With changing and emerging threats to Central Africa’s wildlife populations, there is an urgent need to enhance the capacity of Central African conservation leaders to address the threats impacting wildlife and their habitats in the region. Team building and mentoring are increasingly important tools for conservation capacity development.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) MENTOR Fellowship Programs use team building and long-term mentoring along with rigorous academic and field learning to develop transdisciplinary teams of emerging African conservation professionals to address threats to wildlife.

Since 2008, USFWS has supported six MENTOR programs across Africa, with topics ranging from the bushmeat trade in East Africa (MENTOR/BEAN) and chimpanzees in West Africa (MENTOR-PACE) to forests (MENTOR-FOREST), manatees (MENTOR-Manatee), pangolins (MENTOR-POP), and – most recently – fish (MENTOR-Fish) and bushmeat (MENTOR-Bushmeat) in Central Africa. MENTOR program graduates play important roles in government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as leading national leading training centers, conducting applied research to inform policy, and implementing innovative wildlife law enforcement efforts.

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