M B O M I P A Association (Tanzania) - Home page

MBOMIPA is Tanzania’s leading community wildlife management association, formed by 19

villages in Iringa District which border Ruaha National Park. This website comprises an
introduction to the history and ongoing activities of MBOMIPA and the people and wildlife
resources that the association serves. We hope that you will enjoy it and welcome you to
contribute any comments and information that may help us to improve the site by e-mailing
suggestions@mbomipa.info.

Page updated 23rd April, 2003.

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M B O M I P A - the MBOMIPA Association

153kb MBOMIPA map [pdf version] DOWNLOAD

(source: MBOMIPA Project and Ecosystems Ltd.)

The MBOMIPA Association (Asasi ya MBOMIPA) represents all of the people living
in the 19 villages of Idodi and Pawaga Divisions in Tanzania’s Iringa District.
Idodi and Pawaga border Ruaha National Park and many of their residents once
lived within the park area. Others are immigrants from other areas who have
come to grow crops and/or graze livestock in this easternmost branch of the Rift
Valley.

Until recently most villagers benefitted little from the proximity of the park and
the presence of wildlife on their lands - though there were illicit benefits to be
had from both commercial and ‘subsistence’ poaching. And the villages received
no income at all from the legal hunting that did take in the game controlled area
(Lunda-Mkwambi) that borders the park. Poaching and poverty went hand in
hand.

With the help of successive projects supported by the Tanzanian and British
governments this has now changed. The Ruaha Ecosystem Wildlife Management

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M B O M I P A - the MBOMIPA Association

Project (REWMP, 1992-96) initiated community wildlife management in villages

neighbouring the park, and this work was consolidated and developed further by
the recently concluded MBOMIPA* Project (1997-2003).

The 19 villages of Idodi and Pawaga now derive most of their income from
wildlife management, income which helps to pay for the development of basic
village services (including clinics and schools) and reduces the burden of village
taxes on individual households. Community members have been empowered to
take their own decisions about the wild resources on their lands and the
incomes that these can generate. This is especially significant for women, who
have a much greater say in these matters than they once did. And it is women
and children who benefit most from the provision of basic healthcare and
education that community wildlife management allows.

REWMP and the MBOMIPA Project also made important contributions to the
development of national policy and legislation. The new Wildlife Policy of
Tanzania, emphasising the future role of community wildlife management, was
published in March 1998. The MBOMIPA Project played a key role in the
subsequent development of Guidelines and Regulations governing the
establishment and operation of community-run Wildlife Management Areas.
These were finally launched in February 2003, and owed much to the example of
MBOMIPA.

Community wildlife management in Idodi and Pawaga was first established

through individual Village Natural Resources Committees, each employing its
own Village Game Scouts. In May 2000, however, the participating villages voted
to pool their resources and form a single association for the purposes of wildlife
management. In June 2001 each village elected two representatives to the
fledgling MBOMIPA Association, and in September they worked together with a
lawyer to draft the association’s constitution and other legal instruments. On 28
January 2002 the MBOMIPA Association was legally registered under the
Societies Ordinance, the first indigenous conservation and development
organisation of its kind in Tanzania.

*MBOMIPA is an acronym from the Swahili name Matumizi Bora ya Malihai Idodi na Pawaga, translated in
official documents as ‘Sustainable Use of Wildlife Resources in Idodi and Pawaga’. This name was coined by
participants in a project planning workshop held by REWMP in March 1996.

Page updated 25th April, 2003.

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M B O M I P A - partnerships

The MBOMIPA Association recognises that partnerships are essential to

enhancing its capacity to meet the challenges ahead. The conversion of village
lands into a gazetted Wildlife Management Area, following steps outlined in the
new Regulations and Guidelines (which were published in December 2002), will
be a difficult and time-consuming process that requires special resources.
Negotiating with potential investors, including tour operators and hunting
companies, requires experience and skills that are still developing. And the
Association is still young and needs advice on how to manage its own financial
and business affairs.

To help it meet these challenges, the Association can draw on the assistance of
its Board of Trustees, whose members include prominent members of
government and the local business community. The Board met for the first time
in December 2002, electing the Chief Park Warden of Ruaha National Park as its
first chairperson.

