Capacity Building

To discuss capacity building initiatives by organizations belonging to the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG), a February 2001 meeting was held at African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).  ABCG organizations discussed new initiatives and approaches to capacity building at the individual, institutional, and systemic levels.  Opportunities for on-the-ground collaboration such as support for the regional wildlife training colleges in Africa [College of African Wildlife Management, Mweka, Tanzania, L’école pour la Formation des Spécialistes de la Faune de Garoua, Cameroon and Southern African Wildlife College, South Africa] were reviewed.  Opportunities to coordinate training activities with African partners in wildlife and protected area authorities were also examined.  ABCG organizations compiled a list of their available scholarship and research opportunities to be shared with African partners.

ABCG has since been involved in numerous efforts regarding conservation capacity building in Africa. These include:

• MENTOR (Mentoring for ENvironmental Training in Outreach and Resource conservation) Fellowship Program, a cooperative agreement funded by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service with the College of African Wildlife Management- Mweka, Tanzania, and the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group capacity has been built for a multidisciplinary team of promising conservationists to address bushmeat challenges and solutions.
• Bushmeat-free Eastern Africa Network, a product of the MENTOR Fellowship Program
• Brown Bag presentation on Garoua Wildlife School by Director Francis Tarla, March 2010