Executive Summary Quarterly Progress Report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY At the start of this quarter, the World Wide Fund for Nature – South Africa (WWF- SA) opened a new office in White River close to the border of the Kruger National Park and within the Khetha program area. A full complement of staff now works out of this office, guided by a draft Work - and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning plan. Program management systems are being developed to oversee work plan commitments, partnership activities and to direct the work of service providers and consultants. The Khetha Program was formally launched in Maputo, Mozambique, in cooperation with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), WWF Mozambique (WWF-MZ) and other partners, and a first formal partners meeting was held to discuss the Khetha work plan, to share the results of research reports, and to discuss the complexities of working on illegal wildlife trade (IWT) in South Africa and Mozambique. A number of the deliverables, guided by Fixed Award Agreements (FAAs), were completed as part of the inception phase. The purpose of these work packages was to increase Khetha’s knowledge about key aspects related to IWT – such as wildlife poisoning, mitigating IWT-related corruption and understanding the dynamics of IWT in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA). The outputs of these research projects will help Khetha determine the baseline of key IWT-related indicators and to design evidence-based interventions. Six geographical focus areas were identified within the GLTFCA landscape. These will be Khetha’s focus areas for developing innovation nodes for testing community-based approaches to improve the relationship between communities and wildlife. However, Khetha also works beyond these geographical boundaries with partners to increase crime prevention, detection and prosecution. The work plan is being finalized early in the next quarter and interventions, as per the work plan, will be designed and implemented with partners in the landscape. 2 Table Of Contents Quarterly Progress Report TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 5 2. BACKGROUND 6 2.1 WHERE WE WORK 6 2.2 INNOVATION NODES 7 3. HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS QUARTER 8 3.1 TIMELINE 9 4. ADMINISTRATIVE PROGRESS 10 4.1 RECRUITMENT OF CORE TEAM 10 4.2 ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE 10 4.3 PROJECT VEHICLES 10 4.4 FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION 10 5. PROGRAM & TECHNICAL PROGRESS 11 5.1 DEVELOPING THE WORK – AND MEL PLAN 11 5.2 STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT 11 5.3 PROGRESS MADE WITH EXISTING RESEARCH CONSULTANCIES AND FAAs 13 5.4 PROGRAM PARTNERS MEETING AND LAUNCH 15 5.5 LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS FOR PARTNERSHIPS 17 5.6 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND MANAGEMENT STRUCTURES 18 6. PROGRAM CHALLENGES 19 7. UPCOMING ACTIVITIES 20 7.1 OPERATIONALIZING THE WORK PLAN 20 7.2 COMMUNICATIONS WORKSHOP 20 7.3 MEL WORKSHOP 20 7.4 DEVELOPMENT OF MEL TOOLS 20 APPENDIX Appendix 1: Partner presentations at program launch Appendix 2: SurveyMonkey feedback on partner meeting & launch FIGURES Figure 1: Defined areas for protected area and community support as well as broader scope of illicit trade routes 7 Figure 2: Snapshot of Work 11 3 Acronyms Quarterly Progress Report ACRONYMS ANAC National Administration of Conservation Areas – Mozambique AO Agreement Officer AOR Agreement Officer’s Representative CIRAD Centre de cooperation international en recherché agronomique pour le développement/ French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora DEA Department of Environmental Affairs EMI Environmental Management Inspector EMMP Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Plan ESARO Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office EWT Endangered Wildlife Trust FAA Fixed Award Agreement FLoD First Line of Defense GEF Global Environment Facility GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit/German Society for International Cooperation GLC Greater Lebombo Conservancy GLTFCA Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area GLTP Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park ICCWC International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature IWT Illegal Wildlife Trade K2C Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve KNP Kruger National Park LACE Legal, Authorization, Compliance and Enforcement LNP Limpopo National Park MEL Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning MoU Memorandum of Understanding NPA National Prosecuting Authority NUPAS Non-US Organization Pre-Award Survey PGR Attorney General – Mozambique PPF Peace Parks Foundation SADC Southern Africa Development Community SANParks South African National Parks SAPS