From poacher to protector: how african parks is transforming conservation through community rangers

In the small border town of Bweyeye, Rwanda, Josephine Irandwanahafi represents a remarkable transformation in African conservation. The 50-year-old woman now patrols the edges of Nyungwe National Park as an eco-guard for African Parks, a South Africa-based NGO—but her previous job was cooking meals for poachers and selling illegal bushmeat in local markets.

Irandwanahafi is one of approximately 100 eco-guards hired from communities surrounding the 1,019-square-kilometer protected forest, which has been managed by African Parks since 2020. These community ambassadors form the organization’s first line of defense, patrolling buffer zones of eucalyptus plantations, educating neighbors about park boundaries, and providing intelligence about illegal activities. While her current salary of 50,000 Rwandan francs (about $35) per month is less than what she earned from the illegal wildlife trade, Irandwanahafi values the security of legitimate employment without the constant fear of arrest.

This community-based approach reflects a broader strategy by African Parks, which employs approximately 2,000 rangers across its network of protected areas throughout Africa. By hiring locally and offering former poachers legitimate alternatives, the organization aims to transform potential adversaries into conservation allies. The model demonstrates how effective wildlife protection increasingly depends not just on enforcement, but on providing economic opportunities that make conservation more valuable to local communities than exploitation.