NGOs often play a critical role in civil society worldwide. They advocate for the interests and needs of local communities and minorities and secure access to and maintenance of natural livelihoods. Nevertheless, local NGOs in Africa often face challenges: Restrictive national NGO laws often prohibit political involvement and restrict fund access. Consequently, many NGOs struggle to secure long-term funding and see their influence on political decision-makers for conservation topics limited at the national and regional levels. To strengthen NGOs in Africa, NABU and six green NGOs from West and East Africa are setting up regional cluster networks for enhancing organizational development and capacity building.

All six African NGOs work at the focal point between conservation in and around protected areas and the needs for livelihoods of local people. In particular, land use of all kinds leads to permanent conflicts between local communities and the respective protected area management and increases pressure on wildlife, forests, water bodies and other habitats. The effects of climate change, such as heavy rainfalls, unexpected frost, extreme dry spells and erosion, are exacerbating poor harvests and crop failures. This results in poverty and increases people’s dependency on their environment’s natural resources. The way forward here is the conversion of current land use to sustainable forms taking the impacts of climate change into consideration so that yields can be stabilised and livelihoods secured. Therefore, the six partner NGOs are introducing Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) with local farmers at six selected sites.