Friends of Association Djibouti Nature unite to ensure organisation's long-term sustainability

18 of May 2014 – BirdLife International, NABU (BirdLife Germany) and Zoo Landau, Germany joined forces to share their expertise to develop the capacity of Association Djibouti Nature (BirdLife Djibouti) during a 4 day workshop funded by the BirdLife UNDP-GEF Migratory Soaring Birds project, NABU and Zoo Landau in Djibouti City, Djibouti.

Association Djibouti Nature is a membership, a non-political, non-profit making and non-governmental organization established in 1999. It is an Affiliate Partner of BirdLife International. Its mission is to contribute to the conservation, sustainable management and appreciation of nature and to improve the livelihoods of people in Djibouti. To achieve this, Djibouti Nature works with local communities, government bodies and other prominent stakeholders to raise awareness and highlight the protection of the country’s natural inheritance for the benefit of present and future generations.

Association Djibouti Nature acts as the leading authority on Djibouti’s avifauna. As such, its work concentrates in priority on Globally Threatened Species and Key Biodiversity Sites like the Critically Endangered Djibouti Francolin (Francolinus ochopectus), the only endemic bird species in Djibouti and the Forêt du Day (an Important bird and biodiversity area-IBAs) which is the main stronghold of this species, but also on other threatened species, such as a very rare palm species (Livistona carinensis), the Red listed Gabal Elba Dragon Tree (Dracaena ombet), and the classical migrating Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus).

“Association Nature Djibouti has been a BirdLife Affiliate for some years now, and the BirdLife Africa Partnership Secretariat is working relentlessly to capitalize on all the efforts exerted to promote the organization to a BirdLife partner standard” explained Dr. Julius Arinaitwe, Regional Director of the BirdLife Africa Partnership Secretariat.  

The workshop objective’s was to enhance the core capacity of Djibouti Nature through an assessment of the capacity needs and the provision of support towards the development of strategies and plans essential for the governance and core functioning of the organization.

“After 15 years of support and collaboration, this workshop is a clear step towards a sustainable and self-sufficient future for Djibouti Nature to pursue their environmental education work and vital conservation efforts, notably for the Critically Endangered Djibouti Francolin and the Beira Antelope” declared Jens-Ove Heckel, Director of Zoo Landau and representative of NABU’s working group on Africa.

Among the various outputs of the workshop, a 4 year (2014-2017) Strategic Plan was developed to boost the efficiency of Djibouti Nature at the conservation and financial level. “Association Nature Djibouti has approved and adopted a new strategic plan that will be implemented by fresh blood as the organization is in the process of hiring new staff” said Houmed A. Bourhan, Chairperson of Association Djibouti Nature.

This workshop is a result of a previous regional workshop held in 2013 in Jordan, during which the capacity of all Migratory Soaring Birds project partner organizations, including Nature Djibouti, was assessed and capacity building road maps were developed to answer identified needs and gaps. “Having one of the most important bottleneck sites on the Rift Valley/Red Sea flyway, namely Bab el Mandeb strait, Djibouti is an essential country for the Migratory Soaring Birds Project” declared Osama Al Nouri, Regional Coordinator of the Migratory Soaring Birds project. Mr. Al Nouri concluded that “the Migratory Soaring Birds project has been supporting Nature Djibouti for the past few years to enable them to implement the project in Djibouti by mainstreaming efficiently the conservation of our birds into key sectors of the Djiboutian society such as the energy and waste management sector.”

Contact:

Dr. Jens-Ove Heckel

Zoo director/Member of NABU’s working group on Africa

c/o Zoo Landau in der Pfalz

Hindenburgstr. 12

D-76829 Landau in der Pfalz

Germany

Email: jens-ove.heckel@landau.de

Dr. Julius Arinaitwe 

Regional Director for Africa

BirdLife International | Africa Partnership Secretariat

Volker’s Gardens, Terrace Close, Westlands| P. O. Box 3502 | 00100 GPO Nairobi | Kenya

Email: Julius.Arinaitwe@birdlife.org  

Mr. Osama Al Nouri

Project Coordinator

BirdLife UNDP/GEF Migratory Soaring Birds Project

www.migratorysoaringbirdsproject.undp.birdlife.org

P.O. Box 2295| Amman 11953 | Jordan

Email: Osama.alnouri@birdlife.org

Mr. Houssein Rayaleh

Chief Executive Officer

Association Djibouti Nature

www.djiboutinature.org

Email: naturedjibouti@gmail.com