The Association also has the support of a new District Natural Resources
Advisory Body, which was formed in Iringa in March 2003 to take over from the
MBOMIPA Project’s District Steering Committee. Iringa District Council was a key

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M B O M I P A - partnerships

partner for the MBOMIPA Project, and its continuing support will be even more
important for the MBOMIPA Association.

Equally important are partnerships with the major government wildlife

authorities, TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks) and Ruaha National Park, and the
Wildlife Division in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. The Wildlife
Division has retained the MBOMIPA Project Manager in Iringa and there are also
many links between Ruaha National Park and the MBOMIPA Association. One of
these is through the park’s Community Conservation Service and its benefit-
sharing programme, SCIP (Support for Community-initiated Projects).

Partnerships and contracts with private sector investors are essential to ensure
the growth of the Association’s income and therefore its capacity to generate
profits for its village members. The development of game viewing and tourist
facilities outside of the park promise much for the future if they can be managed
responsibly and for the benefit of both people and wildlife.

Many of the MBOMIPA Association’s hopes for the future rest upon it being able
to establish fruitful partnerships with other organisations in the voluntary
sector, both large and small. In addition to working with overseas volunteer and
student programmes, the Association has an excellent relationship with the local
NGO Friends of Ruaha, which has initiated an environmental education
programme in village primary schools and has other collaborative work in the
pipeline. It has also worked with In March 2003, as the MBOMIPA Project came to
an end, the Association was also looking forward to possible collaboration with
the Iringa office of CONCERN, with WWF Tanzania, and with the Living
Landscapes Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society (formerly the New York
Zoological Society).

Most important of all, the MBOMIPA Association is committed to partnership

with the people it represents. The Association belongs to the people of Idodi and
Pawaga, and exists for their benefit. It recognises that the conservation and
sustainable use of wildlife resources are critical to the maintenance and
development of livelihoods in Idodi and Pawaga, as well as in other rural areas
of Tanzania that are learning from the MBOMIPA experience.

If you would like to learn more about the possibility of entering into partnership
with the MBOMIPA Association, or would like to visit Iringa and learn more about
its work, please write to the Secretary of the Association or contact the Secretary
of the Board of Trustees.

Page updated 24th April, 2003.

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M B O M I P A - people & wildlife

The 19 member villages of the MBOMIPA Association are located in the broad
valley of the Great Ruaha River, part of Tanzania’s Eastern Rift. The villages of
Pawaga Division follow the course of the Little Ruaha, a tributary of the Great
Ruaha. Most of the Idodi villages are sited at the foot of the rift escarpment,
south-east of the Great Ruaha River and Ruaha National Park boundary. Access to
water for domestic and agricultural uses has been especially important in the
development of these villages, some of whose inhabitants once lived within the
park area, along the Great Ruaha and its seasonal tributaries.

Ruaha National Park and the MBOMIPA village lands straddle two major
ecological zones, the Brachystegia-dominated ‘miombo’ woodlands characteristic
of southern Tanzania and countries further south, and Acacia-Commiphora
woodlands typical of the Rift Valley and areas to the north. The park and
surrounding wildlands host plant and animal species adapted to each of these
zones, some of them at the limits of their natural distributions. Ruaha is known
for its large elephant (Loxodanta africana) and buffalo (Synercus caffer) herds
and one of its principal attractions lies in being able to see greater (Tragelaphus
angasi) and lesser (Tragelaphus imberis) kudu as well as the majestic sable
(Hippotragus niger) and roan (Hippotragus equinus) antelope within the same
area. As well as an abundance of lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera pardus)
and cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) it is also home to the increasingly rare and
endangered African hunting dog (Lyacon pictus).

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M B O M I P A - people & wildlife

Water is a critical resource for the large mammals that attract most tourists to
the park, and the seasonal drying of the Great Ruaha since 1993 has been a
source of growing concern.* This is just one of a number of threats to wildlife in
and around the park. Thanks to the work of the park and wildlife authorities in
collaboration with successive projects (REWMP and MBOMIPA) the threats from
commercial poaching and unsustainable hunting have been considerably
reduced, though the destruction of natural vegetation and consequent habitat
loss remain to be brought fully under control.

