Capacity Development Hub - Central America
Credit: Fabrice Duderhofer / Ocean Image Bank
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About the Hub
The Central America Capacity Development Hub was established to address gaps at the regional level. It provides an excellent opportunity to centralize ECOP efforts in Central America, enabling co-design, sharing, and collaboration through seminars, training sessions, and mentoring. This initiative enables Central American ECOPs to access information and knowledge, helping bridge national, regional, and global barriers around the Ocean Decade agenda, fostering language inclusion in the co-creation of initiatives.
The Capacity Development Hub will provide capacity, skills, and knowledge for enhanced ocean observation, policy, and conservation. We welcome regional NGOs, governmental institutions, the school system, or the local community to collaborate in expanding knowledge for initiatives that help reduce barriers among different groups.
Credit: Amanda Cotton / Ocean Image Bank
Goals and Objectives
Closely aligned with the overall objectives of our ECOP Central America Node, this hub aims to provide capacity-building opportunities in the region. Overall, we aim to unify and promote cross-collaboration in the region, making information accessible 4 all, and supporting ECOPs in the area to elevate their representation and inclusion as we move across the Ocean Decade.
Focus Areas:
- The development of seminars about key themes relevant to the region and early-career researchers.
- Online or in-person training courses/modules in Ocean Science, Ocean Literacy, Ocean Policy and Equity, and Science Communication.
- Events and Symposia showcasing current topics of high interest in Central America and globally.
- Tailored mentoring programs that support and strengthen ECOP’s capacity-building.
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Watch The Past Monthly Webinar Series Central America
Learn about our courses and activities!
This course introduced learners to the Python programming language and software environment.
Learn more: Central America online course report
Number of participants: 32
About Mes Azul 2026:
Mes Azul is a series of eight thematic masterclasses with experts from across Latin America, organized by Academia del Océano and ECOP Central America. Its goal is to democratize access to ocean and climate knowledge in the region, offering open, high-quality content with an educational, scientific, and social focus.
Get in Touch
If you have any questions or inquiries, or are interested in helping and contributing to our regional working group for Capacity Development in Central America, please contact us at: capacity.development_centralam@ecopdecade.org.
Lead Coordinator: Andrea Herrera
Andrea is a multilingual marine researcher from El Salvador. Her work sits at the intersection of shark ecology, marine policy, and community well-being, shaped by fieldwork across Taiwan, the Azores, and Latin America, and by a conviction that science only matters when it reaches the people who need it most. Her most recent project developed a standardized photo-identification baseline methodology for blue sharks in the Mid-Atlantic; a replicable, cost-effective approach to long-term monitoring that bridges cross-sector collaboration and management practices. Currently, her research is transitioning to the social dimensions of ocean governance in shark fisheries: who benefits, who’s left out, and how early-career researchers can lead the next generation of ocean solutions.
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