OHWCF is a non-profit organization helping to mitigate the human-wildlife conflict in Botswana
WHO ARE WE
Okavango Human-Wildlife Conflict Foundation (OHWCF) is a registered entity under the Master of the High Court of Botswana, on 9th February 2021 with registration number TUHFT-000053-20. OHWCF is established in Maun and is run by the Board of Directors appointed by the Founders to oversee the foundation's administration and operations. The Board appoints the Executive Director (CEO) to serve as the secretariat of the foundation and sub-committees where necessary
WHAT DO WE DO
Okavango Human-Wildlife Conflict Foundation supports raising awareness of human-wildlife conflict, stakeholder networking, and resource mobilization for participatory wildlife conservation. This foundation may implement a compensation program for injuries caused by problem animals to reduce resentment of killings of wild animals by locals. The Foundation serves as a socially responsible group, helping each other with life advice and sharing experiences for improved wildlife conservation through:
a. Regularly arranged activities including tours, and social gatherings to promote its mandate. The committee is mandated to have at least one such activity in a quarter.
b. Provide the general membership with a calendar of events for the year
c. Nominate the technical team to run with day-to-day field activities, and such positions shall include but not be limited to; tour/trip organizer, training organizer, and events planner, and bestow upon them the powers to facilitate events.
d. Participate in national activities as required and will abide by Botswana regulations for that period.
e. Meeting and attendance of events throughout the year will be encouraged to promote our objectives of wellness and socialization.
f. Community mobilization and training on human-wildlife conflict resilience
OUR VISION, MISSION ,AND VALUES
Vision
To be an ideal provider of inclusive wildlife conservation and related services
Mission
Custom built policies, plans and decision making on human wildlife conflict and related services
Values
· Integrity: Botho, adherence to moral and ethical (standards of conduct) principles and honesty.
· Accountability: Transparency, obligation to account, accepts responsibility, and being answerable.
· Teamwork: Unity, compromise, harmony and participation.
· Focus to customer: timeliness, accuracy, quality, and innovation.
· Professionalism: exercise scientific principles and data analysis, abide by professional code of conduct and continuous develop staff
· Confidentiality: High level of protection of information providers and the information collected. Maintaining the confidentiality of individual and corporate information.
OUR PARTNERS
Boarder community sectors and stakeholders living in or providing service in wildlife conflict zones of the Okavango areas of Ngamiland, include:
• Government
The Public
• Private Businesses including small enterprises
• The academic sector
• Researchers and librarians
• Media
• Non-Governmental Organisations
• Parliamentarians and councillors
OUR RESPONSIBILITIES TO OUR PARTNERS
Some of our responsibilities at Okavango Human-Wildlife Conflict Foundation include the following:
· Act as the support foundation for a planned wildlife conservation programme in the Okavango;
· Lay down and maintain the norms and standards in the field of problem animals conservation, involving concepts on prevention and mitigation of the conflict, methodology of data collection, processing of data and dissemination of results;
· Provide an advisory service to Government and other users on human-wildlife conflict matters and related subjects;
· Provide regular and timely human-wildlife conflict information on the economic and social state of the Okavango and its people;
· Provide human-wildlife conflict information on the socio-economic status of households and families in the Okavango;
· Provide information on the population characteristics from time to time;
· Conduct the large-scale Okavango-Ngamiland sample surveys for creating the database needed for studying the impact of human-wildlife conflicts for the benefit of different parts of Botswana
· Support collaborative research to process the data;
· Conduct and arrange training programmes in human-wildlife conflicts and related subjects;
· Disseminate human-wildlife conflict information on various aspects through a number of regular or ad-hoc publications to Governments, parastatals, SADC member countries and various other national and international organisations; and through seminars/workshops;
· Ensure that the work programme for the office reflects the needs of users and encourages frequent communication with users in order to assess these needs; and
· Expand the scope for human wildlife conflict services as and when resources permit.
OUR SERVICE AREAS
Okavango Human Conflict Foundation has five service provision areas aligned to our objectives and they provide the following:
(a) To create awareness on human wildlife conflict among the community members with relevant stakeholders.
(b) To encourage active community participation in conservation and management of wildlife.
(c) To implement compensation program on injuries caused by wild animals to reduce retaliatory killings of wild animals by locals as conflicting species.
(d) To be a socially responsible group, helping each other with life advices and sharing experiences to improve our lives. Allowing for benchmarking and implementation of best practices
(e) To conduct surveys, seminars and information dissemination on the relevance of mitigating human wildlife conflict. This will require collaboration with research bodies, experts, line government ministries/ departments, NGO’s, private sectors and development partners involved in wildlife conservation and human wildlife conflict.
(f) To participate on planned fund raising initiatives and workshops.
OUR OBLIGATIONS/COMMITMENT
Our obligations or commitment to customers include the following:
• be professional, treating you with courtesy and respect;
• seek to understand your requirements, responding to your queries in a timely and accurate manner;
• Help you access and understand the human wildlife conflict and related information that;
• be consistent in the information we provide;
• keep your personal data and information confidential;
• provide comprehensive, accurate and timely information that is clear and easy to understand;
• honour our appointments and if cannot keep to our commitments we will notify our customers in a timely manner;
• listen to customers’ concerns and comments and respond to all the complaints as outlined in our constitution?
• provide opportunities for our customers to give us feedback on our services through the various channels which include customer evaluation form;
• Safe-guard all information in order to maintain confidentiality on information provided to us by our stakeholders and that our users obtained.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
To help us provide you as our customer with a high standard of service, we ask that you:
• Treat our staff with courtesy and respect;
• Provide us with information about your requirements, so that we can provide you with the human wildlife conflict solutions or product or service which best suits your needs;
• Let us know if you have particular access or other needs so we can help accommodate them;
• Provide us with feedback about our products and services and about the service you receive from Okavango Human Wildlife Conflict Foundation staff using the range of feedback options provided for you;
• Where necessary paying for services provided by Okavango Human Wildlife Conflict Foundation, as per laid down procedures.
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU
In recognition of the diversity of our customers, we provide a range of Human Wildlife conflict information and other services including:
• Published data available free from our website: www.ohwcf.org
• Telephone/Fax inquiry service: +267 73828501/ +267 71368473
• (between the hours of 7:30 am and 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday)
SECURITY REGISTRATION
We undertake to register all customers of Okavango Human Wildlife Conflict Foundation. This is done every time a customer contact and report on human wildlife conflict or service is provided to affected people.
COMPLAINTS
We value feedback from our customers on complaints so that we can continuously improve service offering. Please use the channels provided to register your complaints (i.e. Complaint Record Form, suggestion box, questionnaire in the website, help desk or information desk, etc.). Complaint Record Form, Date of Complaint,, Client Service Area, Complaint Handler.
How do we work?
Shaped by decades of experience within Botswana communities and its landscape, we effect change by bringing together real-world solutions, policy expertise, sustainable financing, and collaborative partnerships.
Technology & Innovation
To make a lasting impact, we know that we must actively engage and include the communities we are seeking to help. We are continually learning and growing in how we show up as an authentic, ethical partner.
Finance & Investing
Utilizing and adapting technologies familiar to the developed world, we can provide a solution to the human-wildlife conflict by increase yields, and lowering injuries and death in our local communities.
Partnering with Local Communities
By nurturing relationships with likeminded organizations and private individuals, we're able to unlock new sources of capital and scale up our work far beyond what traditional funding can do alone.