BirdLife Africa Partnership

The BirdLife Africa Partnership is a growing network of 23 national independent, supporter-based, grassroots, conservation-oriented NGOs. The Partnership currently comprises 11 Partners, 4 Partner Designate and 8 Affiliates plus 1 Country Programme covering 23 countries with a combined total of more than 300 staff and 30,000 members. Partners are involved in research, conservation action, environmental education and sustainable development through a broad agenda focusing on birds, other fauna and flora, and socio-economic issues such as poverty alleviation.

The Africa Partnership currently operates in 23 African countries: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

BirdLife country programme operatives in Morocco. There are also collaborative Projects in Guinea (Guinea Ecologie), Sudan (Sudanese Environmental Conservation Society), and Eritrea.

Governance of the BirdLife Africa Partnership

BirdLife Council for the African Partnership

All BirdLife regional policies and programmes in Africa are formulated, supervised and reviewed by the BirdLife Council for the Africa Partnership (CAP). CAP comprises representatives from all Africa Partners, Partners Designate (two delegates each) and Affiliates (one delegate each).

CAP meets annually and elects an annual Chairperson. The first CAP inception meeting was held in 1997 and since then, CAP has been meeting annually in the different countries. A member of the Africa Partnership currently sits on the BirdLife Global Council to ensure linkage between the African and global programme and policies.

African Regional Committee

An African Regional Committee serves as a decision-making body in between regional Africa Partnership meetings. The Committee comprises the current Chair and Vice Chair of the BirdLife Council for the Africa Partnership (CAP), the immediate past Chair, the BirdLife Global Council member from Africa and the Head of the BirdLife Africa Partnership Secretariat (non-voting member). Current members of the committee are:

Mr. Mourad Amari, Association ‘Les Amis des Oiseaux’ –AAO (CAP Chair, 2010/2012)
Mr. Mark Anderson, BirdLife South Africa - BLSA, (CAP Vice-Chair 2010/2012)
Prof. Emmanuel Obot, Nigeria Conservation Foundation (CAP Chair, 2008/2010)
Mr. Paul Matiku, Nature Kenya (Global Council Representative, 2008/2012)
Dr. Chipangura Chirara, BirdLife Zimbabwe (BLZ) (Global Council Representative, 2010/2012)
Dr. Julius Arinaitwe (Regional Director, BirdLife Africa Partnership Secretariat)

The Africa Partnership has set up working groups and specialised committees to provide advice on and implement specific tasks within the BirdLife Africa Programme. These include:

The Africa Policy and Advocacy Working Group (APAWG)
- APAWG fact sheet
- Africa policy and advocacy strategy document (PDF 7MB)

The Africa Species Working Group

The Technical Advisory Committee is comprised of members from within and outside the Partnership who contribute technical knowledge to the Africa Partnership Programmes.

The work of the BirdLife Africa Partnership is supported by a Secretariat located in Nairobi, Kenya and a Sub-regional office in Accra, Ghana.

BirdLife Africa Partnership - Staff List

Regional Director for Africa

Dr Julius Arinaitwe Julius.Arinaitwe@birdlife.org

Science and IBA Programme Manager

Conservation Programme

Ademola Ajagbe Ademola.Ajagbe@birdlife.org

Species Programme Manager

Paul Kariuki Ndang’ang’a Kariuki.Ndanganga@birdlife.org

Administration Manager

Edith Onyango-Hongo Edith.Onyango-Hongo@birdlife.org

Programme Development Manager