This was the incentive to organise the 12-days workshop InteGRADE (1-12 August 2016) in Chuini, Zanzibar. The 17 participants and 12 experts from 5 WIO countries and from Belgium were not so naive as to come up with unrealistic ambitions to solve these wide ranging problems at short range. On the contrary, InteGRADE strives at valorising the expertise and know-how that was built up over the years by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the Universiteit Antwerpen and the Universiteit Gent through their joint MSc programme ‘Oceans & Lakes’ (Marine and Lacustrine Science and Management).

Becoming agents of change
Over several decades marine and coastal scientists were trained in Flanders at our universities. Many graduates are now in key research or management positions in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique. Alternatively, they are young career scientists who need to fully exploit the scientific network to become agents of change. The main goal of the workshop was therefore to guide participants in networking and proposal writing by integrating scientific interest and state of the art questions, with granting agencies’ agendas and needs expressed by governance and policy in respective countries / regions. 
 
'Connectivitywas chosen as the theme of the first InteGRADE workshop, which is intended to be followed up every few years from now. ‘Connectivity’ because, as workshop convener Nico Koedam pointed out in his opening address, scientific disciplines must be connected, and this in a transboundary connected network, while the connectivity between coastal ecosystems, as well as ‘catchment to coast’, is the way to go in terms of management.
 
Joint effort 
The InteGRADE workshop was jointly organised by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Prof. Nico Koedam) the Universiteit Gent (Prof. Ann Vanreusel) and the State University of Zanzibar (Prof. Mohammed Ali Sheikh), the scientific programme and training was developed by Dr. Karolien Van Puyvelde. Financial support was given by the Flemish Interuniversity Council, University Development Cooperation (VLIR-UOS). Prof. Cosmas Munga (Technical University of Mombasa), Prof. Anusha Rajkaran (University of the Western Cape) and Dr. Johan Groeneveld (South African Association for Marine Biological Research) strengthened the organising team.
 
Throwing geneticists, sedimentologists, social scientists, fisheries biologists, mangrove foresters, toxicologists…. into the cauldron of coastal challenges in the huge WIO region is somewhat of a risk: to end up in vagueness or immobilism. Yet, all participants were connected by their strong training background and willingness to come up with project proposals. They were coached by the panel of experts on a daily basis during the intensive InteGRADE workshop, only interrupted by a day of work visits to Zanzibari NGO who are effectively tackling coastal issues, such as dynamite fishing, coral reef depletion, eroding community livelihood.
 
From the InteGRADE workhop 3 strong project ideas have emerged, each supported by an international and interdisciplinary group of young career WIO scientists. A fourth assignment: continuing the series of training workshops in the following decade, now with South partners taking the lead.
 
It is indeed the philosophy of ‘Oceans and Lakes’ and the VUB and UGent organisers that after decades of ocean science capacity building, university development cooperation has another profile, which fully exploits scientific and expertise complementarity for the global issues that are ‘connected’ through the oceans.