Transcending Boundaries in Conservation

Community Engagement in Action

For decades, conservation practitioners have grappled with the concept of community engagement. Often, we have sought separate solutions to environmental and development problems. Yet many organizations have been successfully implementing community-driven conservation programs intended to address both natural resource management and community development issues simultaneously. Despite this vast experience, we have often lacked collaboration. Many approaches, models, and theories have been developed individually without combining lessons learned, best practices, challenges, and successes from the vast network of conservation and development organizations working closely with communities to create a better future.

With the publication of Community, Conservation, and Collaboration: A Framework for Success, we seek to change that.

Defining the Future of Community Engagement in Conservation

Photo: African People & Wildlife/Stella Snowden

As a first step to the creation of the framework,  African People & Wildlife , with support from the  National Geographic Society , hosted a workshop in Arusha, Tanzania in November 2018 to bring together conservation and development practitioners from across eastern and southern Africa. Through sharing experiences of challenges faced, success stories, and best practices, the workshop participants developed an outline for a community engagement framework. Over the last year, this outline has come to life in a comprehensive guide to working with communities to achieve conservation goals.  

"The workshop was designed to really discover the 'how' of community engagement practice and not just discuss theories." —Laly Lichtenfeld, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO, African People & Wildlife

Community, Conservation, and Collaboration: A Framework for Success, is not intended to be the final product of that collaboration but rather the first step. It is our hope that conservation practitioners and environmental managers in Africa will use this framework and its associated toolkit to enhance their knowledge and skills when interacting and working with local peoples.

The interactive toolkit developed organically as collaborators shared the processes, methods, and action plans they use to effectively engage with communities. The tools provide generic templates applicable to any community-based conservation effort. While some of the tools were created specifically for this framework, most have been adapted from instruments used in other sectors.


A "Human Development Engine"

Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique is a model of community-driven conservation. In 2008, the Mozambican government and the Carr Foundation began a public-private partnership for the joint management of Gorongosa. Since then, the Gorongosa Restoration Project has sought to reframe the protected area, not just as a sanctuary for wildlife but as a critical source of sustainable livelihoods for surrounding communities.

Gorongosa Restoration Project provided invaluable experience in the development of Community, Conservation, and Collaboration. Their Sustainable Finance Plan is highlighted in the Financing Community Engagement section of the framework, which provides tips and tools for turning the trade-offs between conservation and development into strengths. 

“By reframing Gorongosa National Park as a ‘human development engine,’ we are supporting and enhancing national health services, agricultural programs, and education for local people, trying to lift them out of poverty and create more support for the park in a positive feedback loop—with a special focus on providing more opportunities for women and keeping girls in school."—Greg Carr, President, Gorongosa Project


Cross-cutting Conservation

Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) demonstrates the power of interdisciplinary programs. Three integrated, strategic priorities comprise CTPH’s model: wildlife conservation, community health, and alternative livelihoods. Together, these priorities create a holistic program aimed at addressing community development and conservation problems simultaneously.

CTPH brought their expertise in cross-sectoral programming to the development of Community, Conservation, and Collaboration: A Framework for Success. Recognizing their multidisciplinary approach, their programs are highlighted in the Community Engagement in Practice: Examples from the Field section of the framework in both the wildlife conservation and enterprise and economics sections. 

"Today, we realize how wildlife, humans, and ecosystems are all interconnected. We began with a mission to protect the critically endangered mountain gorilla and are now growing to more protected areas in Africa to ensure that gorilla conservation continues by working directly with local communities, government partners, and international stakeholders." —Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Founder and CEO, Conservation Through Public Health


Conservation Without Borders

Linking community-level efforts to national and international conservation goals is an important next step in empowering communities to manage natural resources on a large scale. Including communities in landscape-level conservation becomes more important as human population increases and wildlife habitat decreases. 

While protected areas are certainly important refugia for wildlife, coexistence between people and wildlife in shared, multiple-land use landscapes is a necessity. The Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) is emerging as a leader in landscape-scale conservation through community-driven initiatives. The ambitious KAZA TFCA initiative is highlighted in the Governance and Diplomacy section of the framework, which provides tips and tools for gaining national and international support for community-driven initiatives. (See  Tool 7.1  and  Tool 7.2  in the toolkit for related resources.)

KAZA TFCA Mission: To sustainably manage the Kavango Zambezi ecosystem, its heritage and cultural resources based on best conservation and tourism models for the socio-economic well-being of the communities and other stakeholders in and around the eco-region through harmonization of policies, strategies and practices. 


More Than Change

By deepening our involvement with communities and engaging in development and conservation work simultaneously, we can create win-win solutions. We can revitalize our relationship with nature and repair our relationships with those who have suffered environmental injustices. We cannot create a sustainable Earth alone. We must advocate for communities, for conservation, and for collaboration—all in one.

Many of us, as conservationists, entered this field for a love of wildlife and wild places—but the future of our work is with people. With the passion and innovation that have ignited our efforts thus far, we create positive change for the Earth’s last wild places. When we share that passion with communities, we create more than change.

We create a transformation.


To download Community, Conservation, and Collaboration: A Framework for Success and the associated toolkit, please visit:  africanpeoplewildlife.org/community-conservation-collaboration 

Training opportunities and an accompanying curriculum will be announced in the coming months. For updates, please sign up for our e-newsletter at  africanpeoplewildlife.org  and follow us on  Facebook  and  Instagram .

About African People & Wildlife

African People & Wildlife (APW) works to ensure a future where humans and wild animals thrive living side by side. APW partners with communities to create effective, sustainable solutions that improve the lives of rural Africans while protecting the natural world. Operating on the ground in Tanzania, APW establishes long-term relationships with local residents based on the respectful integration of science and tradition. APW’s strategic, holistic approach to conservation is widely applicable in landscapes where people and wildlife coexist. Founded in 2005, APW is a recognized leader in the field of community-driven conservation.

Photo: African People & Wildlife/Stella Snowden