Reto-o-Reto | Partners & Sponsors

Our Partners & Sponsors

Collaborations with Universities

The Reto-o-Reto project has had collaborations with many universities:

Harvard University – Kennedy School of Government. A workshop was held at ILRI in November 2006 - ‘Bridging the gap: Translating livestock research knowledge into action for sustainable development outcomes’. The workshop focused on the question of how scientific and practical knowledge can better be linked with action in pursuit of the goals of sustainability: meeting fundamental human needs while preserving life support systems. A working paper on the community facilitation exercise is currently being produced. A fellowship program was initiated for David Nkedianye (Kitengela community facilitator/PhD student) to spend 4 months with the group in Harvard.
Guelph University, Canada . A series of workshops were held in both Kenya and Canada in 2006 on Ecosystem health and Sustainable Livelihoods approaches. The collaboration examined how these two approaches can help development practitioners, policymakers and researchers to make sense of and work with the complexities of human and environmental issues. Sustainable livelihoods and ecosystem health are approaches to rural development and agriculture issues. Both approaches encompass a variety of frameworks and methodologies. The workshops combined the use of prepared case studies and locally identified issues to help participants understand and evaluate these two approaches from their own perspectives.
University of Utah – Department of Environment and Society. Bioregional Planning and Alternative Futures for Kitengela. A workshop was held in Kitengela in 2005 involving the Olkejuado County Council to investigate regional planning for Kitengela.
Edinburgh University, Scotland - The project has provided funding to two PhD students (one previous community facilitator) studying in Edinburgh University. There has also been an exchange of MSc and PhD students between ILRI and Edinburgh, including university field trips being organized to the Mara.
ITC, Netherlands – Two scholarships were awarded to Kitengela community members to study for a diploma in advanced GIS.
Colorado State University . PhD students are working in collaboration with ILRI in Amboseli. Scientists from CSU have worked with the project on research modeling in pastoral systems.
School for Field Studies, Kenya and US visit the Mara.

See: universities on this page

Partners

The team includes:

Local Government:

Olkejuado County Council

www.localgovernment.go.ke

NGOS:

International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

www.ilri.org

Friends of Nairobi National Park (FoNNAP)

fonnap.wordpress.com

The Wildlife Foundation (TWF)

www.KenyaMaasaiWildlife.blogspot.com

African Wildlife Foundation (AWF)

www.awf.org

African Conservation Centre (ACC)

www.conservationafrica.org

Community organizations:

Kitengela Ilparakuo Landowner Association (KILA)

KILA is an association made of landowners of Kitengela location of Kajiado district and Empakasi sub-location of Machakos district. Ilparakuo is a word from the Maa language meaning pastoralists. The concern over population increases, especially in-migration and land use changes, as well as the negative effects of these on the environment and rapid increase in human-wildlife conflicts prompted the formation of KILA. Members are drawn from registered landowners in the Kitengela wildlife dispersal area. The group has a written constitution and an extensive grass-root representation. It represents the voice of the pastoral community and forms a common platform through which the Maasai community engages stakeholders locally and regionally.

Inyuat e Maa

Institutional Development Framework for Community Membership Community Based Conservation was established on 8th- 12th June, 1998. by Environmental Policy and Institutional Strengthening Project (EPIQ) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.Currently, no official Mission Statement exists. However, Maa has been actively soliciting community input into a new Mission Statement for the CBO (Community Based Organizations).

www.epiq.or.tz

Koyiaki-Lemek Wildlife Trust (KLWT)

Koyiaki and Lemek group ranch is an area of some 1648 Km2 and a critical dispersal area of the Mara ecosystem.The area lies to the north of East africa’s most famous conservation estate the Maasai Mara National Reserve.The group ranches were formed in the early 1970s and have undergone a land subdivision process since 1995. The Group ranch committee members from Lemek and Koyiaki group ranches came together through a memorandum of understanding in 1995 to register the KLWT trust that will provide a forum to benefit from tourism revenues on their land. The group ranches utilizes revenue from wildlife conservation to implement social projects inform of medical assistance to members, bursary for secondary and college/university on students and support of community projects in education, health and water.Using data and information generated by Reto-o-reto project, Dickson Kaelo worked with the trust officials and community members and managed to improve the management and service delivery of KLWT.

Koyiaki Guiding School

Koyiaki Guiding School is a community owned and managed project of Koyiaki Lemek Wildlife Trust. The School is located at the eastern end of Koyiaki group ranch on an area of 80 acres. The school recruits and trains local Maasai who have completed their secondary education to undergo a one year course in practical tour guiding. The School has recently established the Mara’s only community Eco-lodge to provide additional funding to make it self sustaining financially.Dickson Kaelo was involved in the setting up of the school and has offered part time
courses to the 76 graduates who have already graduated and secured employment in the local tourism market.

Imbirikani Group Ranch

Imbirikani group ranch is found in Kajiado District, south of Kenya. Besides the group ranches,there are smallholder irrigation plots and individual ranches. It lies along the Emali-Loitokitok road and occupies an area of about 129,895 hectares out of the total divisional area of 609,000 hectares.It is one of the six common group ranches of the division besides Selengei, Olgulului, Kimana, Kuku and Rombo.It has a human population of over 10,000 households. Imbirikani Group Ranch is collectively owned by approximately300 Maasai families.As a group ranch, Imbirikani has initiated wildlife revenue generating projects to supplement their income from livestock.

Olchorro Oiroua Wildlife Management and Conservation Association

Olchorro Oiroua Association is a community based conservation association which manages an area of 17,000 acres forming the Northern most tip of the Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem.The land is owned by 5 Maasai families each with a land holding of between 800 to 4,000 acres.The Olchorro Oiroua Wildlife Management Conservation Association (OOWCMA) was established in 1992 by the Olchorro Oiroua landowners with an aim of providing an effective service for wildlife protection and management of tourist activities and for generating
tourism revenue to benefit the land owners.

Olare Orok Conservancy

Olare Orok Conservancy (OOC) is a wildlife conservancy located adjacent to the MMNR. It is owned by 154 Maasai landowners and covers an area of 23,000 acresof land. The conservancy started which was formed in 2006 is managed by Olpurkel ltd, a private management company established by four tourism operators who own camps in the conservancy.Olpurkel ltd. leases the land from the OOC under a 5-year agreement and is responsible for wildlife management and
infrastructure development while guaranteeing a fixed monthly sum of US$ 160 to each landowner with 150 acres of land.