Selected Careers in Conservation

Sociologist Community Development Dr Elizabeth

Pantoren - Kenya

Elizabeth grew up and went to school in Marsabit in the north of Kenya. Masabit was surrounded by a national park and a nature reserve. After working in Conservation and Social Development for 25 years, in 2019 she was proud to take a senior post working for the rural people in her home area as Director of Programmes for the Northern Rangelands Trust.

Elizabeth joined the Kenyan civil service when she was an undergraduate studying sociology. She rose up through the ranks to become Head of the Community Enterprise Development Department and then an Assistant Director in the Wildlife Service. She is academic, and has always loved learning, she has a Masters degree and a PhD in rural sociology and community development. She loves teaching as much as learning. Her job in the wildlife service involved mentoring and training colleagues in her service and community leaders. She was also responsible for overseeing the registration and government support to community nature-based enterprises. She is the person who signed the paperwork authorising the famous Ol Pejeta sanctuary for Northern Black Rhinos – the final home for Sudan, the last male northern black rhino to live on this planet.

As Director of Programmes in the Northern Rangelands Trust Elizabeth works with the community conservancies to ensure they are well managed, that they achieve their goals and are financially sustainable.

Dr Elizabeth is a passionate advocate for women and girl’s rights. She makes an effort to create public conversations about issues impacting on women and has become a role model for women.

You can read about BeadWorks, a hugely successful social enterprise that has empowered women in the communities across the Northern Rangelands Trust, on pages 28 and 29.

Scientific tourism – Manager

Donald Mbohli - Cameroon

Donald became interested in the environment after high school and decided to study Environmental Science at the University of Buea near where he grew up. After graduating in 2006 he wanted to use what he learned so he joined Project Grands Singes (PGS) as a volunteer. PGS is a conservation organisation that does scientific tourism. PGS is described on page 12. As a volunteer Donald mostly worked with local people at village level, collecting socioeconomic data and taking part in meetings and development projects with villagers. He found it difficult working with people who had limited education and very different views on the environment compared to him. But he enjoyed the work and did well.

Within a short time Donald was given a paid job and then within a year was promoted to Development Coordinator. In this role he had to write applications for grants, manage income projects for villagers, and teach villagers about the value of conservation. He was later promoted to in-country project coordinator which involves managing all the project activities (scientific research on great apes, conservation, rural development) and managing all the PGS staff. Donald has a master’s degree in project management. He studied on-line while he was working.

Donald also coordinates the work of a French NGO that supports education, again as a way to help conservation. He has set up a new school in a local village. It is one of the best primary schools in the area. This and other projects he has run have helped the people and reduced pressure on wildlife in the forests.

Selected Careers in Conservation

Civil Servant

Director of National Parks & Wildlife

Brighton Kumchedwa - Malawi

Brighton Kumchedwa is a civil servant. He has spent his entire career in the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW). He started as a Parks Officer and gradually worked up to Director of the DNPW.

When he was a child Brighton won a school essay competition. He wrote about a favourite animal. The prize was to visit a national park, where he saw elephants for the first time in his life. ‘It was an experience which until now I do not forget’ - it gave him a lifelong love for wildlife and nature.

In his career Brighton changed the face of conservation in Malawi. He set up community outreach and education ‘so that children will grow up thinking of wildlife conservation as a part of them. He fought for new wildlife laws and organised partnerships that hadn’t existed before - between government, community, private and NGO agencies.

Malawi had become a major illegal wildlife trade route and he turned that around in a way never seen before. You can read about some of the techniques that were introduced and the dramatic successes achieved in the PACE Wildlife Conservation Module.

The penalty for breaking Malawi’s new wildlife laws can now be up to 30 years in prison!some of the toughest penalties in Africa.

Tusk Trust - Programme Coordinator Ivy Wairimu - Kenya

Ivy is Programmes Coordinator for the conservation charity TUSK. She works mostly in an office. Some of the things she does are: organising events; organising trips for film crews; liaising with projects across Africa, and writing and collecting stories for online platforms.

Ivy grew up in Kenya’s Rift Valley region and studied Business and IT in Nairobi. “I was an intern at an advertising agency. I saw an advertisement for a job at a Conservancy and it seemed like an interesting opportunity, so I took the leap without having any experience in the field! Luckily, it paid off. Before TUSK I had three different employers in conservation, working as marketing assistant, marketing coordinator, and communications officer.”

Ivy was a marketing co-ordinator for Ol Pejeta Conservancy for 1 year 5 months, then a marathon co-ordinator/marketing assistant for the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy for close to 2 years and finally as a communications officer the Northern Rangelands Trust in northern Kenya.

Her favourite aspect of her job is travelling and seeing different places as well as meeting inspiring and hard-working conservationists all over Africa. Thanks to her work she has travelled extensively in Northern Kenya as well as a few other African countries. Some of her best memories from working in conservation include helping to build the social media platforms at Ol Pejeta by telling stories about all the wildlife on the conservancy. Ol Pejeta was home to very special wildlife - orphaned and rescued Chimpanzees and the world’s last northern white rhinos. Helping people around the world learn more about this wildlife was very fulfilling.

She also enjoyed helping to organise fun events to raise money for conservation, such as the annual Lewa Safari Marathon where people from all over the world run on a wildlife conservancy to raise money for wildlife. Other events include the Tusk Conservation Awards where we recognise the work of people conserving endangered animals across Africa.