The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's Community Outreach Programs

Since 1997 the DSWT has worked to improve the living and educational conditions of people living along the borders of Kenya’s National Parks through the introduction of Community Outreach Programs. This is achieved by talking with communities, showing wildlife films, as well as involving children in wildlife and habitat conservation, through field trips, video shows, and tree planting projects. Assistance to the impoverished communities that border the National Parks is carried out by supporting the local schools and is an essential component for the DSWT’s approach to long-term wildlife protection.

You can help us by making a donation to our Community Outreach Projects

Adopt a School

By adopting a school, for a total amount of US$4800, the donation that you make will allow the school to benefit from a donation of 50 desks, 2 field trips, Sports equipment, and a mobile cinema show from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Mobile Cinema Unit.

Your donation of US$ 4800 will provide the school with the following:

• 50 desks at a total cost of US$ 3000 (US$60 per desk) desk delivery at a cost of US$ 200
• 2 Field trips at a total cost of US$ 700 (US$ 350 per trip)
• Sports Equipment at a total cost of US$ 800
• Mobile Cinema show at a cost of US$ 100

You will be given feedback from The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust for the school that you have adopted. This feedback will be in the form of pictures of the desks, field trips, sports equipment and the cinema show. Should you visit Kenya and are in Tsavo we would also be able to arrange for you to go and visit the school that you adopted and thus personally see where your contribution went and get to meet the children whose lives your generous donation helped change.

Kalakalya Primary School

Kamunyu Primary School

Maktau Primary School

Mwambiti Primary School

Sowa Primary School

Click here to adopt a school

Desk Donations

Many of the schools bordering the National parks are impoverished and lacking in even the most basic necessities. Many of the schools do not have enough classrooms let alone desks and students are often found outside under a tree trying to follow the daily lessons. The desks that we build for the schools are made of a metal frame and a wood desk top thus allowing them to last longer and not need replacing. Desks are donated 30 at a time as it takes a while to make them.

• A donation of US$ 1200 would buy 20 desks
• A donation of US$ 1800 would buy 30 desks
• A donation of US$ 3000 would buy 50 desks
• A donation of US$ 3600 would buy 60 desks

Click here to make a donation towards Desks

Sports Equipment

The schools bordering the National parks do not have any sports equipment and school children are often seen playing football with a ball made of plastic bags. Donations of sports equipment to the schools of volleyballs and nets, javelins, shot puts, discs, footballs, etc allows the children to engage in activities outside during their breaks and allows them to learn about all the different kinds of games that can be played and engage in tournaments and sports days with other schools in the area.

A donation of US$ 800 would purchase different kinds of sports equipment for a school of about 150 students

Click here to make a donation towards Sports Equipment

Wildlife shows

We have six mobile cinema units and so we are able to show the communities wildlife films, telling them about the various species and their role within the environment. All of our anti-poaching teams are kitted out with a portable white screen, generator, power inverter, DVD players and projector enabling them to show wildlife films in the most remote locations. The films play an essential part in the sensitizing local people to the wildlife that surrounds them and they open people's eyes to the majesty and beauty of wildlife and the natural world.

Each team aims to organize up to 4 wildlife shows a month, reaching more than 1,500 adults and children with a message of wildlife protection and conservation in any year. That's an incredible 9,000 people a year in the Tsavo area!

Click here to make a donation towards a wildlife show

Field trips

A high proportion of Kenyans born and living in the country have never seen the majority of Kenya's wild animals. We encourage the students to form Wildlife Clubs and we arrange field trips into Tsavo West National Park and Tsavo East National Park and Nairobi National Park. The intention of the school field trips is to open children's' eyes to the world of wildlife and their environment and to allow them to experience that wildlife first hand, so that they can better understand the magnificence and value of their natural heritage.

In November 2007 the DSWT took receipt of a 29 seat bus, funded by The Dulverton Trust, which marked a key step forward in community outreach operations. Each trip consists of 25 children, 3 teachers and a member of the DSWT.

