instance, in 2021, the island had 12 tourist accommodation establishments, 8 more than the previous year (INE, 2022).
The project “Solidarity and Community Tourism on the Maio Island”, funded by European Union and Camões, I.P, was implemented between December 2017 and May 2021, and aimed to promote solidarity and sustainable tourism and to strengthen and diversify the range of tourist activities on the island. This was accomplished by increasing income-generating activities (fishing, livestock, among others) and promoting participatory techniques, thereby contributing to the improvement of living conditions in the local population as a result, as well as a set of videos in See here the info sheet of the project and explore the project’s YouTube playlist here.
Between September and November 2021, SETIN, in collaboration with BoG – Environmental Consulting, was responsible for the Final External Evaluation of the Project, covering technical coordination, analysis and assessment of effectiveness, efficiency, impacts, sustainability, coherence with policies, orientation, verification of the gender mainstreaming and preparation and review of the External Evaluation Reports.