Painted Dog Conservation partners Wild and Free Foundation

Painted Dog Conservation (PDC) and Wild and Free Foundation (WFF) have partnered to support conservation through sport, sponsoring the Iganyana Football League. Wild and Free Foundation (WFF) is a non-profit organization based in the United States and South Africa with a mission to empower youth and communities living around the national parks and wildlife reserves in Africa through sport and economic opportunities to reduce their dependence on poaching.

For over 15 years now, PDC has been sponsoring the local football league - Iganyana Football League – to reach out to the youth about conservation, keeping them engaged and away from illegal activities in the wilderness, e.g. poaching. Over the years, the league yielded significant results in reporting poaching activities, reporting painted dog sightings and supporting community-based initiatives such as clean-up campaigns and borehole repairs.

The PDC WFF partnership couldn't have come at any better time than now. To reflect this partnership, the league will now assume a new name, 'Rhino Cup Champions League Zimbabwe – Iganyana Division' to reflect this partnership.

Rhino Cup Champions League (RCCL) is the brainchild of WFF. WFF successfully implemented the Rhino Cup Champions League in Mozambique in 2017 with positive results such as reduced rhino poaching. Boredom, idleness, and poverty are some of the contributing factors to becoming a poacher. RCCL Zimbabwe addresses these factors by supporting and sponsoring the sports communities love - football - helping save wildlife and people.

Soccer Kit and Equipment Handover Ceremony

Under this new partnership, we distributed WFF Germany-sourced soccer kits and equipment on the 2nd of July 2022 to all 20 community-based teams in the league. The local chief, Chief Dingani-Nelukoba, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the PDC Board of Trustees, Col K Mhlophe from the national football governing board Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA), Zimbabwe women's national team coach Sithetheliwe' Kwinji 15' Sibanda, WFF's Kathrin Ehrke, community leaders and team representatives among others graced the event.

Each team received at least two soccer kits, including boots, socks, balls, cooler boxes, nets, cones, and bibs.

PDC and WFF's common goal is to empower and uplift young people and to help them get on a positive life path instead of the destructive path of poaching or any other types of illegal activities while engaging with people, uplifting communities and protecting wildlife. We are creating an environment where endangered species like painted dogs and other wildlife can thrive.

The RCCL Zimbabwe - Iganyana Division supports 20 male and four female community-based teams from communities adjacent to Hwange National Park, directly impacting wildlife and people welfare in the area.

To support conservation through sport, kindly send us a direct email or donate to the button below.

Giving poaching the red card!

Conservation through Action and Education!

Thank You Dominic, Farewell

Dominic ‘DJ’ Nyathi has left Painted Dog Conservation. He has been chosen by Wilderness Safaris to head up their Children In The Wilderness (CITW) programme, which is actually modelled on our Conservation Clubs that DJ established.

He served with us for 11 years and immensely contributed to our education and community programs over the years. For that, we are really grateful. While his leaving us is a loss, it’s a great opportunity for him and well deserved.

We know he will continue to represent PDC in the best possible way and we wish him all the best of luck in his new role.

Thank you Dominic!

Kids Back at the Iganyana Children’s Bush Camp

Songwa Primary School kids at Painted Dog Conservation

The Iganyana Children’s Bush Camp closed its first quarter and first school term on a high note after starting up late in Mid-February. We had to ensure that all necessary recommended health protocols were put in place, to make sure the children and our staff were as safe as possible.

The delay in opening schools didn’t dent the hard-working spirit of the staff at camp. St Francis A and B classes that missed camps in 2021 were the first this year although they were already in grade 7. This excited the students quite a lot as they thought they had been left out, “it’s nice to be here”  they kept saying throughout their stay with us at the Bush Camp.

Kids learning at Iganyana Children’s Bush Camp

Songwa and Chezhou were the first grade 6 class of the year. Affected by lockdowns and delayed school openings we noticed the kids had an even greater challenge in reading and writing which slowed down the pace of teaching and learning at the camp. These are kids from rural areas, with no access to the internet or ways of smart learning. When everyone else was doing online lessons they were not, they were home ploughing fields and helping look after livestock. We hope, with the necessary support, we will be able to do more in-school programs and build teacher capacity programs to help bridge the gap.

Chezhou Primary School kids

Completing the generation circle?

Nelson Mandela said, “education is the most important tool we can use to change the world.” But it takes time, it’s an unending process. As if to underline this, we are now seeing students coming to the camp who are children of parents who came to camp while they were grade 6, some 16-17 years ago in what we have termed ‘completing the generation circle. We have had children shout and say, “My mother stayed in room 3 and this is the room,” this is usually met with smiles all over the face. This is an indicator that our goal of having a conservation-conscious generation in the locality is becoming a reality.

The faces of excited children are always a delight to observe and this keeps us going and wanting to do more.

Kids at Iganyana Children’s Bush Camp on a game drive