EU4Ocean Coalition and IOC partnership (2022-2025) - External evaluation

Introduction

The European Ocean Coalition (EU4Ocean) brings together diverse organisations, projects, and individuals dedicated to promoting ocean literacy and sustainable ocean management. Between 2022 and 2025, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO supported the EU4Ocean Coalition through a range of initiatives. An external evaluation of this collaboration was made upon the completion of the three-year project, the results of which are detailed below.

Summary of the External Evaluation

The IOC's support to the EU4Ocean Coalition has successfully delivered strong, quantifiable results across its three core pillars, significantly advancing Ocean Literacy efforts in Europe and globally. As a recent external evaluation of the project confirms, it was effective in aligning European ocean action with the global goals of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

The initiative,which  launched in 2022 and ended in July 2025, was implemented in collaboration with the European Commission's Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE). Its overarching goal was to strengthen ocean literacy across Europe by supporting three key components: Network of European Blue Schools, the Youth4Ocean Forum, and the EU4Ocean Platform.

Key Findings at a Glance

The evaluation found that the project delivered strong results and exceeded nearly all original performance indicators.

• Broad Reach and High Satisfaction: The project reached over 100,000 individuals and nearly 900 organizations. Survey data from participants showed high satisfaction with the events (an average rating of 8 out of 10) and strong commitment to continued engagement.

• Tangible Impact: Many participants reported a change in their personal behaviour and the successful integration of Ocean Literacy into their professional work or educational curricula.

• Targeted Strategy: Diverse and well-targeted formats—such as summer schools, youth training, workshops, and creative campaigns—were effective in reaching educators, youth, and civil society across Europe and beyond.

The assessment was based on both a targeted participant survey and a desk-based review of project documentation, combining qualitative and quantitative tools to evaluate the relevance, effectiveness, and potential impact of the activities.

Success Across the Three Pillars

The project's success is highlighted by the transformative progress made across its core components:

1. Education: Network of European Blue Schools (NEBS)

The expansion of the Network of European Blue Schools was identified as a major success, scaling into a continental model for educational mainstreaming. The network now includes 680 schools across 27 European countries, reaching an estimated 100,000 students and 782 teachers.

• Policy Integration: The project successfully supported policy-level engagement by launching the "Promoting Ocean Literacy: An Education Policy Brief", which advocates for the formal integration of OL into national curricula.

• Global Leadership: The release of the "Blue School Global Network: a toolkit" positions the European coordination model as a case study for future international scaling, demonstrating strong EU-to-global leverage in ocean education.

2. Capacity Development: Youth4Ocean Forum

The Youth4Ocean component achieved strong outreach and provided high-quality engagement, strengthening its role as a crucial platform for youth leadership.

• High Engagement: Interest in youth activities, such as the four EU4Ocean Summer Schools held across different locations, was exceptionally high, with thousands of applications received for the limited spots available.

• Professional Application: Survey data indicated that many participants successfully mainstreamed the insights gained from workshops and training into their professional fields, clearly demonstrating the integration of OL principles into their work.

3. Behavioural Change & Sustainable Practices

The evaluation found a clear, tangible influence on both personal and collective behavior, with participants adopting sustained actions toward ocean protection.

• Sustained Action: A large majority of respondents reported feeling more dedicated to the ocean in their daily lives and taking sustained action to reduce pollution, overfishing, or degradation.

• Professional and Civic Commitment: Many respondents reported incorporating Ocean Literacy into their formal educational curricula or adopting sustainable business models. The dominant response to nearly all indicators was, "Yes, and I will continue," highlighting the long-term, lasting impact of the project's initiatives.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The external evaluation concluded that the project demonstrated very positive progress and achieved or exceeded key benchmarks across all performance indicators. Its diverse activities, responsiveness to stakeholder needs, and alignment with the UN Decade of Ocean Science were key drivers of its success.

The evaluation also provided clear recommendations for future efforts:

1. Greater inclusivity and balance: several respondents highlighted the need to ensure more inclusive participation, with concerns over selective engagement of some stakeholders over others. Participants suggested improving outreach and balancing representation across countries, youth groups, and sectors.

2. Capacity building and funding: a recurring recommendation was the expansion of training and grant opportunities, especially for youth and educators in underrepresented regions. Respondents emphasized the need for increased financial support mechanisms to develop and sustain ocean literacy initiatives at the local level. It is understood that this is beyond the scope of this programme, but highlights a need in the OL community. 

3. Curriculum integration and pedagogical tools: educators recommended developing structured and localized ocean literacy curricula and lesson plans. There was strong interest in follow-up guidance on how to integrate OL into national education systems, along with better access to multilingual and practical teaching materials.

4. Broader thematic coverage: participants encouraged greater thematic diversity in programming, suggesting more focus on topics such as pollution, marine shipping, oil and gas, and marine geoengineering. A few also expressed interest in learning from regional examples beyond Europe.

5. Improved coordination and planning: while most feedback was positive, several comments pointed to the importance of better coordination and planning of events—including providing agendas earlier, aligning sessions with participant availability, and improving communication logistics.

The full External Evaluation is available here.