Supporting Indigenous Communities
High levels of poverty.
The people living right alongside the gorillas in the Virunga National Park are some of the poorest in Africa, with levels of poverty particularly high among the indigenous communities. We support and empower them to make a sustainable and decent living independent of the gorilla habitat.
Want the opportunity to improve their lives.
Jean de Dieu Kitmana is a Batwa, one of the indigenous groups helped by The Gorilla Organization: “Only a few years ago, I lived from hunting and gathering resources from the forests. This was tiring and dangerous and we were never settled. Now I am practising modern agriculture, I have even started breeding chickens. My children now go to school.”
The Batwa, Bambuti and other forest tribes are among the poorest people in Africa. They traditionally lived as hunter-gatherers in the forests of Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo, but they were evicted when the National Parks were established, leaving their families homeless and without land.
Their hand-to-mouth lifestyle brings them into conflict with the gorillas, but they want the opportunity to improve their lives, and to help protect the forests and the gorillas that live there.
These communities suffer from acute poverty and high levels of illiteracy. Most have little knowledge of their rights or of sustainable farming techniques, so they trespass into the protected forests in search of food, fuel or building materials.
The Gorilla Organization leads the way in working with these indigenous communities, rather than against them. Our sustainable agriculture training programmes reduce their dependency on the forests, enabling them to not only feed themselves and generate a surplus to either sell to generate income or to store for the future. Then they can afford to send their children to school and improve their own literacy.
Project Overview
Bambuti Indigenous People’s Integration Project: The Gorilla Organization supports the integration of the indigenous and minority Bambuti people in Ngwenda village, Rutshuru, near Virunga National Park.
Two hundred direct beneficiaries grow maize and subsistence crops on a communal 15-hectare plot purchased by the project. We have built and maintain the Ngwenda health clinic. We have built homes, promote agroforestry and reforestation, and we support 30 children in school each year.
Our work with the Bambuti people in Ngwenda fosters integration, sustainability, and the well-being of indigenous communities despite the challenges posed by population movements and insecurity. In this respect Ngwenda continues to take in Bambuti families from other, insecure villages, as they seek access to essential medical care and fertile land.
Promoting Batwa Integration with UOBDU: We collaborate with UOBDU, an indigenous people’s NGO, to promote the integration of the Batwa community in nine villages close to the gorillas. This partnership is vital for fostering inclusivity and ensuring that the marginalised Batwa, who lost their land to the national parks, are active participants in gorilla conservation.
Bwindi Community Water Project: This project provides clean and accessible water to remote hillside villages adjacent to Bwindi National Park. Building on work completed in 2021, we successfully installed further rainwater harvesting systems in three schools, significantly expanding our impact to reach more than 8,000 beneficiaries in six locations along the park boundary. Access to clean water is not only a fundamental human right but also a cornerstone of improved health, education, and overall quality of life.
Our success so far
- More than 1,000 people in eight communities now have reliable food
- 500 children have attended school
- Two more plots of land were purchased to increase harvest
- 53 bags of potatoes were harvested in one year
- The harvest helped the community to buy 3 goats and five chickens
