Catalyzing Kenya’s Conservancy Movement

In Kenya, local implementers and community leaders broadly recognize USAID as the catalyst for the country's conservancy movement. The initiative originated in the early 1990s when foundational grants to non-profit organizations helped the Kenyan government open up space for community-led conservation. This policy shift was driven by the realization that because the majority of the country's wildlife lived on community land, a new approach was needed to reconcile local economic needs with environmental protection.

Over the ensuing decades, USAID successfully trained a national conservation workforce and established umbrella organizations that now serve as the central voice for these groups. By championing these local governance structures, the agency catalyzed a massive national transformation that brought vast stretches of land under community protection, helping Kenya grow from having zero conservancies to approximately 250 active today.