The purpose of this building block is to ensure that the broader communities are involved in the conservation efforts through activities that they are passionate about i.e youth through sports, school children through reading programmes. This helps to improve the connectedness that the local people have with the rhinos and they value the rhino more. 

An excellent communication plan/network with different stakeholders was initiated across different levels. From the inception of the project, the community and other stakeholders were constantly capacitated on how the project is going. A relay of relevant vulture conservation and policy issues was achieved to the target stakeholders within the communities and KAZA TFCA.

The achieved results relied heavily on the collaboration and cooperation partnerships among various stakeholders, including government agencies, conservation organizations, scientists, and local communities. Collaboration with the Ministries/Government departments was key in sensitizing the communities on issues around human-wildlife conflict and suggested environmentally friendly ways to mitigate the conflict. The scientists were there to collect information related to wildlife poisoning and give feedback to the government ministries. The communities were the key stakeholder since they are the sole custodians of the environment.

The drone unit started operational activity in August 2018 with a quadcopter drone equipped with a thermal night vision camera, because sea turtles’ nest at night. As the operation and use at night requires advanced skills, rangers are trained as drone pilots.

The mobile vehicle patrols cover daily several dozen kilometres of beach per night with high poaching risks. At strategically selected points or in case of suspicious circumstances (e.g. tyre or footprints), the patrols were stopped and the area was searched with the drone. A large part of these missions take place accompanied by one or two police officers. For operations without police, the authorities are to be alerted, as direct contact of the team with the offenders must be avoided.

Furthermore, the team is equipped with binoculars and radio devices. The rangers can communicate with each other practically at any time and without being noticed. This way they are virtually inaudible on the beach in the dark, but they always have all the information they need. Communication training in different situations is conducted regularly. So the rangers learn how to tell the team on the radio precisely what a person is doing on the beach, where they are and where they are going. A skill that enables the rangers to observe a suspect with the divided team.

IMET is an integrative tool. It requires input from people who are in charge of the protected area, and also those who have a recognizable interest in the area but are not directly in charge. Prior to implementation, we determined who the right stakeholders were, such as key Government agencies, including the Forestry Department, which was in charge of managing the forest reserve, and the office of the Surveyor General, who were not directly connected to the management of the reserve but were custodians of the reserve maps. Equally important among stakeholders are Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), local community groups, and traditional leaders. Government and CSOs were engaged in project design and implementation. We engaged the stakeholders first by writing official letters with simplified explanations of the IMET process. The letters outlined the information gaps specific to each stakeholder. That way, the stakeholders were able to provide relevant information and documents that would feed into the IMET evaluation. Secondly, the stakeholders were invited to attend two workshops; 1. data collection, and 2. data collection and validation. These workshops aimed to create ownership and validation of the results generated.

Our team has identified the importance of accurate data collection, regular monitoring and oversight of data is done by the science and research adviser and Chief Operations officer to ensure accurate data is uploaded to the database. Population management and scientific decisions concerning the rhino population in the country are guided by the data collected during monitoring conducted by our patrol teams. Data based inputs are used to define the carrying capacity for wild-life based tourism and to plan and manage conservation and development activities.

The management of the Kisite Mpunguti MPA is mandated to the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Wildlife Research and Training Institute. It was therefore critical to have buy-in from the managers of these institutions in the implementation of project activities including WIO-COMPAS. This ensured the endorsement of the WIO-COMPAS programme and its subsequent recognition for career development.

For this reason, the two institutions were included in the process from inception to completion. This ensured the MPA staff that this venture would add value, at individual levels, to their careers, and not just to the MPA management. This was crucial, as the WIO-COMPAS assessment preparation process is quite daunting, and a motivating factor is necessary to ensure their participation.

Communities and local stakeholders living adjacent to the protected areas were not aware of the importance of vultures. The capacity building involved raising awareness among communities on the value of vultures, the threats they face and their need for conservation. Repeated face-to-face formal meetings, informal meetings, and engaging the community in each step enabled the achievement of the results.