Empowered Kenyan Women and a Chance to Save African Wildlife

Your support to our past Big Give Green Match Fund has helped local Kenyan women act as guardians of their ocean. With your help, they now can extend their support and know-how to other groups of women across Kilifi coast. Their efforts protect both their livelihoods and marine wildlife.

Our next Big Give African Wildlife Appeal aims to bring your support to endangered species like rhinos, pangolins, elephants, chimps, gorillas, and much more across the African continent. To protect them we help local communities on the front lines of conservation.

In Kenya's coast, local fishmonger women known as Mama Karangas act as guardians of the ocean, protecting the delicate coral ecosystems their communities depend on. When they realised plastic pollution was choking their ocean and contaminating their food systems, they sprung to action and led the fight to clean beaches, taking plastic waste away from the fish's environment and turning it into income.

With our local project partner, Oceans Alive, you have helped empower Mama Karangas to fight back against pollution. Initially, your help made a difference for a group of 18 women in the landing site of Kuruwitu (meting point between fishermen and fishmonger women). With your latest support, this group will be able to teach groups of women across 5 other landing sites in the coast of Kuruwitu, helping an estimated 70 women across the county.

Cleaning beaches from plastic waste and discarded fish nets, saving wildlife habitats, and turning waste into opportunity has helped the women become true guardians of their coast, but also teachers to other women in Kilifi.

When you supported our last Big Give campaign, you empowered women who later protected wildlife, eased pollution, and secured livelihoods, solving three problems with one solution.

"We feel undevalued, unheard, and we see there is so much we can do for our life, our health, and our wealth. We need to gain more skills for ourselves and our children's future. We are hungry to learn and improve."

- Amina, Chairperson of the Kuruwitu women's group and a Mama Karanga.

By transforming plastic waste into income Mama Karangas can earn more for their families, restore biodiversity, and teach others to do the same. This is the essence of Pelorus Foundation's work: support local communities to protect wildlife and wild places in ways that meets their needs.

"The Mama Karanga project is intrinsically linked to the health of the ocean. Mama Karangas work hard with little recognition or reward. Without being aware of their true potential power, they are a crucial link in the coast communities and make positive change for the environment and their community."

- Des Bowden, Co-Founder of Oceans Alive Kenya.

Our Next Appeal for African Wildlife:

Across Africa, critically endangered species like rhinos, pangolins, elephants, and wild dogs frace grave threats from poaching and trafficking. Poaching and wildlife traffciking drive these animals toward extinction, while human-wildlife conflict and habitat loss put additional pressure on already fragile populations.

Hope lies however with the people who live with wildlife. Through Pelorus Foundation, you can help to protect wildlife by supporting local communities on the front lines of conservation.

Local communities are best placed to defend nature where it counts, but they battle rampant poaching, technical gaps, and weak infrastructure. In 2024, 586 rhinos were poached continent-wide and circa 17000 elephants killed. For pangolins (the world's most trafficked mammal) up to 2.7 million are lost every year in Central and West Africa. Community conservation is essential but overwhelmed.

By empowering and resourcing local communities on the front lines of conservation, you can help protect wildlife, restore ecosystems, and create sustainable livelihoods. Your support can help equip rangers, provide alternative incomes to reduce reliance on poaching, and ensure rescued animals have a second chance in the wild.

Our Solution

Through our local project partners, you can help turn the tide from a story of loss to one of resilience, where both people and wildlife thrive side by side.

Working with local communities, you can support efforts to protect pangolins in Namibia, elephants and wild dogs in Botswana, and marine life in Kenya, helping communities face daily conservation challenges.

At Pelorus Foundation we boost impact by strengthening local capability because we understand how to find the most high-impact local partners who are entrenched in their communities to bring about lasting change on species and their habitats.

With our new Big Give Matched African Wildlife Appeal your support is doubled and has an impact directly where it matters the most.

Please Support Us Today

Your generous support is fundamental to the continuation and ongoing success of these inspiring initiatives. There are also opportunities to hop on board and actively get involved.

Please donate today