Education & Training

Building the capacity of Africans to safeguard their wildlife legacy is AWF’s hallmark. Today — with the generous support of members and other donors — AWF is training park rangers, teaching farmers to grow coffee in an environmentally friendly manner, educating Africa’s school children about the importance of their wildlife, and funding Masters and doctoral studies for promising graduate students. AWF helps women undertake business ventures, conducts study tours, and provides community training and workshops on land-use planning and wildlife conservation.

AWF established Tanzania’s Mweka College of African Wildlife Management, the first school to train African wildlife managers. In 1963, AWF established a scholarship program for Africans to study wildlife management in the United States – the first program of its kind. During its early decades, AWF established and supported wildlife clubs in several African countries to raise the awareness and interest of a new generation regarding the importance of wildlife conservation. Since then, AWF has provided scholarships and educated hundreds of Africans in conservation studies to assure the survival of Africa's wildlife heritage.

Today, AWF provides scholarships to Africans obtaining advanced degrees in wildlife conservation. The Charlotte Conservation Fellows program has provided scholarships to educate some of Africa’s most promising conservation leaders.

> Read more about The Charlotte Conservation Fellowship Program

AWF also trains park rangers and game scouts through its ranger-based monitoring (RBM) program. Begun in 1996 in the Virunga Heartland, the RBM program was developed to help manage the transboundary forest ecosystem. Since then the program has grown to include the Samburu and Kilimanjaro Heartlands in Kenya and Tanzania. Through a combination of classroom teaching and field exercises, rangers and scouts are trained in a variety of data collection techniques so that they can monitor wildlife and help prevent poaching.

AWF conducts workshops and trainings at the community level to help local leaders manage their lands for conservation and economic development. Workshops cover roles and responsibilities of community leaders, basic bookkeeping and financial management, and natural resources management. In addition, AWF organizes trainings for local farmers and women on developing sustainable business ventures.