Strengthening coordination among community rangers in Kenya to deliver community and conservation outcomes — integrating human rights best practice into ranger operations and building the Association of Wildlife Conservancies Rangers in Kenya.
Over the years, KWCA has partnered with WWF to progressively build the capacity and network of community rangers in the country. KWCA has been implementing the WWF-led 'Voices for Diversity — Safeguarding Ecosystems for Nature and People' project since December 2020. The project seeks to strengthen coordination among community rangers in Kenya to deliver community and conservation outcomes.
Key achievements include supporting the registration of the Association of Wildlife Conservancies Rangers in Kenya (AWCR) in 2018 to provide a platform for community rangers to connect, share information, experiences and best practices and co-develop security and community engagement strategies; and developing, publishing and distributing over 600 copies of Standard Operating Procedures for community rangers in Kenya.
Community rangers play critical roles in securing wildlife habitats, minimising illegal trade and linking community surveillance with national and county law enforcement efforts in Kenya. In Kenya, community rangers are recognised as Community Wildlife Scouts under the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act 2013. Over 3,500 community scouts are employed across conservancies in Kenya, and their numbers in each conservancy depend on the conservancy's financial ability, perceived risk and scale of operations. By engaging community members as rangers, law enforcement becomes a community agenda and the cost of participating in illegal wildlife trade increases, thereby deterring poaching.
To build on the previous project's successes and scale the capacity of community rangers, KWCA received additional support from WWF to integrate human rights best practices into conservancy rangers' activities by reviewing the SOPs, developing a human rights handbook, and providing institutional support to operationalise AWCR.
To strengthen coordination among community rangers in Kenya to deliver community and conservation outcomes.
To standardise the conservancy rangers’ uniform in Kenya, the National Uniforms Development Committee (NUDC) has approved the Olive Green Colour (textile code 18-0317-221) for conservancy rangers and beige shirt/blouse (textile code 15-1213-4545) for ranger…
This Rangers Code of Conduct was developed by the International Ranger Federation following global, iterative consultation process with rangers, ranger associations, ranger employers, national and regional government bodies, human rights organisations and other relevant…
This document presents Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for wildlife scouts (also referred to as conservancy rangers, game scouts, or community rangers) employed in wildlife conservancies, wildlife sanctuaries, regional associations, community wildlife associations, and conservation…
