Community Development

The long-term conservation and protection of Boma-Badingilo can only be achieved through active participation and engagement with local communities and local authorities.

The significant numbers of people that live inside and on the boundaries of the parks comprise different ethnic groups, including the Dinka, Murle, Anyuak, Jie, Toposa, Nyangatom, Nuer, Mundari, Bari, Lokoya, Madi, Luluba, Lopit, Boya. Each has distinct traditions, culture, and livelihood activities connected with nature and the landscape.

Approximately 16,000 people live just outside Boma, in the towns of Pochalla and Pibor and Kuron Peace Village. Illegal commercial bushmeat hunting and coal burning is exacerbated around Badingilo due to its proximity to national roads and the capital, Juba, and Bor town. 

 The challenges facing Boma-Badingilo are therefore diverse. African Parks is working with local communities to better understand the landscape, to identify increasing threats and to put in place comprehensive land-use management plans to ensure sustainable resource use.

The livelihoods of communities living within the Boma and Badingilo landscape are highly dependent on the parks’ natural resources © Marcus Westberg

Land-use planning has begun in villages, where discussions are taking place with community leaders, along with assessments of the needs of each village. Aerial and ground surveys of cattle camps in and around Boma have helped to create a baseline of the human presence inside the park and in implementing the transhumance programme across the Boma-Badingilo landscape to accommodate the needs of people in the planning. Meetings have been held with community leaders throughout the region to introduce African Parks and discuss its involvement in the landscape, as well as to understand and address the needs and concerns of community members. In this way, awareness is being created and knowledge fostered among community members about wildlife conservation and its benefits.

A key focus has been expanding the role of Community Agents (CAs) who serve as focal points to engage with resident communities, assist in conducting community development activities and strengthen ties between communities and park management. While engaging with communities, the CAs monitor activities such as illegal harvesting, bushmeat trade, and charcoal production, and to identify threats to the landscape.

Nine TANGO (Transhumance Engagement Officers) teams have been formed, comprising 54 members who are stationed in the primary migration corridors of pastoralist communities. The teams are effective in reaching remote communities where they enhance discussions about conservation, sustainable resource-use, and human-wildlife interactions. 

In education development efforts, schools were established in Nyat (Boma) and Lafon (Badingilo), staffed by 15 dedicated teachers. Badingilo has become an educational hub, hosting approximately 350 students to learn about conservation and wildlife, while a group of 40 young men from Lafon were enrolled with the South Sudan Boy Scout Association.

Community and school visits to the parks and the creation of wildlife clubs in schools create spaces of learning and awareness that will not only secure the future of the parks but create one where both people and wildlife can thrive. 

Sustainable pastoral programmes and training have begun, boosting skills development with a view to encouraging conservation-led economic development. In Maruwa (Boma), the Community Based Organisation (CBO) is encouraging communities to conserve their resources as they will become beneficiaries of other sustainability projects, such as tourism and high-yield agriculture.

To enhance sustainable enterprise development, vegetable gardens have been created in various villages to supply the park camps with local produce. Other income-generating projects are being identified that will provide alternatives to park resources. For example, 30 beekeepers were trained around Badingilo, resulting in 750 kg of honey harvested in 2024.