Document Type: Profiles

Supporting rural livelihoods through wildlife management and community forests

COMACO, Community Markets for Conservation, is a social enterprise that supports wildlife conservation and small-scale farmers in Eastern Zambia. With the USAID-funded Integrated Land and Resource Governance Project, COMACO is strengthening community-based forest and wildlife management within two chiefdoms in Nyimba District. Thanks to USAID support, community forest management groups are registering their rights to natural resources and testing an approach to establish a community-managed game ranch.

Clarifying Land Rights in Eastern Zambia

The Chipata District Land Alliance (CDLA) is a civil society organization that focuses on advancing social and economic development by documenting the land rights of citizens in the Eastern Province of Zambia. Since 2014, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), CDLA has partnered with six customary chiefs to pioneer lowcost, participatory methods of land documentation using mobile approaches to secure tenure, known as MAST. The organization uses data to improve dialogue and promote transparency and accountability in land use planning.

A national voice for local resource management organizations

The Zambia Community Resources Board Association (ZCRBA) is an umbrella organization that unites and amplifies the voices and supports the governance needs of the all 76 of Zambia’s community resources boards, also known as CRBs, and other community-based natural resource management organizations. The ZCRBA is widely recognized as the voice
of the rural communities who reside around national parks and especially in game management areas, protected forests, and fishery areas. The association ensures rural communities derive tangible and sustainable benefits from the sustainable use of natural resources.