Supporting Higher Education in Africa
Through programs at universities in Rwanda and Congo, the Fossey Fund builds capacity among Africans, enabling them to better manage natural resources.
Our involvement in higher education in Rwanda and Congo is both financial, on-going and hands-on because of our significant and unique expertise. Through collaborative partnerships with African universities, our contributions include teaching university-level courses, advising and supervising internships and research projects, providing expertise and funding for new courses and equipment and more as our collaborations evolve.
A resource for Rwandan university students
In recent years, the Fossey Fund’s Karisoke™ Research Center has provided opportunities for Rwandan university students in biology to conduct and complete their thesis studies on various aspects of the flora and fauna in the Virungas. This has proved highly successful, with over 35 students completing their thesis at Karisoke through 2009. Students study a variety of topics, including mountain gorillas, other animals in the forest, vegetation, and interactions between the park animals and lands with local communities. Their work has enabled Karisoke to begin new formal research programs in botany, ornithology, studies of the rare golden monkey, and other topics.
Karisoke™ staff have also provided conservation field courses for second- and third-year students from the Biology Department of the National University of Rwanda. These have included such topics as gorilla behavior, ecology and conservation, conservation science research methods, and other topics of biodiversity in the park. These courses are integrated into the university curriculum and are intended to stimulate an interest in conservation through providing an opportunity for students to meet conservation scientists and practitioners.
In-depth internships on primates and on botany, as well as primate behavior courses and presentations on Karisoke‘s work have also been presented to local students in institutions of higher education.
The Tayna Center for Conservation Biology: Unique Congo university
The Fossey Fund’s most innovative contribution to education in the eastern Congo is providing technical and financial support for the Tayna Center for Conservation Biology (TCCB), a unique institution established in 2003 by the same local leaders who started a federation of community-managed nature reserves to preserve the rich biodiversity of this region (including the endangered Grauer's gorilla). In 2006, Conglese President Joseph Kabila issued a decree making TCCB Congo’s first licensed, community-run university. TCCB students, many of whom attend through scholarships, can receive three- and five-year degrees in biological sciences, geology, communications, economics, industrial sciences, and medicine. The communications students operate a community radio station that provides conservation education, local news and international news from a variety of sources to a population of some 300,000 people.
After graduation, they will return to their communities to work in conservation management and biodiversity studies. In return, their families are converting large tracts of traditional community lands into protected reserves managed by the newly graduated conservationists.
Since its accreditation by the DRC’s government in 2006, TCCB’s enrollment has grown to over 350 students from dozens of communities. Many graduates are already employed as conservation professionals at the community reserves and local schools.