With Support from the Marine Conservation Action Fund, A Small Organization Started Building for the Future

This post is one of a series on projects supported by the New England Aquarium’s Marine Conservation Action Fund (MCAF). Through MCAF, the Aquarium offers multi-faceted support to leaders from low- and middle-income countries who are spearheading community-based ocean conservation initiatives.  

By Yolanda Sanchez

In 2019, a small group of marine educators from across Latin America and the Caribbean came together around a shared idea: marine education deserved greater recognition, stronger collaboration, and a louder voice in ocean conservation.

That idea became RELATO, the Latin American and Caribbean Marine Education Network.

Over the years, RELATO grew far beyond what we initially imagined. Through volunteer effort, passion, and countless hours of collective work, we built a network of more than 1,000 members across the region. Together, we developed educational workshops for teachers, translated educational resources, created the Oceanoteca—a repository of marine education materials in Spanish and Portuguese—and connected educators who often work in isolation despite sharing similar challenges and aspirations through the First Latin American Marine Educators Encounter, online, with more than 500 participants.

We achieved a great deal with very limited resources. Like many growing organizations, we were always focused on doing the work. There was always another project to deliver, another proposal to write, another opportunity to support marine educators across the region.

What we rarely had was the time to stop and ask ourselves a more difficult question:

Was our organization prepared for the future we wanted to build?

When we received support through the Marine Conservation Action Fund (MCAF), we initially described the project as organizational strengthening. Looking back, that description feels far too simple.

The most valuable thing this funding gave us was not a publication, an event, or a new resource. It gave us something much rarer: the opportunity to pause.

It allowed us to dedicate time and resources to a process that many organizations know they need but rarely have the capacity to undertake—reflecting on who they are, how they work, how decisions are made, and how leadership can evolve as organizations grow.

With the support of external facilitators, we began a long process of conversations, workshops, reflection exercises, and collective decision-making. We examined our structure, reviewed roles and responsibilities, discussed expectations, explored different models of governance, and asked ourselves difficult questions about commitment, sustainability, and the future of the network.

The process was not easy.

Meaningful participation takes time. More time than we expected.

Conversations that seemed straightforward often became complex. Decisions that looked simple on paper required months of discussion. At times, progress felt slow. At other times, it felt uncertain.

Along the way, we were reminded that organizational change is not only technical—it is deeply human.

Some of the structures and roles that had guided RELATO for years no longer reflected the organization we were becoming. Letting go of them required trust. New ideas emerged, different perspectives challenged old assumptions, and we gradually began to imagine a version of RELATO that could be stronger, more inclusive, and more sustainable than before.

At one point, we even lost our website following a cyberattack. For a brief moment, it felt as though everything familiar had disappeared. Looking back, the experience feels strangely symbolic. RELATO seemed suspended between what it had been and what it was trying to become.

After nearly two years of work, reflection, and collective learning, the results are finally visible.

Today, RELATO has a new governance structure, a renewed board composed of members with diverse perspectives and expertise, and volunteer working groups focused on areas such as communications, fundraising, educational resources, and community engagement. Most importantly, the network now includes a paid coordination role dedicated not to implementing a specific project, but to supporting the long-term growth and functioning of the network itself.

This may seem like a small change, but for a volunteer-led regional network, it represents a significant step toward sustainability.

The process also taught us important lessons that we will carry into our future work.

We learned that participation cannot be rushed. We learned that leadership should be shared and renewed. We learned that investing in coordination and organizational health is just as important as investing in programs and activities. Most importantly, we learned that transformation does not mean losing an organization’s identity.

Sometimes, it is exactly what allows that identity to survive.

Today, RELATO remains a network built by people who believe in the power of marine education to strengthen ocean conservation across Latin America and the Caribbean. The passion that inspired its creation remains unchanged. What has changed is our ability to sustain that vision collectively.

We are deeply grateful to the New England Aquarium’s Marine Conservation Action Fund (MCAF) for supporting a process that is rarely visible but profoundly necessary. By funding organizational reflection and growth, MCAF helped create the conditions for RELATO to continue evolving long after individual projects have ended.

Networks are living things. They grow, adapt, and change shape as the people within them change too.

Thanks to this journey, RELATO is entering its next chapter with renewed energy, new leadership, and a shared commitment to continue strengthening marine education throughout the region.

We are excited for what comes next.