This article presents the results of an innovative education capacity assessment and delivery project to promote sustainable development in large ocean states in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region. Science education can help prepare the present and coming generations for stability in an uncertain future. Limited financial, geographical and knowledge-based resources make large ocean states particularly vulnerable to future uncertainties, such as those associated with climate change. With island populations already feeling the impacts of a changing climate, improved adaptive capacity and disaster risk reduction have become increasingly essential. Thus, climate change adaptation forms the basis for a stakeholder-designed curriculum to meet the capacity-building needs of stakeholders. Partnerships between external experts and local stakeholders were formed to build upon human resource capacity and maximize delivery through a programme of "train-the-trainer" activities. In this way, the mentoring of local stakeholders to undertake their own training can advance sustainable development goals beyond traditional non-collaborative educational approaches. This article shows how this aim can be accomplished through the design and delivery of a phased, coherent professional development programme.