From the left: Steve Ogutu, MCLD Executive Director, and Rubina James, ABCG Director, signing MoU on September 14, 2023
The Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) and the Movement for Community Led Development (MCLD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on September 14, 2023 that will see the two organizations working together to champion for holistic and bottom-up approaches that put communities at the center of conservation and development. The partnership will see that the strategies and approaches for protecting biodiversity in Africa reach and impact a wider range of communities across Africa to improve the well-being of the communities and biodiversity.
ABCG is a multi-institutional organization that brings together cross-sectoral entities to achieve greater impact than any one organization by itself could have. ABCG has been evidencing the value of focused collaboration in delivering greater conservation impact than members could deliver individually for over two decades. Recognizing that communities are at the front line of biodiversity conservation, this new partnership is a testament of ABCG’s commitment to collaboration that transforms sustainable development in the region by ensuring that the voices of communities are at the fore of conservation and development work.
MCLD’s mission is to strengthen capacity of development community (CSOs, development partners and governments) to fully embrace community-led development approaches in the design, implementation, and evaluation of development interventions. MCLD calls for enhancing the power and capacity of communities to take charge of their own development.
ABCG and MCLD team pose for a photo after the MoU signing on September 14, 2023
Through this partnership, MCLD and ABCG will work together to support the successful implementation of the post-2020 biodiversity framework by ensuring that the African voice and perspectives help to shape the post-2020 biodiversity framework, receive adequate political support and technical backstopping. Additionally, the parties will work together to see that African negotiators are attuned to the realities and aspirations of Africans from all walks of life. And that negotiators consider the needs and rights of indigenous peoples and local communities residing alongside most of the biodiversity on the continent.
Another goal of this MoU is to promote application and scaling-up of outcomes and outputs by sharing data and information, lessons and outcome and output with each other. This presents a key opportunity for the organizations to advocate for the adoption of policies that support community led development.
“MCLD is thrilled to collaborate with ABCG to advance community-led approaches in sustainable biodiversity conservation and strengthen grassroot climate actions”, said Steve Ogutu, Executive Director MCDL
ABCG Director, Rubina James, lauded the partnership noting that “this partnership between MCLD and ABCG evidences the criticality of coming together to achieve our collective goals through the unification of our collective strengths, expertise, and experience. Building positive relationships across various and diverse partners is one of the most important foundations for success. From the isiZulu saying, “Izandla ziyagezana” meaning “hands wash each other”, we know that we are here, on this planet, to help each other, and build each other up. If we help our neighbor, we are actually helping ourselves in the long run”.
About ABCG
The Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) is a multi-institutional organization that brings together cross-sectoral entities to achieve greater impact than any one organization by itself could have. ABCG founding members include African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Conservation International (CI), the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), World Resources Institute (WRI), and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
About MCLD
MCLD comprises CSOs and INGOs committed to achieving the SDGs by enhancing power of communities to take charge of their own development.