Conservancies are investing in community policing to complement government agencies in order to ensure a human-centered approach to improving wildlife protection and safety in northern Kenya.

All NRT member community conservancies work closely with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the National Police Service, local government authorities, and NRT to provide a community-led approach to conflict resolution and wildlife conservation.

Conservancy Scouts

Each member conservancy employs a team of scouts from the local communities, who are trained at the KWS Law Enforcement Academy in Manyani. Scouts play a vital role in monitoring endangered wildlife species, conducting anti-poaching patrols, raising conservation awareness in their local communities and acting as community wildlife ambassadors.

Many conservancies are home to multiple ethnic groups, and all have equal representation in the scouts teams. 

There are 1,033 conservancy scouts across the NRT member conservancies.

In 2022, 325 conservancy scouts from all NRT member conservancies graduated from a three month training at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Law Enforcement Academy (LEA) in Manyani.

Wildlife Response Units

NRT is subservient to its member conservancies, the Kenyan government and law enforcement. NRT employs seven wildlife response units, known who operate on a regional level under the leadership of the National Police Service and KWS, focusing primarily on wildlife protection when called upon by the Government.

The units represent the ethnic diversity of the communities they serve, and this is one of their greatest strengths. Working under the ethos of a community policing model, they collaborate closely with the authorities. Together, the wildlife response units and conservancy scouts are supporting an unprecedented, landscape-level community policing initiative, which is improving security for both wildlife and people.

Conservancy Infrastructure Development Unit

The Conservancy Infrastructure Development Unit is responsible for improving vehicle and aerial patrol access to allow for faster response to safety incidents. The Unit aims to reduce the number of contingencies by increasing patrol coverage.

In 2022, the Conservancy Infrastructure Development Unit graded 36 kilometers of road and 7.3 kilometers of airfield.

NRT’s Integrated Peace-building and Conflict Resolution Approach

North Kenya has a history marred with ethnic conflict and insecurity, which has hindered development, perpetuated poverty and disrupted lives for years. Now, the stakes are higher, with the growing competition for dwindling natural resources, a ready availability of illegal weapons and an unsteady political climate. There has never been a more critical time to support communities in the north to build peace. 

To effectively build peace between ethnic communities requires both reactive and proactive approaches to conflict.

That is why NRT’s peace programme focuses on an indigenous-led approach that facilitates the engagement of conservancy managers, local elders, interfaith religious leaders, youth, and women with county and national government to facilitate peace meetings, empower peace champions and promote nonviolent conflict resolution.

Effective and strategic community peace-building is built on a foundation of inclusive consultation throughout the process. At each phase, priority is given to listening to the community, and intentionally seeking out different voices. Community perspectives and priorities set the agenda for each subsequent meeting and activity. The conservancy and the relationship conservancies have with NRT creates a neutral platform to bring people together for dialogue, offering an alternative dispute resolution option to violence.

Over, 10,445 community members (8,886 men and 1,559 women) were engaged in different peace-building activities in 5 counties in 2022. 125 peace ambassadors (31 of whom are women) have been recruited and trained to help prevent conflict amongst their peers. Most are from conflict hotspot areas, and have been instrumental in addressing intertribal conflicts and averting livestock raids through early warning systems, gathering information, intercepting retaliatory attacks, supporting and leading negotiations and reconciliations in the community.