Both REWMP and the MBOMIPA Project conducted wildlife surveys in the area (for
the concluding report which summarises earlier surveys see the final 2002 game
survey report) and the MBOMIPA Project also experimented with a participatory
monitoring system conducted by Village Game Scouts.

Final 2002 game survey report DOWNLOAD

Variable
[pdf version]
Final participatory wildlife monitoring DOWNLOAD
Variable report
[pdf version]

The relation between people and wildlife in the MBOMIPA area is a complex one
and can’t be captured entirely by the simple contrast between sustainable and
unsustainable forms of utilisation and/or exploitation. Plants and animals also
play important roles in the thought and knowledge systems of MBOMIPA
villagers with different backgrounds and life experiences. REWMP and the
MBOMIPA Project also initiated efforts to record and understand local
understandings of wildlife and the wider environment, and it is hoped that
future updates of this website will report on some of these. More importantly, it
is hoped that this knowledge can be used in local programmes of environmental
education.

*For detailed discussion of this problem and its upstream causes and consequences
connect to www.usangu.org, the website of the DfID-supported SMUWC project (Sustainable
Management of the Usangu Wetland and its Catchment). A documentary film ‘Ruaha: Hell or
High Water?’ was recently made by Simon Trevor (for Anglia Survival) and an educational
film made in Swahili.

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M B O M I P A - people & wildlife

Page updated 3rd May, 2003.

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M B O M I P A - reports & papers

The MBOMIPA Project (1997-2003) and its predecessor, REWMP (the Ruaha Ecosystem Wildlife
Management Project, 1992-96) produced numerous reports and papers relating to their work
in the Idodi and Pawaga villages. Many MBOMIPA reports were written in Swahili, reflecting
their intended audience. A small selection of English language MBOMIPA project reports and
papers are provided here as pdf files. We hope in future to make more REWMP and MBOMIPA
Project reports available in electronic form.

MBOMIPA: From Project to Association and from

DOWNLOAD
Conservation to Poverty Reduction (2003), the
653kb final report of the MBOMIPA Project.
* New! *

Notes for MBOMIPA Project Visitors (1998),

DOWNLOAD
prepared in advance of the visit to the project by
150kb Clare Short, the U.K. Secretary of State for
International Development, in August 1998

Mafuluto Village: Report of Participatory Land

DOWNLOAD
Use Planning Activities Carried Out in Mafuluto
54kb Village, Idodi Division, 19-22 May 1999 (1999), the
first in a series of 19 participatory studies

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M B O M I P A - reports & papers

Mboliboli Village: Report of Participatory Land

DOWNLOAD
Use Planning Activities Carried Out in Mboliboli
49kb Village, Pawaga Division, 25-28 May and 4-5 June
1999 (1999), the second in this series of studies

Key Issues for the MBOMIPA Project (2000),

DOWNLOAD
prepared in advance of the project’s Output-to-
133kb Purpose Review in February and March 2000

Review of Government of Tanzania/DFID

DOWNLOAD
MBOMIPA Project, 1-11 March 2000 (2000),
90kb Marshall Murphree’s independent contribution to
the project’s Output-to-Purpose Review

The Development of Community Wildlife

DOWNLOAD
Management in Tanzania: Lessons from the
182kb Ruaha Ecosystem (2000), paper presented to a
conference on ‘African Wildlife Management in
the New Millennium’
The Wildlife Conservation Act, 1974, and the
DOWNLOAD
Wildlife Policy of Tanzania: The Place of Local
133kb Communities (2001), a paper presented at a
workshop to review the existing wildlife
legislation
Game Surveys of Lunda-Mkwambi Game
DOWNLOAD
Controlled Area and Adjacent Areas of Ruaha
Variable National Park: Sixth Aerial Survey 14-25 October
2002 and; Final Report (2002), the final MBOMIPA
survey including summaries of previous aerial
survey
Participatory Monitoring of Wildlife Resources
DOWNLOAD
for MBOMIPA Project Villages: Final Data Analysis
Variable and Performance Review (2003), report evaluating
MBOMIPA’s experimental monitoring programme

Full list of MBOMIPA Project reports

DOWNLOAD
52kb

The experiences of REWMP and MBOMIPA also fed into many independent studies and
evaluations. Unfortunately most of these are unavailable online. However, the following key
DfID reports are available from DfID and also below:

Wildlife and Poverty Study: Phase One Report,

(2000). DOWNLOAD
Variable (Annex B devoted to a case study of MBOMIPA)
Wildlife and Poverty Study:Final Report, (2002).
DOWNLOAD
507kb

Page updated 16tb July, 2005.

