The people that live around Gambella National Park comprise settled agriculturalists on the floodplains, and pastoralists. Other than some activities being implemented by EWCA, there are currently very few conservation-related community programmes in place. The few that do exist however, such as honey and shea butter production, offer potential opportunities from which to develop park-supported socio-economic initiatives.
The 12-month transition phase will involve building strong relationships with communities, gaining a deeper understanding of their needs and collaborating with local stakeholders to build the Community Development Plan. This co-created plan will emphasise community engagement and environmental education, and will seek to unlock more opportunities to benefit communities through sustainable use of resources, and ensure their active participation in conservation efforts.
A Community Development team is being established to ensure open communication channels with communities so that their needs and use-rights of natural resources are understood and sustainably managed to benefit local people and the landscape. This information will be used to collaborate with communities and stakeholders around the existing network of protected areas, with an emphasis on cross-boundary wildlife movements and human-wildlife interactions. In this way, positive community engagement can be achieved and socio-economic initiatives developed, along with supporting services such as education and health.
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