GEF-8 Global Wildlife Program (GWP) Kenya Child Project

Year One Planning Meeting

From 19th–24th January 2026, Laikipia Conservancies Association (LCA) joined Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA) and Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association (TTWCA) in Machakos for the Year One Planning Meeting of the GEF-8 Global Wildlife Program (GWP) Kenya Child Project. The meeting was convened to jointly plan Year One implementation, align on roles and timelines, and review budgeting, communications, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting requirements for effective project delivery.

The five-year project, titled “Advancing Human-Wildlife Conflict Management Effectiveness in Kenya through an Integrated Approach,” is implemented under the World Bank-led GEF-8 Global Wildlife Program with a total investment of USD 9.5 million. It is executed by the State Department for Wildlife in collaboration with Conservation International, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI), Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA), Laikipia Conservancies Association (LCA), and Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association (TTWCA).

The project targets key wildlife landscapes in Laikipia, Meru, and Taita Taveta (Tsavo), where the majority of wildlife exists outside protected areas. The project seeks to strengthen institutional capacity, improve coordination, support community-led conservation and livelihood solutions, enhance knowledge management through the Global Wildlife Program platform, and establish a robust, gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation framework to address escalating human-wildlife conflict while mitigating biodiversity loss and improving community resilience.

Strategic Alignment and Year One Priorities

The planning meeting provided a platform for implementing partners to align on project scope, expected results, timelines, and coordination mechanisms. Discussions emphasized data-driven, targeted, and coordinated implementation, strong communication and visibility in line with GEF-8 requirements, and clear criteria for prioritizing interventions across Laikipia, Meru, and Taita Taveta landscapes.

Overall, the project targets improved wildlife management across approximately 2.3 million hectares of protected areas and 470,000 hectares of community and buffer zones, with direct support to 47,700 hectares of community conservancies. It is expected to directly benefit approximately 8,500 people, with a minimum gender inclusion target of 30 percent, building on lessons from GEF-6 where participation reached 45 percent.

Year One implementation will focus primarily on Component One: Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation, including:

• Procurement and deployment of deterrent equipment such as handheld electric crackers, LED flashlights, air horns, silver crackers, Roman candles, and lion lights, targeted to identified conflict hotspots based on the latest data from the State Department for Wildlife (SDW), KWS, and partners.

• Construction of 30 predator-proof bomas in identified predation hotspots.

• Drilling and equipping community-managed boreholes, with one borehole proposed for Laikipia and two for Meru County, to reduce pressure on wildlife areas.

• Strategic placement of water infrastructure, ensuring boreholes are located near communities while water pans and dams are positioned away from settlements for wildlife use.

• Strengthening water governance structures, including Water Resource Users Associations (WRUAs) and community water management committees, to oversee operations and maintenance.

In Laikipia, priority interventions will support the Naibunga Conservancies and the broader Naibunga Corridor. A comprehensive ecological survey will be conducted in Year One to assess habitat conditions, identify biodiversity threats, and inform long-term corridor management. This process will include stakeholder engagement and the formation of a corridor management committee, alongside strengthening governance and institutional frameworks within conservancies for sustainable corridor management.

Project Reach and Impact

The project contributes to landscape-level conservation by integrating institutional strengthening, community-based solutions, One Health surveillance and zoonotic disease monitoring, knowledge sharing, and gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation systems.

Through coordinated implementation across the Laikipia, Meru, and Tsavo landscapes, the project aims to enhance human-wildlife conflict management effectiveness while reinforcing community resilience and biodiversity conservation outcomes.

Strengthening Coordination for Landscape-Level Impact

The meeting concluded with a shared understanding of roles, responsibilities, and timelines, preliminary agreement on Year One priorities and implementation approaches, and alignment on budgeting, communications, and monitoring and evaluation requirements.

Key next steps include consolidation and circulation of the draft Year One workplan and budget by KWCA, LCA’s support in baseline data development and institutional strengthening inputs, agreement on site selection criteria based on conflict data, sharing of communications guidelines across implementing partners, and scheduling a follow-up meeting to validate the final Year One plan.

Through this strategic partnership, LCA continues to advance its goal of strengthening institutional capacity, coordination, and evidence-based advocacy to mitigate human-wildlife conflict and promote sustainable conservancy landscapes.