Life Through Wildlife

Rejuvenating Africa’s Wildlife Economy
Through Community-Led Governance

Life Through Wildlife

Life Through Wildlife is a research-to-practice platform that strengthens community governance

Life Through Wildlife works across southern and eastern Africa to strengthen community governance, grow the wildlife economy, and build African professional leadership. We turn conservation from a project into a system that communities can own and manage.

Two Approaches to Governance

Representative-Committee-Model
Typical Approach

Representative Committee Model

1

Across much of Africa, community conservation is governed through centralised representative committees. A small elected body manages revenues, makes decisions, and engages with government and NGO partners on behalf of the wider community.

In practice, this concentrates power, weakens accountability, and leaves most households disconnected from the wildlife economy. Revenue is absorbed by administration, elite capture is common, and communities see little direct benefit from the wildlife on their land.

Participatory-Village-Level-Governance
Our Approach

Participatory Village-Level Governance

2

Life Through Wildlife rebuilds governance from the village up. Decision-making starts at the scale where people know and trust one another, where leaders are visible and accountable, and where households can participate directly in budgeting and benefit-sharing.

This approach draws on decades of research and practice showing that effective community institutions are built on participatory democracy, transparent finances, and collective ownership of wildlife as an economic asset.

A research-to-practice platform

What We Do

Life Through Wildlife is a research-to-practice platform that strengthens community governance, builds African professional leadership, and develops high-performing wildlife economies. We work at the intersection of education, research, and field implementation, connecting anchor sites, practitioners, researchers, and institutions into a network that shares knowledge and scales success through collaboration.

Education & Training

Graduate-level programmes and professional training that equip African leaders to manage wildlife economies and transform community governance.

Anchor Sites

Operational conservation landscapes where governance reform, participatory budgeting, and wildlife management are tested, refined, and demonstrated in practice.

Research & Policy

Applied research on wildlife economics, governance performance, and institutional reform, feeding directly into national strategies and regional policy processes.

OUR NETWORK

A Growing Network Across Africa

A Growing Network Across Africa

Life Through Wildlife partners with communities, conservation organisations, and government institutions across southern and eastern Africa. Our network of anchor sites, fellows, and collaborating organisations forms a community of practice, sharing knowledge, testing governance reforms, and scaling what works.

From Botswana’s Okavango to Kenya’s Samburu rangelands, from Mozambique’s Niassa to Namibia’s community conservancies, each site is a platform for transformation, and each practitioner a partner in building Africa’s wildlife economy.

key statistics

Impact at a Glance

6

Countries where we work

50+

Practitioners and fellows trained

3

Levels of education and training

20+

Governance dashboards conducted

The most recent posts

News & Insights