In the villages bordering the Grumeti concession, limited opportunities exist for income generation. Among the working-age population, many are small-scale farmers. In the face of climate change and in such close proximity to wildlife, livelihoods are extremely vulnerable to threats such as irregular rainfall or crop-raiding elephants.
One can easily imagine how losing your crops to drought or to hungry animals, would leave you with very few choices when it comes to making ends meet. Although not all wildlife poachers are the poorest of the poor, it is not uncommon for individuals to take risks associated with poaching to earn good money if they do not have a crop to harvest.
Guiding is a high-touch entrepreneurial development approach providing intensive one-on-one business support to help entrepreneurs enhance their business skills. Since the project's inception, 67% of entrepreneurs in this program have increased their net profit.
Village Learning consists of weekly sessions for budding entrepreneurs on business skills and personal development. The Village program has reached 164 participants, 58% of whom are women.
Over the next 12 months, the Grumeti Fund plans to reach a minimum of 300 people through Village Learning and eight people through intensive one-on-one Guiding. Additionally, honey production has been identified as a promising economic activity to bring in alternative income to the region.
The Grumeti Fund requires $95,000 to reach over 300 people through its enterprise development program for the next year.