The Maasai Mara ecosystem, which is home to one-quarter of Kenya’s wildlife, faces several interconnected challenges. Ecosystem threats such as increased farming are not only contributing to the loss of biodiversity, but also undermining carbon storage and other vital services. In addition, traditional conservancy models have offered few economic benefits to the local Maasai people, who have also been excluded from decision-making around conservation- and tourism-related activity. Established in 2013, the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association (MMWCA) is a non-profit membership association which acts as an umbrella body and advocate for Mara community conservancies. MMWCA aims to establish and strengthen conservancies while providing a platform for key ecosystem stakeholders to benefit the ecosystem as well as the affected communities.
We invest in the MMWCA as part of LGT Venture Philanthropy’s environment strategy to scale up the protection and regeneration of threatened and destroyed ecosystems. We provide comprehensive support across three areas:
acres protected through conservancies
conservancies active
landowners impacted
people reached
We proudly associate with the Liechtenstein Global Trust Venture Philanthropy (LGT VP) and the meaningful work they continue to do globally. For years, LGT VP has supported the growth of our organization by strengthening our capacity to deliver on our mission. The LGT VP support has come through where we needed it the most and in less funded areas. I am happy to say we have built the capacity to facilitate and enhance engagement and communication across our area of operation and optimize systems and human resources with LGT VP support.
Learn more about how MMWCA works in the field