African Partnerships for Sustainable Biodiversity Action

The African NGO-Government Partnerships for Sustainable Biodiversity Action Project is a collaborative effort by African BirdLife Partners to conserve and manage Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Africa.

Who implements the project?

National BirdLife Partners implement the project in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda.

What are the key objectives of the project?

The project seeks to:

Protect a network of key sites for biodiversity conservation,
based on IBAs.
Strengthen NGO-Government partnerships for effective biodiversity conservation.
Building strong, financially sustainable national and local constituencies for conservation.
Develop a cadre of national conservationists across Africa.

What are the achievements to date?

A total of 508 IBAs have been identified as a result of more than 103 field surveys in the 10 implementing countries.
National surveys have provided information on previously data-deficient species and discovered new ranges for others including Grey-necked Picathartes, Bamenda Apalis, Harwood's Francolin, Abyssinian Bush Crow, Blue-winged Goose, Fox's Weaver, Nahan's Francolin and White-winged Flufftail among others.
The project has set up National Liaison Committees (NLCs) comprising representatives from national governments, NGOs, UNDP and community groups in all participating countries. The NLCs form an important channel of communication between the highest levels of national policy-making and site conservation action.
National IBA directories have been published for Ethiopia, Kenya and southern Africa (covering six countries).
Over 42 active Site support groups comprising local people living next to IBAs have been establishe nbsp; are actively promoting the conservation and management of 'their' IBAs.
Methodologies and innovative tools have been developed and guidelines documented for prioritising IBAs, monitoring IBAs, preparing National IBA Conservation Strategies and implementing site action.
Regional training workshops have been organised to address Partner and project skill needs. These include training in Financial Management, Project Monitoring & Evaluation, IBA monitoring and using the IBA database, National IBA Conservation Strategies, Site Action Planning, Site support group development, and participatory approaches to community development, etc.
Nationally, Partners have trained volunteers, site support groups and government personnel in ornithology, bird tour guiding, biodiversity monitoring and organisational development.
Partners' capacities to raise funding and implement conservation projects have been built with over $4.1 million already leveraged for site action at priority IBAs.
Four participating Partners are directly implementing site conservation projects with funds leveraged elsewhere.

How is the project funded and managed?

The project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through UNDP ($4.3m). Additional funding (US$ 7.1) comes from other BirdLife Partners, such as RSPB, DOF and the Partners implementing the pro nbsp; The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is the executing agency whilst the BirdLife Secretariat provides a regional co-ordinating centre for national implementing organisations who are the BirdLife Partners in the participating countries.

"Overall achievements to date are very considerable, especially in consideration of relatively limited financial resources and the short time - much of this is due to the high level of commitment of the human resources of the NGO Partners - both paid employees and volunteers."
- Independent Mid-term Evaluation, July 18, 2000.

Who do I contact for further information?

For further information on this project contact
Dr Julius Arinaitwe, GEF Programme Manager, BirdLife International, or
Dr Paulinus Ngeh, West African Sub-regional Co-ordinator