South African Police Service SSA State Security Agency SULi Specialist Group on Sustainable Use and Livelihoods USAID United States Agency for International Development WCS Wildlife Conservation Society WWF-SA World Wide Fund for Nature – South Africa 4 Introduction Quarterly Progress Report 1. INTRODUCTION “Khetha” is a word associated with the Nguni languages of southern Africa, meaning “choose” or “choice” and spoken by Zulu and Shangaan people commonly located in eastern and northeastern South Africa and western Mozambique. The word “Khetha” reflects the program goal to offer communities surrounding protected areas an opportunity to choose to conserve wildlife whilst making informed choices to improve their livelihoods. Khetha is a five-year United States Agency for International Development (USAID) program, implemented by the World Wide Fund for Nature – South Africa (WWF-SA), aimed at halting the impacts of wildlife trafficking on key populations of flagship species in the South African and Mozambican landscape of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA). The goal of the program is to contribute to achieving positive growth rates in black and white rhino populations and maintain positive growth rates for elephants in the focal area by 2022. The overall goal of the project will be achieved through collaboration between WWF and partners towards the following objectives: 1. Support innovative partnerships and novel approaches within civil society, communities, private sector and government in at least four innovation nodes in GLTFCA to improve relationships between people and wildlife, by July 2022. 2. Support the implementation of critical wildlife trafficking policy frameworks for South Africa and Mozambique to increase crime prevention, detection, prosecution and collaboration, by July 2022. 3. Learn, collaborate and coordinate with influential institutions in the GLTFCA landscape to strengthen the collective response to wildlife trafficking, by July 2022. The project objectives contribute to the implementation of the United States National Strategy to Combat Wildlife Trafficking and complement further regional and bilateral programs managed by USAID and other United States Government agencies in southern Africa and ongoing responses by donors, governments, private sector and other organizations. 5 Background Quarterly Progress Report 2. BACKGROUND The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region is facing an unprecedented increase in the poaching of elephants, rhinos and other wildlife for illegal financial gains. In response there is a growing international effort to combat wildlife crime and the associated threat that wildlife trafficking poses to realizing sustainable development objectives in many parts of the globe. Wildlife trafficking weakens the economic prosperity of many countries. It threatens their natural capital and undermines sustainable economic development, including development benefits derived from legal sustainable use and nature-based enterprises like tourism. Illegal wildlife trafficking and poaching thrives where governance is weak, corruption is high and poverty is prevalent. In these circumstances communities often lose control of their own systems of governance and are subjected to the rules and whims of criminal networks. Communities with a high reliance on natural resources are often exposed to security threats and the destruction of their livelihoods. With limited access to employment or other means of income, along with an often conflictual relationship with wildlife, community members - especially young men - become involved in illegal wildlife trafficking. Furthermore in this landscape, the long-term relationship between communities and adjacent protected areas and conservation agencies is complex due to historical, social and political factors, including the displacement of communities from protected areas, which remain largely unacknowledged1. The majority of significant and important populations of elephants remain in southern Africa, including approximately 35,000 within the (GLTFCA). South Africa, in particular the Kruger National Park, is also home to the majority of the world’s remaining rhinoceros populations. Khetha supports USAID’s aim to combat wildlife trafficking in the transboundary area of South Africa and Mozambique, located within the borders of the GLTFCA. 2.1 WHERE WE WORK Fundamentally, the Khetha Program is grounded within the Kruger National Park (KNP) and the Limpopo National Park (LNP), home to globally significant rhino and elephant populations. The Program’s work under Objective 1 is focused in innovation nodes located around the protected areas as detailed below (Figure 1). Khetha recognizes that illegal wildlife trade is driven by transnational organized syndicates and that the product should be followed from the source to the market. Thus,