Education

In Mozambique, our programs form a pathway from a child’s first swimming lesson to the leadership of a national program. Since 2012, 6,220 children have graduated from the curriculum of Ocean Guardians, our UNESCO-recognized program teaching marine conservation, swimming, and water safety on the Inhambane coast. Its Coral Reef Club then offers young adults aged 16 to 21 advanced English, internships, and business training. In seven fishing communities, the 90 Ocean Ambassadors of Sustainable Seas lead community talks and help fishers bring their concerns to government.

For university graduates, the Research Fellows program is a year-long internship with a stipend, and several of our permanent staff began there. MMF’s Country Manager in Mozambique, Emildo Patricio Vilanculo, volunteered with MMF for two years before training as a swimming instructor in 2016; he now leads our people and operations across the country.

In Indonesia, a two-year Research Assistant program trains early-career marine scientists, two of whom went on to master’s degrees abroad in 2025. Janis Argeswara, MMF’s first Indonesian intern, later completed a master’s degree on the reef manta rays of Nusa Penida and now leads the national program. Our education and outreach work reaches the wider public through talks in English and Bahasa Indonesia, school visits with virtual reality headsets, and citizen-science and code-of-conduct training with more than 40 partner dive centers.