Sustaining Nature and Empowering Communities through Funding for Local Conservation Action
The project addresses weak governance, limited financial sustainability, and declining conservation outcomes in community conservancies. It aims to strengthen conservancy management, biodiversity protection, and sustainable livelihoods by channeling targeted small grants, delivering tailored technical assistance, and implementing structured capacity development programs. These interventions will build leadership skills, enhance financial management systems, and promote inclusive decision-making. Expected results include strengthened governance structures, transparent and accountable financial operations, improved climate resilience, and greater community ownership of conservation efforts. Progress will be measured through indicators tracking financial performance, leadership participation, and biodiversity health. Broader impacts will include better integration of traditional knowledge with scientific conservation approaches, improved wellbeing of indigenous communities, and long-term coexistence between people, livestock, and wildlife within community-managed landscapes.
CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT
This IKI Small Grants project will provide targeted capacity development support to KWCA to strengthen its institutional and operational capacity, enabling effective management of the small grants mechanism and long-term sustainability. Key areas of support will include:
- Designing and Managing Calls for Proposals
- Strengthening Gender and Safeguards Systems
- Enhancing Sustainability and Scaling Mechanisms
- Delivering Capacity Development and Learning for Grantees
ABOUT THE ORGANISATION
Established in 2012, the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA) represents communities and private landowners coexisting with wildlife. Its 2030 vision is to drive effectively managed conservancies that benefit people and nature through stronger landscape associations, enabling policies, sustainable financing, and resilient, inclusive conservation leadership.