Sindisa Foundation - Save Heal Protect

About Us

History

The Sindisa Foundation evolved from the Biodiversity Trust, which was registered in Namibia in 1998 as a part-time, volunteer organisation to support wildlife conservation projects and to operate student education expeditions. Today, Sindisa is based in the United Kingdom and works throughout southern Africa.

Ibo Island Conservation CentreSupport for the development of Conservation Centres – facilities for the coordination of conservation, research and education projects – has been a key part of the Sindisa Foundation efforts since 1998. The contributions made to the Skeleton Coast Research Camp (Namibia 1998); the Amakhala Conservation Centre (South Africa 2002); the Kasanka Field Centre (Zambia 2004); the Ibo Island Conservation Centre (Mozambique 2006) and the planned Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary (Mozambique) are a testament to those efforts.

student expiditions Sindisa has also supported a range of other projects including PhD research studies on the lichens of the Skeleton Coast and the black-faced impala of Damaraland (Namibia); the translocation of elephant from Zululand to the Cape; elephant tracking collars and a 3C tree planting programme at Amakhala Game Reserve (South Africa); a community-owned safari camp in Salambala Conservancy (Namibia); student expeditions (Namibia and South Africa) and placements of British students on conservation projects throughout southern Africa.

During 2005 to 2007 Sindisa supported the initiation of a number of conservation, education and community development programmes on Ibo Island in the Quirimbas National Park and in the Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary, both on the coast of Mozambique.

Strategy

community development The initiation of the encompassing and dynamic “Trans Frontier Conservation Area” (TFCA) concept reflects the scale and complexity of the issues facing wildlife conservation and rural development in southern Africa. The significance of a concept, and its early success, that links South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, Angola and Zimbabwe in a common cause under workable Treaties lies in its potential to transcend politics and provide a truly sustainable development option for the people of Africa.

As a result, the Sindisa Foundation now focuses its efforts on the Trans Frontier Conservation Areas. The primary area of geographical focus is on the Zimbabwe contribution to the TFCAs. However, as an acknowledgement to its origins, Sindisa also maintains its links to Namibia through projects in the north west and through school expeditions and student placements on conservation projects.

Two strategies are used to achieve the Foundation’s objectives. Firstly, it continues to support the establishment or extension of conservation centres in the field from which research, conservation, environmental education and rural development programmes can function and be coordinated.

student expiditionsSecondly, it operates a “Rapid Response Fund” which it uses to support key projects when they encounter problems in the field, often small but critical and needing small but immediate funding to resolve them. A lack of immediate access to funds, albeit small amounts, can often prove vital when operating in the field and Sindisa helps solve that issue.

In all instances Sindisa applies the principle that it can help initiate, facilitate, support and advise, but that it is the people and organisations on the ground that are best positioned and able to manage projects. Sindisa, however, also applies the principle that all the projects it supports are thoroughly investigated, monitored and reported.

Trans Frontier Conservation Areas
A Trans Frontier Conservation Area (TFCA) is a significant international area which crosses the political boundaries of two or more countries encompassing a number of formally protected areas that are linked by corridors of other forms of land-use which nevertheless practice sustainable natural resource use, making a TFCA a single area under an integrated and coordinated environmental and wildlife management protocol. Implicit in this protocol is the understanding that people are part of the landscape, and the needs of people have to be integrated and accommodated within the broader conservation objectives.