Developing the Next Generation of Conservationists

In 2023, we organized after-school Wildlife Clubs (WLCs) for 620 students in 16 partner primary schools on the edge of Kibale National Park in Uganda, which is home to elephants and Uganda's largest chimpanzee population.

We previously reported that WLCs created nursery beds at their schools to grow Pseudospondias microcarpa trees, an important food for chimpanzees. By December, 171 of these seedlings were in optimal condition for transplanting and were relocated to ideal habitats where they will continue to be monitored by students. This was a fun project that taught WLC members about tree care, and students loved that chimpanzees will benefit from their gardening efforts.  

We are always looking for ways to improve the efficiency of our conservation messaging, since funds and time are limited and the conservation education needs are urgent. To this end, we have teamed up with researchers from two US universities to investigate how student "influencers" may be helpful in our work. In 2023, students from 6 schools anonymously selected peers who are considered by them to have the most social influence in their grade. Starting in 2024, identified influencers will receive an intensive conservation curriculum about elephants and also take a field trip to see elephants in the wild. For most kids, this will be their first chance to see elephants in the wild. Elephants were chosen as a focus because they represent a growing source of human-wildlife conflict around the park. We will then test how conservation messages introduced via influencers spread to their peers and how this compares to a more traditional approach (i.e. teaching groups of kids using the same content for all). We are excited to see the results of this study and use it to inform our conservation education program going forward. 

Links:

• Kasiisi Project website