GLOBAL FRIENDS ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2019

Born Free’s Laura Gosset reviews the achievements of Global Friends in 2019

Born Free’s Global Friends programme awards grants to local partner organisations to help them deliver vital, grass roots conservation education efforts in Africa. 

We believe changing human behaviour is a key part of long term conservation efforts and helps preserve wildlife. For example, human-wildlife conflict is a serious threat facing many species across Africa, as well as human communities. By working with local people through education initiatives, we can help equip them to co-exist with wildlife and protect their environment.

The grants vary in size and support a wide variety of projects and needs. In 2019, Global Friends supported five partners – here is what the funds helped to achieve:

Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust, in Zambia, worked closely with a number of local conservation clubs. Their Community Conservation Educators conducted 16 outreach sessions per week to conservation clubs. This outreach included a module to support their student-led No Plastic environmental campaign, including practical plastic audits and litter picking in the community; aquatic surveys, animal track identification, climate change and animal behaviour to avoid human-wildlife conflict; a number of conservation clubs were also tasked with keeping a stretch of river clear of small snares. 

In Uganda, The Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust bought a boat to help them reach the schools they work with on neighbouring islands.

The Pole Pole Foundation in the Democratic Republic of Congo is planning a football tournament with local teenagers to increase awareness of the plight of the eastern lowland gorillas in Kahuzi-Biega National Park. 

Lilongwe Wildlife Trust, in Malawi, is working with local women to turn collected snares into jewellery. This promotes anti-poaching efforts and produces souvenirs for tourists that do not contain wildlife products.

Zambia Primate Project ran a poster campaign to increase awareness about local wildlife laws to reduce the keeping of primates as pets.

Some of these projects are one-off events and some are ongoing, however, Global Friends will continue to support these important partner organisations in 2020.

GLOBAL FRIENDS     LILONGWE WILDLIFE TRUST     ZAMBIA PRIMATE PROJECT