Community Engagement Programs

Community Engagement

Empowering local communities to lead in conservation and animal welfare

We engage with those living closest to the animals and habitats we strive to protect to create positive and sustained change. We are committed to working respectfully and collaboratively with communities to find lasting solutions that work for wildlife, people, and the animals within their care.

28%

of global land area is traditionally owned, managed, used, or occupied by Indigenous peoples.

80%

of the planet’s biodiversity is held in lands and waters conserved by Indigenous peoples and local communities.

100-300

million people in coastal areas are at increased risk of floods and hurricanes due to loss of coastal habitat protection.

Wild and domestic animals and the landscapes they call home have been and continue to be sources of local communities’ traditional ways of living. Most rural communities worldwide have inextricable linkages to these critical resources.

Maasai community member with cattle, Amboseli, Kenya. Photo: Paolo Torchio / © IFAW

why community engagement matters

In the face of growing threats to this natural capital, compounded by climate change, the custodians of critical landscapes have been overlooked in conservation decisions for too long despite having invaluable traditional knowledge and experience. To sustainably manage critical landscapes, the need to involve local communities cannot be overemphasised.

The sustained success of our efforts to save and conserve animals and their habitats requires the engagement and support of Indigenous peoples and local communities living alongside wildlife across the landscapes where IFAW works. Our Community Engagement program works closely with partners to manage and implement socio-economic development initiatives that will achieve impactful and meaningful sustained change.

Our Community Engagement program aims to:

Provide a connection to ethical, equitable, and ecologically grounded landscape conservation and rescue work.
Empower communities to participate in, benefit from, and own animal welfare and conservation initiatives that affect them.
Strengthen sustainable livelihood strategies that benefit people, animals, and habitats in priority landscapes.
Impact communities’ perceptions by creating legitimacy, strengthening support for conservation, and delivering on anticipated benefits.
Ensure communities have sustainable solutions for reducing human-wildlife conflict and promote coexistence.
Ensure communities at high risk of disasters have increased resilience and reduced reliance on external support.
Support building a constituency for conservation to help reduce community support for poaching/trafficking for illegal wildlife trade.

Two Jenga Mama participants work with each other at a sewing machine during their artisan in garment making training Photo: Heiko Laschitzki / © IFAW

By listening to and learning from Indigenous people and local communities, we can co-create solutions to animal welfare and conservation challenges guided by those who know the land and animals best and are directly affected by the outcomes. All our community engagement interventions integrate local ways of learning while meeting community-identified educational gaps and aspirations of children, youth, and adults.

Community leadership helps to empower local people to exercise their rights and ensure their voices are heard in local, regional, and global decision-making platforms. Our experience shows that people and animals can successfully thrive together when this happens.

Daniel Leturesh, the chairman of the Olgulului Ololarashi Group Ranch, speaks at a meeting as IFAW and this Maasai community renew the land lease for the Kitenden Conservancy in Kenya. Photo: Eva-Lotta Jansson / © IFAW

Cultivating Coexistence

Unsustainable land use practice and climate change have directly contributed to ever-increasing interactions and conflicts between animals and people. This often results in loss of crops, livestock, and pets; destruction of property; injury and death of wild animals; and sadly, in some cases, the loss of human life.

By helping reduce the cost of living alongside wildlife, the communities we work with will not only be safer but also more likely to support and participate in conservation initiatives and reject retaliatory killing or persecution of wild animals. In Yunnan, China, for instance, a village-level early warning system, safety training for residents, and development of new income via beekeeping are helping people to live peacefully alongside wildlife.

Daotangqing villagers, under the guidance of an IFAW expert, trying to find “queen bees” to prepare for swarming. Photo: Sabrina Zhang / © IFAW

Our collaborative approach focuses on ensuring inclusive participation so that all community members can join, benefit from, and own conservation and animal welfare initiatives that impact them.

Our commitment to working with communities to better understand the complex socio-economic and political factors contributing to human-wildlife conflict helps us find sustainable solutions so that humans and animals can not only coexist, but also thrive.

Empowering women to protect wildlife in Kenya

See project

conserving Asian elephant populations through coexistence initiatives

See project

distance can’t get in the way of safeguarding dogs

See project

leadership saves animal lives in the streets of Playa del Carmen

See project

habitats cross borders—so do poachers

See project

we are giving elephants room to roam

See project