Community Education

The aim of this programme is to teach school children the importance of the hirola and other wildlife in the area.

Therefore, our team occasionally visits schools in the hirola range to giving lectures, promoting the developments of conservation clubs, demonstration nurseries and give the students gardening skills.

Our educational outreach programme at present covers the schools shown in the map below:

 

Herders for hirola

Herders for Hirola is a network of Somali pastoralists (made up of herders, hirola conservation groups and local scouts from the area) who have united to save the hirola within it is natural rage. Somali herders are one of the most neglected groups of people in conservation management in Northeastern Kenya. Their young men spend more time in wildlife areas than anyone else in the community, yet are rarely involved in the decision-making with respect to wildlife conservation. To address this gap, hcp founded the Herders for Hirola to ensure long-term community involvement.

In August 2012, the programme started with a network of 20 herders residing with the hirola range including Galmagalla, Sangailu, Ijara and Bura areas. The herders receive training on basic wildlife ecology, conservation, communication, security issues, and the value of wildlife.

Over time, the herders are trained to collect data and use GPS, allowing us to map wildlife sightings throughout the hirola range. Each Fortnight, the herders meet together as a group with hcp staff to report on wildlife sightings, incidents of human-wildlife conflict (poaching, predation, etc.), community awareness meetings, and livestock issues. In turn, the herders receive lessons in English and Kiswahili, as well as a small monthly food stipend and meals during the weekly meetings.

We aim to include over 2000 pastoralists by 2027. We are continuously evaluating the programme to improve the herders livelihood going forward, making sure it is the best it can be. Through this programme, we are hopeful that the wildlife will have a secure future among the local people in this part of Kenya. Want to help? Please donate so that we can continue to engage these herdsmen.

Village meetings

To disseminate our work, we hold regular meetings with the local elders and community members to share the plight of hirola and also disseminate findings from our ongoing work.

 

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