Partners

The Ministry of Forest Economy executes national policy regarding sustainable development, forest economy, and the environment. In 2010, African Parks signed its first public-private management agreement with the ministry for Odzala-Kokoua National Park. In 2020, an amendment to the agreement was signed with the minister, Madame Rosalie Matondo, adding the Lossi Gorilla Sanctuary to the mandate, with Odzala-Kokoua-Lossi Foundation as the management entity. Under the ministry, African Parks works with the Congolese Agency for Wildlife and Protected Areas (ACFAP in French), which is represented by its Director General, Jean Bosco Nganongo.

A joint initiative of Save the Elephants and the Wildlife Conservation Network, the ECF is a flexible and responsive fund that supports the best efforts by the most trusted organisations globally, working to secure a future for elephant in Africa. Since 2015, the ECF has not only contributed more than $6.6 million to African Parks, but also expertise on best practice in elephant conservation. This has benefitted critical surveillance, intelligence-based protection, and human-elephant conflict mitigation activities for some of our most threatened elephant populations.

The EU has been a crucial long-standing partner of African Parks, driving joint conservation and development goals in Central, East and West Africa. Since 2005, this partnership has fostered stability in fragile regions attracting additional funding and new partners. The EU’s support has been critical in managing large landscapes, enhancing safety and security for both people and wildlife, and creating opportunities in green sectors. Together, we remain committed to advancing our shared vision for a sustainable future.

LLF is an international fund, established by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development as an independent charitable foundation under German law. Its financial resources stem from public and private sources. In addition to funding from the German Government through KfW Development Bank, NORAD and the French Agence Française de Developpement, each site needs to have a private match-funding partner. LLF addresses the biodiversity financing gap by sourcing significant and sustained long-term funding from both public and private donors, thus contributing to conserving biodiversity within a 30x30 framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Two protected areas managed by African Parks are among the pilot sites receiving funding from LLF: Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo and Iona National Park in Angola.

A charitable foundation established in 2017 by Dutch entrepreneur Jan Verhagen, Natura Africae is dedicated to the conservation of national parks and protected areas in Africa, recognising the reciprocal relationship between the livelihoods of local communities and the successful conservation of an ecosystem’s wildlife. The Foundation provided €4.25 million in 2024, supporting park operations in Liuwa Plain, Odzala-Kokoua, Iona, Ennedi, and a special drought relief programme in Matusadona. The grant also provided catalytic funding to strengthen African Parks’ community development work, in particular related to education.

RWF supports ambitious projects, partners and programmes to foster a planet where people and nature thrive. With the passion of its founder, RWF works with urgency and an earnest belief that it will take all of us to reach global conservation goals, protect biodiversity, and create opportunity for communities. Rob Walton has been an invaluable partner to African Parks since 2003, providing support to safeguard the long-term health of protected areas. In 2021, RWF made a transformational US$100 million five-year commitment, the largest endowment gift in African Parks’ history. Portions of the Foundation’s annual contributions have supported various parks within our portfolio, including Chinko, Ennedi, and Liwonde, as well as sparked matching grants to Iona and Odzala-Kokoua, in conjunction with the Legacy Landscapes Fund. 

INL advances security, stability, and the rule of law, prerequisites for sustainable economic development and conservation of natural resources. Since 2017, INL has partnered with African Parks on critical law enforcement support in protected areas, enhancing the professionalisation and effectiveness of rangers across Africa. While standardised operational capacity transcends all protected areas under African Parks’ management, 10 protected areas have received direct support in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Republic of Congo, Central Africa Republic, Benin, Malawi and Zambia. INL’s support has led to the development of leadership and core training infrastructure, enables air surveillance, improves the welfare of rangers and canines, enhances technology for communication, wildlife monitoring and information management, and advances national and regional collaboration with other security and conservation partners. Evidence management training and support of judicial systems have also contributed to notable increases in wildlife crime convictions. These interventions not only safeguard wildlife, but also contribute to increased security of neighbouring communities and regional stability. -The United States Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) funding ended in Odzala in 2024.

The USFWS operates to conserve and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats. Since its initial partnership with African Parks in 2013, USFWS has consistently provided support to bolster our conservation endeavours in key protected areas across Central and West Africa. In 2024, USFWS continued its commitment by supporting the management and conservation of Odzala-Kokoua (Republic of Congo) and Zakouma (Chad), as well as backing elephant conservation initiatives in Chinko (CAR), and Pendjari and W national parks in Benin. -The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) ended in Odzala 2025