Kwame MensahCape Coast, GhanaLiveExample project

Fishers’ Knowledge Living Archive

Documenting oral histories and traditional navigation knowledge of Gulf of Guinea fishing communities.

Culture, Heritage & WorldviewsHeritageTraditional KnowledgeCommunity

About this project

This proposal documents valuable, time-sensitive oral histories and traditional navigation knowledge from Gulf of Guinea fishers and shows strong community orientation and likely high cultural impact. It scores well on community & additionality, and is largely open-science friendly, but has measurable gaps in digital measurability, formal methodological detail and governance/informed-consent documentation that keep it from scoring higher.

AI summary by the Ozeaon Climate Intelligence System

Why this integrity score?

The OCIS Integrity Report below explains the reasoning behind the headline score — dimension by dimension — and is readable in full here.

Score Reasoning — Dimensions

The headline score is a weighted sum of six integrity dimensions assessed by the Ozeaon Climate Intelligence System.

Scientific Rigor20% weight
82
Clear ethnographic focus and relevance to marine knowledge, but proposal lacks explicit, peer-reviewed methodological protocols and sampling/quality controls.
Open Science15% weight
85
Outputs are readily shareable (audio/video/transcripts) and the project intent aligns with open-data principles, though specific repository, licenses and reproducible metadata standards are not defined.
Measurability (dMRV)20% weight
70
Impact is qualitative and culturally rich but the proposal lacks a digital M-R-V plan, standardized indicators, and mechanisms to track provenance, updates, and verification over time.
Additionality & Impact15% weight
85
Project preserves threatened knowledge and can provide unique baseline data for coastal management—clear additionality versus business-as-usual cultural loss—but ecological/climate impacts are indirect.
Transparency & Governance15% weight
75
Proposal implies local engagement, but lacks explicit governance, ownership of records, data-sharing agreements, IP/consent protocols and long-term stewardship plans.
Community & Equity15% weight
90
Strong focus on fisher communities and traditional knowledge suggests high community relevance and potential benefit-sharing, though specific social safeguards and compensation are not detailed.

Strengths

Focus on urgent, time-sensitive oral histories and traditional navigation knowledge with high cultural and potential practical value.
Strong alignment with community priorities and likely high community buy-in.
Outputs (audio, video, transcripts) are inherently shareable and useful for multiple stakeholders (researchers, managers, educators).

Risks & Gaps

No detailed dMRV plan — difficult to track provenance, updates, and verify long-term integrity of records.
Lack of explicit informed consent, IP, and benefit-sharing agreements risks ethical and legal challenges.
Absence of specified repositories, metadata standards, and licensing reduces openness and reusability.
Unclear governance and long-term stewardship/funding threaten archive sustainability.

dMRV Recommendation

Tier

Tier 1 — Foundational

Cadence

Quarterly operational reporting (progress, indicators, QA issues) plus an annual consolidated public report and an annual external or peer verification of sample records.

Recommended

Yes

A Tier 1 foundational dMRV is appropriate because the project’s outputs are primarily qualitative cultural records that nonetheless require structured metadata, provenance, and accessible storage to be verifiable and reusable. The proposed methods provide low-burden, high-impact digital tracking (IDs, checksums, georeferencing, indicators) and a realistic reporting cadence that supports transparency, verification and long-term stewardship without overburdening community contributors.

Structured oral-history protocols with standardized metadata fields (who, when, where, language, consent scope)Audio/video recording with checksum-based versioning and persistent identifiers (DOI/ARK)Participatory GIS to georeference navigation routes and place names (store as GeoJSON with metadata)A minimal indicator set (count of interviews, georeferenced features, translations completed, dataset completeness) and QA/QC checklists

About this project

Generating OCIS summary & integrity report…