Community development at Lewa

Wednesday June 10:

I met with Jon, the head of the community development programmes at Lewa (excluding Educatoin and Healthcare). And he was totally on the ball. We walked to the Boma (the social area, where there is a shop, a canteen and a meeting room) and sat outside on a picnic bench. We talked for at least an hour. He first described all the programmes and activities to me that Lewa has initiated in the surrounding areas. Then I asked questions and he answered.

I asked him about participatory development and we discussed the differences he has seen in the success of projects when, in the beginning, Lewa would be in charge of everything, versus more recently when he has tried to involve the communities as much as possible in decision-making. Much more successful, and sustainable.

The conservancy wants to preserve wildlife, and this creates a human-wildlife conflict in terms of agriculture and grazing, etc. It was hard, in the beginning, for the local people to support the project. The thing that makes Lewa different from other conservancies, though, is that they have community development projects that benefit the people a lot. So by helping them with water, agriculture, building roads, healthcare, and education, they have gained the communities’ tolerance and approval.

In terms of fundraising, if you bring tourists to a school and they meet all the cute little kids that benefit from their money, often they would rather donate to the school than to the rhinos. However, if it weren’t for the wildlife conservation work Lewa is doing, the schools wouldn’t be there in the first place. But Lewa gives resources directly to the communities, they also indirectly benefit Lewa in return. For instance, the conservancy is surrounded by 147 kms of fencing that could easily be cut, but it hasn’t been. In fact when there were troubles with land and other conservancies in 2004, the communities around Lewa were actually looking out for this one, radioing in if they heard any news.

Jon said to me, “Every time these people see a plane land on the airstrip, they know it is bringing opportunities for everyone.” Maybe he should be in marketing!