Development of diversified livelihoods

EGI conducted a rapid assessment on diversified livelihoods to find out what were local communities already doing.

Bee keeping came out as a common income generating activity, driven by a high demand in honey products. The households’ income has increased through the sale of honey and derived products, such as medicine, bee venom, propolis, wine, cosmetics. This is now cushioning them against climate change impact such as prolonged droughts and floods that have negative impacts on agriculture, hence able to sustain income and their livelihoods which is thus addressing the key drivers of poaching.

Another sector of intervention was agriculture. Local communities were trained to improve the resistance of their crops to climate change.

Community champions took a leadership role in exchanging with their larger community. They also co-drafted their bylaws with EGI, during community meetings, that mandate people not to trade in any act of poaching, trade-in species or products, illegal entry into the Protected Area. These were the first local regulations ever in the area.

 

 

 

  • Identifying and using community champions model is an effective tool and method for engaging communities to diversify their livelihoods, increase acceptability of the project and attract communities to embrace conservation efforts. This enables rapid adoption of the alternatives livelihoods options.

 

  • Partnerships with the key stakeholders including UWA and district environment and forest officers is very critical for EGI to continue engaging with the communities during the COVID 19 crisis.

 

  • Managing wildlife conflicts and threats like poaching require more community involvement and participation in planning, implementation and designing the end goal, it increases ownership and sharpens effective strategies.

 

  • Conducting community needs assessment to determine the approaches that work with different communities is key to applying tailor made interventions.

 

  • Responding to a conservation crisis requires careful understanding of community needs and using them to model immediate and long term interventions that increase the attachment communities have on wildlife.