Building Capacity with our Kenyan Partners

By: Katie Shaw, Conservation Social Scientist

Samburu, Kenya is a beautiful place, home to several species that are unique to the region. But like many other places, it is experiencing pressing conservation challenges. The Living Desert has ongoing field conservation partnerships with the organizations Grevy’s Zebra Trust (GZT) and Ewaso Lions, both of whom are leading essential community-based conservation efforts to protect species in the Samburu region. To assist our partners in their community engagement and evaluation efforts, The Living Desert just conducted one of our Building Community Conservation Success (BCCS) social science workshops with conservation biologists from both organizations, as well as staff from another partner organization, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

After the success of the extended version of the BCCS workshop in Zimbabwe earlier this year, we conducted a nine-day workshop in Samburu, which allows us not only to teach theoretical skills, social science methods, and data analysis, but also allows participants to gain hands-on experience conducting social science in local communities. The workshop was led by myself as our Conservation Social Scientist at The Living Desert, and Dr. Kathayoon Khalil, Conservation Psychologist and Educator. Participants brought a wealth of biological, organizational, and local knowledge to the workshop, resulting in thoughtful and engaging discussions. We guided them through the process of crafting two interview scripts- one about GZT’s various community programs and one about an Ewaso Lions program to reduce human-lion conflicts.

Approaching people and conducting interviews can be a daunting process, further complicated by logistical challenges such as language barriers (only ¾ of the participants spoke Samburu) and cultural events, such as a ceremony that caused many families to relocate their homesteads. However, between the passion of the workshop participants and the kindness of the Samburu people, a few of whom invited us in for tea and pancakes, we had a successful three days of data collection.

As we introduced participants to data analysis processes, useful findings and insights began to unfold from the data. While there were many predicted and anticipated findings, one of the great things about conducting social science research is that unexpected findings also frequently emerge, providing valuable insights into community perceptions. GZT learned about a common misperception that the Grevy’s zebra population is increasing and assessed the communities’ awareness of their many projects. Ewaso Lions learned about differences in awareness between individual staff members versus entire programs, as well as community preferences for future outreach efforts. One surprising finding was the tendency for community members to group all local conservation organizations together, highlighting opportunities for further future collaborations between GZT, Ewaso Lions, IFAW, and other conservationists. Both GZT and Ewaso Lions plan on expanding on these initial findings with further social science research.

While these workshops cover a lot of information and involve many days of hard work, everyone from The Living Desert, GZT, Ewaso Lions, and IFAW shared many laughs and enjoyed our time together. Evenings were filled with good food and fierce dart and card game competitions. At the close of the workshop, participants very kindly and generously gifted Kathayoon, the two IFAW staff from southern Kenya, and myself with traditional Samburu outfits. We will miss our new friends and the beauty of Samburu and look forward to future conservation collaborations between The Living Desert and GZT, Ewaso Lions, and IFAW.