Serengeti General Management Plan

E. Community Outreach Programme
Good relations between SENAPA and local communities/ government
SENAPA is intricately linked and affected by the human activities and land-uses occurring on
its boundaries and vice versa. Poor park-community relationships in the past have both initiated
and led to the escalation of conflicts over access to land and natural resources. Therefore
SENAPA management will develop and elaborate mechanisms to promote dialogue and
improve communication with local communities and government in order to enable conflicts
to be amicably resolved and to develop modes of cooperation for mutual benefit.
Benefits sharing with local communities
SENAPA management recognises that park-adjacent communities bear direct and indirect
costs of wildlife conservation; both through human-wildlife conflicts and the loss of access to
land and natural resources. If these costs are not in part compensated, then the necessary
community support for conservation will not be sustainable.
Consequently, SENAPA management will ensure that surrounding communities are receiving
benefits from the Park to help counter the costs they incur, and increase community support
for the continued conservation of the Serengeti. This is in line with national policy, which
states, ‘TANAPA will seek ways to share the benefits of conservation with local communities
in ways that are sustainable and promote sound development’ (TANAPA, 1994).
Conservation and environmental education
Conflict and disputes between SENAPA and adjacent communities have often arisen from
misunderstandings and a lack of communication about park regulations and boundaries. This
lack of knowledge results in communities feeling distrustful of the Park, disempowered and
unsure of their rights. To address these issues, SENAPA management will raise conservation
awareness in the surrounding communities, and in particular clarify the rules, regulations
and boundaries of the Park, through a well-structured education programme.
Community-based natural resource management initiatives
The sharing of park benefits with communities will be complemented by efforts by SENAPA
management to improve land use and livelihood strategies surrounding the Park, in order to
reduce their negative impacts on SENAPA natural resources, and increase the conservation
compatibility of neighbouring land uses.
The guiding principles of the above strategy provide the basis for the two objectives of the
Community Outreach Programme that define the future desirable state at SENAPA and address
the relevant problems and issues facing SENAPA management. The two objectives
are:
1. Neighbouring community and local government support for conservation strengthened
2. Threats to SENAPA resource values reduced through improved community natural
resource management in buffer areas
In order to meet these objectives for the Community Outreach Programme, a series of 10year
management targets, with accompanying management actions, have been formulated,
as described in the following sections. For each management target there is a brief de-
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