Chongwe Outreach

This year, CLZ’s Nzou Environmental Education Programme kicked off in February with its School Outreach Programme that takes CLZ’s Environmental Education Coordinator Besa Kaoma to schools surrounding the Lower Zambezi National Park. First on the list this year was the Chongwe District, which is an area through which many poachers access the park  - hence a key area for environmental education. From 22  - 26 February, Besa, accompanied by CLZ’s driver James Muyoma, visited 13 schools in the area, giving lessons on hunting and poaching to a total of 420 school children that are part of the schools’ conservation clubs. As part of CLZ’s EEP, Besa also gives lessons on health and HIV/Aids, funded every year by SidEcole. Finally, Besa also distributed 325 human-wildlife-conflict booklets to the conservation clubs in the schools this year. These booklets were printed and donated by Awely – CLZ’s partner organization for its community support programme. It is the first time that CLZ is introducing awareness lessons on human-wildlife-conflict education to other project areas apart from Chiawa and Luangwa GMAs. 

SMART Training/Trouble shooting

CLZ hosted the 4th visit by Panthera staff in February this year. The 3-day workshop was a training and troubleshooting session intended for CLZ staff members that are responsible for implementing the SMART system in the Lower Zambezi law enforcement operations. SMART – short for Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool – is a software that that is designed for easy and efficient information recording by scout patrol teams while in the field. SMART runs on ‘Trimbles’ – these are handheld GPS-enabled computer devices with a camera that allows scout teams to record any information in real-time. Upon completion of the patrol, all data (patrol tracks, photos, GPS coordinates for animals seen, signs of illegal activity etc.) are downloaded into the SMART database. From this, data can be easily extracted for reporting purposes and for effective monitoring. We would like to thank Michelle Moeller from Panthera and Richard Bergyl from North Carolina Zoo for their dedication to this training and help in getting the trimbles in the field. 

New Control Centre at Base Camp
As of February 2016, CLZ has a new operations control room! Thanks to the generous financial support from the Beit Trust, CLZ has built a new Control Centre for law enforcement operations. The Control Centre consists of an office that is fitted with a lockable storage/safe room, and an accommodation room for the Operations Managers. The new Control Centre serves to create a base that is more secure and more private – the operations room was previously located amongst staff accommodation which is not ideal for law enforcement communications. The construction of this building has been part of upgrading the communication system that is currently in place in the Lower Zambezi. Thank you to the Beit Trust!