What to expect from us in 2024
It’s 2024! The growing Maliasili team and our partners are already on the move, with workshops with partners taking place from the first days back from the holiday break.
Here are key themes that will shape our plans and investments for the next 12 months - for people and nature.
→ ?Urgency and Action on Climate Change
The big-picture context for all conservation work is now firmly centered on the urgency of addressing global climate change, as record-high temperatures in 2023 dominated headlines, and reviews showed that action on reducing carbon emissions lags behind the scale needed in nearly all areas. At the same time, 2023 saw increased African leadership on climate issues, notably the Africa Climate Summit hosted by Kenya last September, and a growing focus on green growth, renewable energy, and investments in nature as a part of the overall climate response across Africa.
At the global scale, the conservation and restoration of ecosystems - both on land and in coastal areas such as mangroves - are seen as core climate solutions and thus are central to climate policies and funding frameworks. Maliasili’s long-term portfolio of local partner organizations have been advancing these climate and ecosystem restoration goals for years.
Our 43 (and growing) partners now work in 12 countries, advancing locally-led conservation and restoration across over 40 million hectares of land. In 2024, we will take on at least a dozen more partners that are restoring and protecting ecosystems, helping them develop into even stronger organizations so they can do even more to save our planet.
→ Community Forest Conservation and Restoration
Community forest conservation is a key approach to climate mitigation and adaptation. We took on two new partners in 2023 leading this kind of work in East Africa: Tanzania’s Community Forests Network (MJUMITA) and the Mount Kenya Trust. In 2024, we aim to complete new strategic plans for both of these organizations, better positioning them to increase their impact and attract the resources they need to thrive.
At a wider regional scale, we established two key new partnerships in 2023 with the World Resources Institute and the Bezos Earth Fund. Together they support ambitious efforts to scale up forest restoration in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley and the Rusizi Basin spanning the Rwanda-Burundi-DRC border region. In 2024, we will begin working with them to strengthen a select group of local restoration champions as part of this partnership.
→?Strengthening National Leaders in Community-led Conservation
A key trend in Africa today is the growth of national frameworks for community-led conservation. To support this, a suite of emerging national civil society networks are working to connect and strengthen local initiatives. Maliasili began supporting the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA) in 2016 when they were still at an early stage in their development. Today KWCA is the national umbrella association for one of Africa’s most significant community conservation movements, with over 200 conservancies spread across the country. Conservancies generate millions of dollars in revenue for local landowners, and help safeguard over 11% of Kenya’s total land area.
Last year, we began supporting national associations with similar ambitions in Tanzania (Community Wildlife Management Areas Consortium), Uganda (Umoja Wildlife Conservancies Association), and Mozambique (ReGeCom), completing new strategic plans with all three national networks. These strategies provide new roadmaps for strengthening community-led conservation in all three countries. These organizations are also increasingly connected and sharing tools and experiences with other national networks like KWCA through events like the African Community Conservation Forum that Maliasili convened last September. In 2024, we will support these organizations to put in place the systems, personnel, and funding that they need to implement their new strategies and deepen their impact.
→?Expanding Work in Central and West Africa
One of the most significant developments for Maliasili in 2023 was our first initiatives in Central and West Africa. In the Congo Basin, we launched a new leadership development program focused on community forestry in collaboration with our close colleagues at Well Grounded. In parallel, we also worked with Well Grounded to complete a new strategic plan for OELO, a pioneer of locally-led conservation in Gabon. Through these and other emerging partnerships, we plan to progressively deepen our involvement in the Congo Basin.
In West Africa, we undertook our first work in the region through a consultancy with the Mali Elephant Project, while also visiting Ghana and working to develop our strategy for potential expansion into the region.
In 2024, we are scoping opportunities to support prospective local partner organizations in this region. We are also hiring a Portfolio Manager to lead on partner support across this region.
→ More Funding to Local Organizations
Despite major pledges to get more funding to Indigenous and local organizations doing the critical conservation and climate work on the ground, not enough change is taking place. A report released in December found that local and Indigenous groups still received only 2.1% of this kind of funding.
Maliasili wants to help shift funding practices so that local organizations can access the money they need. Building on our 2022 flagship report, Greening the Grassroots: Rethinking African Conservation Funding, we stepped up our effort to reshape funding practices in 2023. This included launching the Maliasili Conservation Fund as a new pooled fund to support a growing proportion of our portfolio, working across key landscapes in East Africa, Southern Africa, and Madagascar.
In 2024, we will forge stronger links between our partners and funders, including through our communications platforms and events. We will build on partnerships designed to influence the way that funders and international NGOs support local civil society organizations, while also providing more practical guidance on how funders that want to invest in local organizations can do so.
→ Growth and Change in our team
Just six years ago, Maliasili’s team was under ten people. As our portfolio and scope of work grew, so did our team. Today, we are a team of more than 40 people, over 85% of whom are based in Africa.
Last year it was time to restructure our organization to better support our team and our work. As part of our redesign process we kept the following objectives in mind:
To support these changes, Elizabeth Singleton has decided to step out of her Chief Operations Officer (COO) role, shifting her responsibilities to other team members. Maliasili has a new Executive Team composed of Fred Nelson as CEO, Njenga Kahiro in a revised COO role, Karine Nuulimba as Chief Portfolio Officer, and Janelle Brazington as Chief Financial Officer.
We have many other exciting changes across the team, including the introduction of a new role of deputy director created to provide greater strategic leadership and ownership over our support to partners in the growing suite of geographies where we are working and as our team and scope expands.
This is a time of transition for us at Maliasili and we are grateful for the tools we have on hand to help us navigate this period.
Missed our 2023 highlights? You can view them HERE.