This brief summarizes follow-up research conducted in 2022 and 2023 about two community-based rural livelihoods development initiatives using aquatic foods that took place from 2017 to 2020 in coastal communities in Timor-Leste. The research sought to understand how the community members involved perceived the effects of the initiatives on their lives, what benefits and challenges women and men experienced, and how the initiatives interacted with local community economies. The lessons learned from these two case studies offer insights that can help future coastal communities livelihoods initiatives to generate sustainable benefits for communities.