Education
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Can Carbon Credits and Communities Help Save the Planet?
Every 3 months, women from the community gather for Women Empowerment Trainings. Together, they learn about finance, health, and the environment. Then, they bring this information back to their villages to teach others. This quarter, the training was held in Mwatate, 42 kms northwest of Maungu where Wildlife Works operates. Fifty women leaders from all over Taita Taveta County are learning to write proposals, how to cope with climate change (the area has been affected by drought for over 18 months), and keeping healthy. Their colorful dress and personalities stand out against the red hills characteristic of the area. Community-Based Conservation In Action The people in charge of today’s meeting are the Community Based Organization (CBO) Board Members…
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Fair Trade USA Committee Uniform Donation
Last week, members of the Wildlife Works’ eco factory Fair Trade Committee had the pleasure of making a trip to two local schools within our project area. As part of the eco factory’s Fair Trade USA certification, each of our Fair Trade USA certified clients contribute a ‘premium’. This is around 5-10% of the overall production cost which is paid directly to our factory workers. Students at Itinyi Primary School holding up their new school uniforms Our Fair Trade Committee then decides how this money is spent. This time, they allocated a portion of their premium to the community for worthy causes. (Read here stories about how our employees have…
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Teaching Climate Change in Rural Kenya
This is a gust blog from our media intern, Lucy Arndt, hailing from the U.K. Contact ask (at) wildlifeworks.com for our many internship opportunities in Kenya and the Congo. One of the most surreal things I’ve experienced since arriving in Kenya was being part of a teaching session on climate change with village elders – held entirely in Swahili. In my first week here, I accompanied the Community Relations Department of Wildlife Works on a series of community visits to the rural communities that are part of the project area. One of these was a focus group discussion with village elders (clan leaders, school leadership, etc.) to explain the project…
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Wildlife Works Scholarship Recipient Joins the Team
“I get satisfaction in my job through putting perfection into my work,” says Zanira Kasyoka, one of the lucky recipients of a Wildlife Works’ scholarship that fully sponsored her secondary education. Her talents and hard work stood out and she is now fully employed as an assistant in the Wildlife Works’ carbon-neutral, eco-factory office. Meet Zanira, first a scholarship recipient now an employee Zanira comes from a humble background in the village of Itinyi, Taita Taveta County, within our project area in Kenya. She was brought up by a single mother together with her elder sister. She now lives with her mother and grandmother, as her sister has married and moved…
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Supporting the Community that Supports Your Production
The SOKO Community Trust is the community outreach arm of the ethical clothing factory, SOKO, that operates within the same Export Processing Zone as Wildlife Works and with whom we share knowledge and implement community projects. Soko and their clients invest in initiatives that support the community in which they produce: Maungu, Kenya, where Wildlife Works’ Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project operations are based. The SOKO Community Trust’s initiatives aim to provide people with the practical skills needed to lift themselves out of poverty. On 22th June 2016, The Trust celebrated the launch of two new programs: Stitching Academy Hub and the Pipeline Roadshow Wildlife Works Community Relations Officer, Joseph Mwakima,…
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Motivational Speakers Inspiring Local School Kids
Wildlife Works runs a program of education initiatives for youth within our Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project area. We strongly believe that children are ambassadors for change and for environmental stewardship and we work hard to empower them to do so. One of the programs we run is a series of motivational speakers that deliver talks to local students. They are individuals from the community who have an inspiring story to tell and lessons to share with youth. A motivational talk given under a neem tree at Marungu Primary School Since starting in 2014, we have held motivational talks at 16 schools, reaching well over 1,000 students. The aim is to…
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Scholarship Student Dreams of Medical School
“The greatest danger facing modern society today is not of dying without achieving your dreams but dying without dreaming at all.” This is the motto by which Sophia Tsenge lives. Sophia comes from a humble background in a family of seven, in Sasenyi Village in Taita Taveta County, Kenya, and is one of Wildlife Works education bursary beneficiaries. One of the core ways in which Wildlife Works supports local development is through distributing the profit made from carbon credits back into conservation project’s communities we serve. Much of the funding programs go towards supporting community groups who submit needs proposals for committee approval. Another major funding funnel is our education…
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Wildlife Works On-Site Nursery School Gets a Makeover
No matter where you are in the world, playtime at nursery school sounds the same – delighted shrieking and shouting erupts from tiny voices as soon as the kids are let free. There is no difference here at Wildlife Works’ on-site nursery school, except that recently the chorus has been extra loud (if that’s possible!) because the school has just had a makeover. Wildlife Works nursery school on site in Kenya Since January 2012, Wildlife Works has provided a nursery school free of charge for our employee’s children aged 2-5 at our Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project in Kenya. This helps kids get an early start in their education and provides…
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Changing Kenya’s Landscape for Wildlife and Jobseekers
Changing Kenya’s Landscape for Wildlife and Jobseekers Published in the The Opinion Pages on NY Times By Amy Yee JUNE 8, 2016 RUKINGA SANCTUARY, Kenya — Twenty years ago, this wildlife corridor in southern Kenya was in jeopardy. A scarcity of jobs in this impoverished, arid landscape meant people were hunting wild giraffe and antelope for meat, and chopping down trees to make charcoal. With fewer trees, desertification loomed. Water was so precious that local cattle herders lit fires at water holes to keep giraffes and zebras from drinking. The animals had less vegetation to eat and less forest cover. Cutting down trees combined with poaching decimated wildlife in this…
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World Environment Day Celebrations: Go Wild for Life
Happy World Environment Day! Each year this United Nations day is celebrated on 5th June to raise awareness on taking action to protect nature. The 2016 theme was ‘Go Wild for Life’ promoting zero tolerance for the illegal wildlife trade. World Environment Day parade in Taita Taveta County Wildlife Works took part in the celebrations in Taita Taveta County in Kenya, where the 2016 theme particularly resonates. Kenya’s wildlife is severely affected by the illegal wildlife trade. It is estimated that each year around 30,000 elephants are killed worldwide as a result of poaching and the illegal ivory trade. Grevy’s Zebra, which are found on our Rukinga Sanctuary in Kenya,…