In Uganda, people are involved with wildlife crime because of human-wildlife conflict (HWC) or a lack of income earning opportunities.
To help address these issues, IIED and partners are piloting an approach that aims to increase community engagement in tackling wildlife crime by implementing park-level action plans. The activities include supporting community scouts to protect crops and livestock from wild animals by providing training and equipment in HWC mitigation.
In addition, project partner Village Enterprise is supporting the scouts and other community members to generate non-poaching related income through their community enterprise programme. Village Enterprise has provided training in commercial enterprises followed by on-going mentoring as communities started their enterprises. They also established Business Savings Groups (BSG), with the aim to empower individuals to sustain their new enterprises for the long-term.
These stories of change are from four individuals living near the park boundary who became members of the community enterprise programme in June 2018.
