Parque Nacional da Gorongosa Moçambique

Training Center for Plant and Wildlife Scouts and Guards Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Sep 22, 2007 - Gorongosa National Park

Gorongosa National Park was the site of a grand celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Training Center for Plant and Wildlife Scouts and Guards on September 22, 2007.  The Center, funded and supported by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and under the direction of the Ministry of Tourism (MITUR), is located at Chitengo camp in Gorongosa National Park.

WWF has supported the Training Center for Scouts and Guards for Plants and Wildlife since May 2000.  WWF’s support, so far totaling $780,000 USD, includes the rehabilitation of the Training Center, development of programs to train, increase capacity of, and pay instructors, and subsidizing the cost of the training courses.  The project is a partnership with MITUR, which provides support through Gorongosa National Park.

The Center reopened in 1997 after more than a decade of closure because of the civil war.  Each year, the Center trains more than 120 scouts and guards, who come from all of the provinces and conservation areas in the country.  Since 1997, the Center has trained more than 1224 plant and wildlife scouts, conservation area guards, and community and technical guards at both the intermediate and advanced level in specialized natural resource management areas including human-animal conflict mitigation, wildlife surveys, and abatement of wildlife hunting.  Since its inception, the Center has implemented 39 courses and 13 training seminars.

At the celebration of the Center’s 10th Anniversary, which occurred in conjunction with the graduation of 33 scouts and guards constituting the Center’s 39th training course, Helena Motta, WWF’s National Coordinator in Mozambique, spoke of her wish to one day see the Center become self sufficient.  “WWF always endorses training that serves to promote the sustainable management and use of natural resources, and this Center is proof of this,” said Helena Motta.  “We will continue to give necessary support, yet look forward to one day seeing a self-sufficient Center,”

For his part, the Vice Minister of Tourism, Dr. Rosário Mualeia, praised the role carried out by many partners, namely WWF and Gorongosa National Park, and affirmed the commitment of his Ministry to provide all of the necessary support to the partners and to the directors of the Center in order to see its excellent work realized.

The courses offered, Plant and Wildlife Scout, Park and Reserve Guard, and Community Guard, all last for seven weeks, and aim to provide skills and knowledge for effective performance in these areas, including practical experience in skills and necessary techniques for managing natural resources in Mozambique.