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M B O M I P A - contact us

The headquarters of the MBOMIPA Association are in Tungamalenga village in

Idodi Division. This is the last village on the road into Ruaha National Park, and
is a good two hours’ drive from Iringa town and many more by local bus service.
You can write to the MBOMIPA Association at the following address - but don’t
expect a quick reply!

The Secretary
The MBOMIPA Association
P.O.Box 398
Iringa
Tanzania

The Secretary of the Association’s Board of Trustees, who is also the Wildlife
Division’s Project Manager, is based in the Iringa District Natural Resources
Office (Maliasili Wilaya) on Boma Road in Iringa town. He can be contacted at the
same postal address (P.O.Box 398, Iringa) and also by telephone (255-26-
2702686), fax (255-26-2702807), and e-mail manager@mbomipa.info. If need be
he can also facilitate communication with the MBOMIPA Association and its
constituent villages.

This site was developed in April 2003 by Andrew Williams of University

College London and Martin Walsh of the MBOMIPA Project. To contact the
webmaster please e-mail webmaster@mbomipa.info. It is maintained with
the voluntary help of members of the MBOMIPA Association’s Board of
Trustees.

Page updated 25th April, 2003.

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M B O M I P A - contact us

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M B O M I P A - links

The Wildlife Conservation Society

...developing capacity to manage landscapes and wildlife in
Tanzania - including a new project - the Ruaha-Rungwa Landscape
Conservation Programme

Friends of Ruaha Society

A registered society formed in 1984 with the aim of raising funds to
support the conservation of the flora and fauna of the Ruaha
National Park and the surrounding game reserves. Now also
working with communities outside of the park.

Sustainable Management of the Usangu Wetland and its Catchment

(SMUWC) project
...working to meet the government's commitment to restoring flows
in the Great Ruaha River in Tanzania by 2010.

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M B O M I P A - links

Ruaha Water Programme

WWF Tanzania and stakeholders in the Great Ruaha River and its
catchment are working together to ensure sustainable use of
natural resources and restore year-round flows in the river.

Wildlife Working Group - Tanzania

The Wildlife Working Group's (WWG) purpose is to promote
stakeholder communication, collaboration, and information-sharing
about wildlife conservation and management in Tanzania.

German Assistance to the Wildlife Sector in Tanzania

Conservation of natural resources and protection of the
environment and biodiversity are priorities of German development
policy. Support to the natural resources sector is one of three focal
points for GTZ (the German bilateral aid agency) in Tanzania.

Lawyers' Environmental Action Team (Tanzania)

The Lawyers' Environmental Action Team (LEAT) is the first public
interest environmental law organization in Tanzania. It was
established in 1994 and formally registered in 1995 under the
Societies Ordinance. Its mission is to ensure sound natural resource
management and environmental protection in Tanzania.

The African Conservation Foundation

A Not-For-Profit Educational Foundation and a very useful portal for
the Conservation of Africa's flora and fauna.

CBNRM Net
... networking for community-based natural resource management
(CBNRM) practitioners worldwide.

Nature Kenya
Nature Kenya is the business name (in Kenya) of the East Africa
Natural History Society . The Society was established in 1909 and is
the oldest conservation organisation in Africa. The aim of Nature
Kenya is to promote the study and conservation of the natural
environment, in eastern Africa.

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M B O M I P A - links

East African Wildlife Society

For over forty (40) years, EAWLS has been at the forefront in the
efforts for protecting endangered, rare or threatened species and
habitats in East Africa. EAWLS's goal is to promote conservation and
wise use of wildlife and the environment in East Africa.

Tanzania's Poverty Monitoring Website

This web site contains information about the progress and outputs
of Tanzania's Poverty Reduction Strategies and Poverty Monitoring
System.

Page updated 4th September, 2004.

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