As an example, a donation of US $320 could fund a field trip for 25 children, including a packed lunch, taking them into Tsavo National Park for a whole day - that's just $12.80 to give one child the experience of a life-time.

Click here to make a donation towards a Field Trip

Tree Nurseries

Since 2004 the DSWT has provided tree saplings to local schools in the Tsavo area as part of its broader conservation message. Inviting school children to plant, nurture and protect their trees, and in doing so helping give those children a sense of ownership for something and a sense of pride as they can witness the fruits of their labours.

All tree saplings are grown at the Trust's nursery and are indigenous species. When ready, they are distributed to local schools and communities by the anti-poaching teams.

As an example of what your donation might buy, a gift of just US$ 100 will allow children to plant 50 saplings at their school or in their community, that's a lot of trees!

Click here to donate towards the Tree Nursery

Radio programs

In Kenya, most people do not have access to a television, however even in some of the most remote locations one can usually find someone with a radio. The DSWT's radio programs provides an avenue by which we can communicate to the masses a message of conservation and respect for wildlife and try to educate people as to the real value of that wildlife.

The radio initiative began in February 2007 with 5 programs aired on KBC central station. Later in the same year we then chose the privately owned and popular Musyi FM radio station reaching 350,000 Wkamba listeners. Listeners were allocated time to call in to ask questions at the end of each live talk. We have found that listeners are far more receptive to our points when they are being made in their tribal language and by a member of their own tribe. When reaching out to the Kikuyu tribe, the largest of the 52 tribes in Kenya, we used Kameme FM, the preferred station of that tribe giving us the ability to reach 800,000 people!

As an example, a gift of US$ 250 could fund 15 minutes airtime on one of the local radio stations, reaching around 500,000 people.

Click here to make a donation towards our Radio Programs

Kenya is ranked 144 out of 177 countries in the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) human development index and a shocking 52% of its population lives below the poverty line. Poor education, poor health and unemployment all combine to create a cycle of poverty. Education is the key to breaking this cycle. Since 1997 the DSWT has worked to improve the living and educational conditions of people living alongside Kenya’s National Parks, and since 1999 has introduced specific Community Outreach Programs, implemented through its anti-poaching teams.

These programs involve talking with communities, showing wildlife films and helping people to understand the needs of wildlife and the value they bring to the environment, ecosystem and economy of Kenya. For the past five years the DSWT has sought to further this work through the active involvement of children in wildlife and habitat conservation, through field trips, video shows, and tree planting projects. In the knowledge that it is only through educating and empowering today’s children that any long term future can be secured for Kenya’s wildlife and the environment.

Children have a right to be informed about their country’s diverse wildlife and how valuable it is to the land and to the country itself. In Kenya’s School Curriculum, wildlife and environmental topics play only a very minimal role. For those communities bordering a National Park, it is vital that they be better educated as to the nature of wildlife and the value of natural resources, so that all parts can exist in harmony.

Assistance to the impoverished communities that border the boundaries of Protected Areas, and who are responsible for most of the snaring that takes place along these boundaries and within the Parks, is an essential component for the DSWT’s approach to long-term wildlife protection. Most of these communities are extremely poor, and have always snared wild animals on a subsistence level, viewing them merely as an endless resource there for the taking. However, a rapidly growing human population has over the years taken a devastating toll on wildlife numbers, threatening some species very existence, and this cannot be sustained.

Tourism is Kenya’s largest foreign income generator and a loss of wildlife will lead to a loss in tourists and so less money for the country and its people as it is the country’s wildlife that attracts 70% of tourists to Kenya

The community initiative has proved extremely popular, and has had a huge impact on the schools we have been able to touch. Furthermore, by supporting the schools, one reaches the adults who understand that should they continue the practice of poaching wild animals, the support their children have enjoyed could be compromised.

We would like to thank all the many organizations and individuals around the world who donate so generously to enable us to continue with our most important Community Outreach Programs.