How a $240 million project is giving coastal communities in Benin and Mauritania a fighting chance

By the time the sea began swallowing his father’s cassava field, Bernard Koffi, a fisherman in the village of Hillacondji, Benin, had already learned to read the ocean’s moods. For years, the mouth of the Mono River—a vital artery for local transport and agriculture—had been shifting, growing wider and more aggressive.

“The water used to respect the land,” Bernard tells TRT Afrika while standing on a patch of earth that was once two hundred meters from the shore. “Now, it comes for our homes. We lose a little more every rainy season.”

Just weeks ago, Bernard heard news that has shifted his sense of desperation to cautious hope. The World Bank approved a $240 million financing package aimed directly at the crises reshaping his coastline. The funding will specifically target the stabilization of the Bouche du Roy estuary and the mouth of the Mono River—the very waters that have been threatening his community.

“They say they will strengthen the shore and bring back the mangroves,” he says, gesturing to a stretch of degraded wetland. “If the mangroves return, the fish will have a place to hide and breed. For us, that is not just the environment; that is our bank account.”

Curbing floods

The program, known as the West Africa Coastal Areas Blue Economy and Resilience Programme (WACA+), arrives at a critical juncture. Coastal zones in West Africa are among the continent’s most economically vibrant regions, yet decades of erosion, flooding, and environmental degradation—accelerated by climate change—have cost regional economies billions.

For nations like Benin and Mauritania, where a large share of output depends on coastal infrastructure, tourism, and fisheries, the threat is existential. The new initiative aims to protect over half a million people from the ravages of erosion and floods while generating approximately 13,000 jobs in its first phase alone.

In Mauritania, the threat looms just outside the capital. In the sprawling coastal neighborhoods of Nouakchott, residents live in constant fear of the winter storms which send Atlantic swells crashing against fragile dunes. For Fatimetou Mint El Arbi, a fish processor and mother of four, the dunes are the only barrier between her small business and disaster.

“When the sea breaks through, the saltwater ruins everything. It floods the roads, so we cannot take the fish to market. The catch rots, and we lose everything,” she explains.

‘Blue economy’

Under the new World Bank financing, Mauritania will receive funding to reinforce the dune system that shields the capital from storm surges. But for Fatimetou, the most transformative aspect of the program is not just the physical barriers—it is the economic inclusion. The initiative includes a partial credit guarantee mechanism designed to unlock up to $20 million in new lending specifically for fish-processing companies like hers.

“My biggest enemy has been the bank,” Fatimetou admits. “They see a woman with a smoking oven and they do not see a business. If this program helps us access loans to buy better freezers and storage, we can stop losing our product to the tide and start growing.”

World Bank Regional Director Chakib Jenane, speaking on the broader vision behind the financing, underscored the urgency of the effort.

“West Africa’s coastal communities are on the frontlines of climate change,” Jenane states, noting that the programme would reduce exposure to erosion and floods for more than 500,000 people.

The WACA+ program builds on earlier regional efforts that funded seawalls and beach nourishment, but its architects are placing a stronger emphasis on what they call the “blue economy.”

Training & ecosystem restoration

Beyond infrastructure, the project will restore up to 3,000 hectares of mangroves and coastal wetlands—natural flood barriers that also serve as critical fish breeding grounds. Simultaneously, it will provide technical assistance, training, and financing for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in sectors ranging from aquaculture and ecotourism to maritime services.

By 2031, more than 31,000 people are expected to benefit from training and business-development programs, with future phases of the regional initiative aiming to eventually support more than 50,000 jobs.

As the sun sets over the Mono River, the work has not yet begun. But for the first time in years, the people watching the water feel that the investment in their survival is finally matching the scale of the threat. The ocean, they hope, is about to become their greatest asset once again.

For Bernard in Benin, the promise of training and ecosystem restoration offers a future beyond subsistence fishing.

“We are not asking the sea to go away,” he says. “We are asking to learn how to live with it. If they fix the estuary and teach us how to work in tourism or fish farming, my sons will not have to leave home to find work.”