This week on PeaceParks.TV, we take you to Maputo National Park, where Peace Parks Foundation hosted its Community Development Summit.
The event brought together community development experts and specialists from the various landscapes we work in, to further develop the organisation’s community development strategy.
Teams exchanged insights and practical ideas to strengthen our commitment to creating communities that can withstand economic challenges and the effects of climate change.
Community Development Programme Manager, Helena Atkinson, emphasised the summit’s goal: “When the teams walk away from here, they will feel comfortable with what the community development strategy says, which is that we would like to have conservation at a large scale, with resilient communities living healthy and productive lives in these transboundary landscapes.”
Peace Parks believes that conservation is most effective when communities are actively involved. By establishing clear guidelines and providing mentorship to community development practitioners, we ensure that conservation and sustainable development go together.
A key success story is the Simalaha Community Conservancy in the Kavango-Zambezi landscape, where local communities lead a range of conservation initiatives.
Senior Programme Manager, Ghislain Rieb, says: “Simalaha is an organisation of more than a hundred employees, with quite a package of activities taking place. You have carbon cookstoves, conservation agriculture, fisheries and game farming – all under the management of the communities themselves.”
Stay tuned to PeaceParks.TV for more on-the-ground action.
