ACTIVE™ Community Engagement
Programs
ACTIVE™ Community Engagement offers practical methods and strategies for organizations to create and sustain meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships with local people.
Developed by African People & Wildlife, the ACTIVE™ methodology is the culmination of nearly 20 years of on-the-ground experience partnering with rural communities to achieve successful, long-term conservation outcomes in Tanzania. The ACTIVE™ acronym encapsulates the vital steps we take to foster collaboration: Access, Connect, Team, Implement, Verify, and Evolve.
If your organization or initiative is looking to empower communities while making an impact, learn how the ACTIVE™ approach can pave the way for enduring partnerships.
ACTIVE™ Experiences
Practitioner Workshops
General and in-depth training opportunities via webinars and select venues introduce best practices for partnering with local people and the ACTIVE™ Community Engagement methodology.
Onsite Shared Learning and Retreats
Strategic team building, learning, and immersive field experiences are offered at the Noloholo Environmental Center, African People & Wildlife’s headquarters in northern Tanzania. Participants can choose to interact with community-based projects through a variety of learning lenses and meet with local people who have benefitted from the ACTIVE™ process. Read about the recent experience of Cotton Made in Africa.
Customized Consulting Services
We provide tailored consultancy services to individual organizations and groups based on their specific challenges, needs, and objectives for community engagement. We work alongside organizations to design, support, and provide technical expertise as they partner with local communities.
We are excited to have African People & Wildlife as a partner lending their expertise in our field activities. They will certainly enhance our conservation efforts by increasing the focus on respecting, valuing, and supporting local communities as pillars in project decision-making and guidance.
Kerllen Costa, Angola Country Director, National Geographic
Okavango Wilderness Project
Examples of Learning Lenses for ACTIVE™ Community Engagement
Human-Wildlife Conflict Prevention
Learn how to leverage the traditional knowledge and expertise of local people to co-create solutions that uplift livelihoods while conserving wildlife. The innovations that result from such collaborations are effective, sustainable, and culturally appropriate.
Community Natural Resource Management
Visit projects working hand in hand with rural communities to monitor, measure, and safeguard natural resources. As participants and decision-makers in conservation programs, community members are dedicated to the success of their efforts.
Sustainable Enterprise Development
Experience enterprise development programs that uplift livelihoods, protect the environment, and reinforce the value of local wildlife species. Through supportive workshops that promote self-sufficiency, program beneficiaries are prepared for long-term entrepreneurial success.
Environmental Education
Learn how to develop shared learning experiences and seminars that provide the technical resources, expertise, and support for community members who aspire to lead their own conservation projects or become valued staff and field team members. This lens also emphasizes the importance of youth environmental education.
Sample Training Itinerary
Every ACTIVE™ learning experience reflects the results of a training needs assessment, making it highly responsive to your organization’s goals.
- Context Analysis and Emerging Issues: Reflect on the unique threats and opportunities of your social, political, and ecological situation.
- Community Engagement Principles: Explore approaches to working with local communities with proven tips and tools.
- Inclusive Stakeholder Participation: Learn how to co-design activities, map local stakeholders, and select community champions.
- Measuring Impact with Communities: Develop a community data collection model to track and assess your program outcomes.
- Hands-on Field Visits: Meet with community members and observe ACTIVE™ engagement principles in action.
Recent ACTIVE™ Trainees
Botswana Wild Bird Trust
Cotton Made in Africa
Frankfurt Zoological Society
LCMO
Lead Foundation
MVIWAMA
MVIWA-Arusha
National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project
Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority
Pastoral Women’s Council
Tanzania Horticultural Association
Tanzania National Parks Authority
Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority
TCCIA Manyara
Trias East Africa
Ujamaa Community Resource Team
World Monuments Fund
Youth Entrepreneurship Program (YEP) Tanzania