WE COEXIST
TO PROSPER
Jobs and Village enterprises promote food security, poverty eradication and biodiversity conservation.
Why? Because conservation is ultimately about people and their natural world. Empowering local communities to manage their natural resources enables a productive One Health coexistence with the natural world. Each project in our VILLAGE development program addresses two fundamental goals: poverty eradication and biodiversity conservation. Village Water provides the water infrastructure essential for a healthy community; Village Lights provides solar lights for homes and extra study time after dark; Village Kids educates children through play, creating relationships with animals and planting the seeds of empathy; Village Greens empowers women and youth growing vegetables to feed themselves and families while building the local economy; Village Governance mentors village leaders to govern and manage resources for the benefit of all; Village Herds employs 30+ Community Scouts trained in the Herding for Health model for aggregated herds to reduce costs and conflict with wildlife and planned grazing for healthier rangelands; Village Abattoir facilitates marketability for locally produced “wildlife friendly”, grass fed beef; and lastly, Village Safari promotes local tourism enterprise development that contributes to Botswana’s, previously inaccessible growing tourism market and diversification of the local economy.
COEX PROGRAM MISSION:
To promote landscape connectivity, ecosystem health, and economic development by empowering communities to manage and sustainably benefit from their natural resources.
"Public and private partnerships are key to reducing poverty"
- Monty Montshiwa - MSc. Environmental Management -
PARTNERSHIPS
OUR IMPACT - ON THE GROUND - 2023
347
patrolled conducted
11595
km patrolled
54
employment opportunities created
6
boreholes maintained
10
new scouts
55,381
ha of rangeland under improved management
39
total number of scouts
17
new farmers
710
total number of cattle
164
new cattle
Sustainable Wildlife Management in communal lands
The SWM program encourages the development of sustainable wildlife and natural resource management, and helps to create diversified livelihoods that compliment rather than compete with traditional agropastorialism. Our Habu village pilot for Community Coexistence is in an ideal location to trial pioneering human-wildlife conflict mitigation methods in a strategic wildlife corridor within the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA).
11595
km patrolled
patrolled conducted
347
6
boreholes maintained
employment opportunities created
54
55,381
ha of rangeland under improved management
new scouts
10
17
new farmers
total number of scouts
39
164
new cattle
total number of cattle
710
Wildlife Friendly Beef
Herding for Health (H4H) changes cultural practices to encourage collectively managed cattle herds that are healthier, more productive, and safe from wildlife. This results in a marketable beef product that promotes coexistence and enterprise development.
Village Greens
A simple cycle of using composted waste collected from our safari partner’s lodge to grow vegetables to sell back to the lodge utilises food waste and promotes the development of sustainable livelihoods.
Social Enterprise Development
From community gardens to basket weaving to leather production, we support social projects that empower the local community to develop sustainable livelihoods.
PERSONAL IMPACTS AND ENDORSEMENTS
“More than 50+ families are benefiting from working from Wild Entrust. This means that me, my family and relatives can have food on the table and bath because of WEs efforts to develop livelihoods of people in Habu.”
Amantle Ditiho
Procurement Officer
“I have seen a huge improvement in cattle management and good market access channels for Habu farmers, which has provided employment opportunities for families in Habu village. The salary paid to me is life.”
Thuto Olatotswe Kelebopetswe
Environmental Education Officer
“The arrival of Wild Entrust has seen a big decrease in human wildlife conflict in Habu, as well as an increase in jobs. As a community, we are learning about wildlife, and wildlife conservation.”
Kerapetse Kalafo
BAITS Officer
“Wild Entrust has managed to revive the arts and culture in the village because they have conducted mural paintings, drama plays by the magic beans and has helped kids with reading lights under their school programs.”
Clayton Diutlwetse
ARTISAN
What you can do to help !
Reach out to your friends and organise a Fundraiser. $150 will pump water for a wildlife for a week to reduce human-wildlife conflict.
Environmental Education Officer
Thuto Olatotswe Kelebopetswe
“I have seen a huge improvement in cattle management and good market access channels for Habu farmers, which has provided employment opportunities for families in Habu village. The salary paid to me is life.”
Procurement Officer
Amantle Ditiho
“More than 50+ families are benefiting from working from Wild Entrust. This means that me, my family and relatives can have food on the table and bath because of WEs efforts to develop livelihoods of people in Habu.”
ARTISAN
Clayton Diutlwetse
“Wild Entrust has managed to revive the arts and culture in the village because they have conducted mural paintings, drama plays by the magic beans and has helped kids with reading lights under their school programs.”
BAITS Officer
Kerapetse Kalafo
“The arrival of Wild Entrust has seen a big decrease in human wildlife conflict in Habu, as well as an increase in jobs. As a community, we are learning about wildlife, and wildlife conservation.”
“Our COEX Programme approaches conservation through a community lens, with the philosophy that stewardship over nature is ultimately dependent on the people whose lives are most affected by it.” “I have been tasked with the daily challenge of finding the most productive way to link conservation to community empowerment. By navigating between the science, the politics, the cultures and the necessity for food and income security, I believe our innovative VILLAGE model offers a unique opportunity to develop new ethos of collaboration, resilience and empowerment. I am excited to expand and partner with new villages who share our vision and seek to implement our Community CoExistence VILLAGE model”.
Monty Montshiwa | Community Coexistence Programme Coordinator
We remain in the field, on the ground, getting it done ...with the results to prove it.
