National Conservancies Forum

What it is

One network, many tables

Convening is one of KWCA’s core functions. The National Conservancies Forum is the umbrella for the platforms that bring the whole movement together.

KWCA’s reach — 224 member conservancies across 28 counties, coordinated through 12 landscape associations — is what makes national convening possible. As KWCA puts it: “Our extensive network and our membership enable us to bring together stakeholders in wildlife conservancy from across the country to engage and collaborate.”

Rather than one annual event, the forum works as a family of platforms, each serving a distinct constituency within the network: the chairpersons who govern conservancies, the managers who run them day to day, the women leaders working to change who sits at the table, and the rangers who protect wildlife and communities on the ground.

What is discussed at a forum does not stay there. The National Conservancies Women Forum, for example, was adopted and formalised in the KWCA Constitution at the Annual General Meeting in June 2021 and now holds a permanent seat on the National Conservancies Council — so its agenda feeds directly into how KWCA is governed.

Jackline Koriata of Mbokishi Naretoi Women's Group standing beside beehives

The platforms

Four tables, one network

National Conservancy Leaders’ Forum

Held annually, this forum brings together the chairpersons of community, private and group conservancies from across the country to deliberate, collaborate and address the challenges facing wildlife conservancies in Kenya. It has also served as a working session on national policy — conservancy leaders contributed to Kenya’s wildlife policy through the forum.

Read from the 2018 forum →

National Conservancies Women Forum

Established in 2018 to develop, groom and expose women to the dynamics of conservancy committees, boards and AGMs, and to increase women’s representation and participation at conservancy, regional and national level. It advises KWCA on gender in conservancies, and since 2021 has held a permanent seat on the National Conservancies Council.

How the forum was formalised →

National Conservancy Rangers Forum

Convened around World Ranger Day, this forum gives conservancy rangers a platform to work through standards and operating procedures for wildlife scouts, and has been used to target training at rangers’ capacity and performance. KWCA and WWF also established the Association of Wildlife Conservancy Rangers in Kenya to connect rangers to continental and international ranger platforms.

Read the CEO’s World Ranger Day address →

Conservancy Managers Conference

A biennial conference for the people running conservancies day to day — a platform to learn, share and network, and to review policy as a distinct stakeholder group. The second edition reviewed the Wildlife Policy 2013, the Wildlife Conservation and Management (Amendment) Bill 2016 and the Wildlife Regulations.

Read the conference report →

Convening, in numbers

120+

Conservancy leaders from 28 counties at the 2018 Leaders’ Forum

105

Conservancy managers at the second biennial Managers Conference

Conservancy women convened by the Women Forum for IUCN APAC in Kigali

Past editions

What has come out of the room

2018 — Scaling up conservancy gains

27–28 March 2018, Pride Inn Hotel, Westlands, Nairobi. More than 120 conservancy leaders from 28 counties met under the theme “Scaling up conservancy gains for sustainable wildlife conservation”, five years on from KWCA’s establishment in April 2013. Leaders shared lessons from the growing network and were briefed on government plans, policies and laws affecting conservation on community and private land.

Read the write-up →

2017 — Effective leadership and policies

27–28 February at CORAT Africa, under the theme “Effective leadership and policies for conservancies in Kenya”. The second biennial conference brought together 105 conservancy managers from KWCA members across 12 regional associations to learn, share and network, and to give recommendations on the Wildlife Policy and the Wildlife Act amendments then under review.

Read the conference report →

2022 — Conservancy women at IUCN APAC

Twenty-six women drawn from Kenya’s conservancy network — rangers, managers, committee members and gender specialists — were convened under the National Conservancies Women Forum and prepared, with support from the USAID Department of the Interior, to take part in the IUCN Africa Protected Areas Congress in Kigali. Twelve took part in five panel discussions as panellists and moderators.

Read what changed →

Take part

How to get to the table

Participation runs through the network. Forum dates and delegate arrangements are coordinated with the landscape associations, so the first step is usually your association. If your conservancy is not yet a KWCA member, start with membership.

If you are a partner, funder or researcher who would like to contribute to a forum agenda, or you need details of the next convening, write to the KWCA secretariat.