Ahadi Thriving landscapes for people and nature

East Africa's landscapes are global ecotourism hotspots, critical for biodiversity, climate resilience and economic growth. Yet these ecosystems face mounting pressures - Kenya alone has lost 70 percent of its wildlife in three decades.

Local communities are at the heart of sustainable conservation, but still less than 1 percent of global climate and conservation funding reaches them at the grassroots level. Systemic barriers also prevent effective collaboration with funders and governments.

Ambition

Ahadi is a collective co-founded by LGT Venture Philanthropy, Summa Foundation and the Sinding Family office to advance community-led conservation across East Africa. Ahadi's mission is to protect critical ecosystems while improving and sustaining community livelihoods over the long term. Our goal is to improve livelihoods for 3.5 million people, safeguard 200 000 square kilometres of land, and protect 2.4 million wildlife populations.  

Ahadi co-creates solutions and implements them with local communities, governments and implementation partners. It also supports the development of diverse approaches to reduce reliance on donor funding.

Ahadi focuses on six landscapes in East Africa:

• Mara-Serengeti, Samburu and Amboseli in Kenya
• Mara-Serengeti, Ruaha and Selous in Tanzania
• Bwindi in Uganda

Challenges

East Africa's ecosystems sustain biodiversity and drive economic growth. The region hosts a quarter of the world's mammals - including 50 percent of the world's remaining lions and the last 1 060 remaining mountain gorillas - and a fifth of the world's bird species. In Kenya and Tanzania, wildlife-based tourism contributes up to 10 percent of GDP. Yet these landscapes face mounting pressures as communities rely on nature for livelihoods, compounded by population growth and climate change. 

Every year, three million hectares of African forests are degraded and lost indefinitely. Kenya alone lost 70 percent of wildlife over three decades, primarily due to habitat loss and land fragmentation. To protect and sustain these landscapes, local communities who live in and off the land are the key agents for change. Still, less than 1 percent of global climate funding goes to grassroots groups despite their proven impact.

History

For more than ten years, LGT Venture Philanthropy, Summa Foundation and the Sinding Family Office have been partnering to support local conservation organisations in Kenya and Tanzania. To date, we have protected over 130 000 square kilometres - three times the size of Switzerland - benefitting over 1 million families in the region, and supported alternative livelihoods, health and education.

In line with LGT Venture Philanthropy's environment strategy - aiming to protect and restore ecosystems to break cycles of degradation and enhance ecosystem services for planetary health - and managed by our Nairobi office, we deploy both financial and non-financial support to strengthen organisations' capacity to deliver impact.

The Ahadi Collective

The Ahadi Collective brings together a community of like-minded philanthropists passionate about community-led conservation across East Africa. The Ahadi pooled fund allows members to combine individual contributions to scale the most impactful solutions, led by local organisations in the six key landscapes.

The Collective engages beyond funding with the opportunity to witness the impact of philanthropy firsthand through learning journeys, field visits and curated updates and insights. Members also leverage the deep local expertise, trusted partnerships and the co-founders' commitment to ensure each dollar deployed drives conservation and livelihoods, sustainably and for the long term.