Chimpanzee Trust with funding from the Darwin Initiative is implementing a community project; ‘Community adaptability to loss occasioned by wildlife in Uganda’ in selected villages in the landscape of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve, to address human-wildlife conflicts.

In January 2019, the Chimpanzee Trust Project team traversed 32 operational villages in the new district of Kikube, to conduct a Community Education Needs Assessment activity. The team surveyed the 32 villages convened meetings in each of the villages. The purpose of the education needs assessment activity was to identify the training and education needs for each of the community, this will support the project team to design a better engagement strategy as per the needs of each village. This followed a baseline study of the ‘State of Human-Wildlife Conflicts in the Bugoma Landscape.’ A study commissioned by the project at the end of 2018.

With this assessment, we managed to capture the required training needs that will enable in minimize and addressing Human-Wildlife Conflicts for communities at the front line in the conservation of wildlife. The Community Needs Assessment is enabling the Chimpanzee Trust to design the right tools to create awareness on the avoidance and mitigation of Human-Wildlife Conflict.