UW–Madison is partnering with the Okavango Research Institute (University of Botswana) and the Botswana Wildlife Training Institute (Ministry of Environment and Tourism) focusing on strengthening existing community based natural resources management in Botswana. The main activity of this project is developing and pilot-testing a social needs assessment in the communities of Sankuo, Mababe, and Khwai, where specific community-based DWNP monitoring interventions have been implemented. The intended long-term outcome of our project is to strengthen DWNP’s existing work on community-focused, culturally relevant trainings and needs assessment tools that better integrate local community input into natural resources policies and decision making.
The UW team, led by Faculty Advisor Professor Tim Van Deelen, can be found on the IPO team page.