Community development is as much of a priority for us as conservation. For any of our rhino protection and other wildlife programmes to be sustainable, the communities living along our borders must see tangible benefits from their wildlife.

Through business enterprises (tourism and livestock) and with the help of willing donors (both large and small) Ol Pejeta works to develop the funding necessary to provide financial assistance to projects that assist the people living within our neighbouring communities. All projects are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and must contain some element of community contribution. We aim to concentrate on the following core areas: health, education, water, roads, agriculture and livestock extension services and the development of community-based conservation tourism ventures.

To this end, Ol Pejeta staff have quarterly meetings with community representatives - the most recent of which was held on Monday 24th October in Nanyuki. Members of Ol Pejeta's community development team met with community representatives and government officials from 18 communities, in order to gain a clear understanding of current challenges, and how Ol Pejeta can assist.

Some of the challenges that were highlighted by the community representatives were human-wildlife conflict, insecurity, water shortage, unemployment among others. Ol pejeta's community development initiatives assist over 56,000 people who live in the communities surrounding the Conservancy. While we have done alot, there  are still plenty of areas where we can be able to more in support of our communities. We also use the meeting to highlight plans Ol Pejeta are putting in place for community development in the next quarter so as to have the support of our communities.

Click here for more information on our community development program.