UK Women in Fisheries launches Community Ambassador opportunities to strengthen regional representation in seafood spaces
UK Women in Fisheries (UK WIF) has announced a new opportunity for Community Ambassadors which is aimed at increasing representation, strengthening local engagement, and ensuring women’s voices are better reflected across the UK seafood sector.
The strategy will see funding allocated across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England to support women to step forward as Community Ambassadors, helping to connect their local communities with the network.
With members spread across often rural and coastal locations, UK WIF has recognised the need to build a more visible and accessible presence beyond its central team.
“We know that many women working in fisheries are based in isolated or hard-to-reach areas,” said the UK WIF team. “At the same time, our core team is small. This opportunity is about working with the strength of our network and supporting women who already understand their communities to help us show up where we’re not currently present.”
Each region will have £5,000 available to support activity. This funding can be used to enable Community Ambassadors to represent UK WIF in regional forums, attend meetings and events, build local connections, and bring regional insight into national conversations.
A key aim of the strategy is to address the long-standing reliance on unpaid labour within the sector, particularly for roles linked to engagement, advocacy and community-building.
“We want to create opportunities where women are recognised and, where possible, paid for their time and contribution,”. “Too often this kind of work has relied on goodwill alone.”
The role of a Community Ambassador is intentionally flexible, with no rigid definition of what supported initiatives need to look like or long-term commitment. Contributions can range from one-off activities to short-term involvement, depending on individual availability and interest.
Community Ambassadors may represent UK WIF at meetings, support existing regional events, engage with women working across the seafood sector, and contribute lived-experience insight to inform UK WIF’s work.
“There is no single voice that represents fisheries,” the team added. “This is about creating space for multiple voices, from different regions and different parts of the industry.”
All activity supported through Community Ambassadors aligns with UK WIF’s core values of Passion, Empowerment and Equality, with a focus on improving access for women to fisheries policy, advocacy and community spaces.
Women interested in becoming a Community Ambassador are encouraged to come forward and discuss opportunities with the UK WIF team.
www.women-fisheries.com/communityambassadors