​As part of our 20th anniversary celebrations, CCB recently hosted two dynamic four-day soccer camps in the villages of Kacgae and West Hanahai. These camps, designed to engage our target communities through fun-filled environmental education, attracted a total of 156 youth and 104 adults, showcasing the potential of sports as a catalyst for conservation awareness.
 
The camps were led by Paul Gibbons, affectionately known as "Gibbo," the founder of Soccer in the Community, a USA-based NGO. With years of experience volunteering with various organizations in Botswana, Gibbo has been instrumental in integrating football with conservation initiatives, including the development of the Coaching for Conservation program run by Wild Entrust. His commitment to using sport as a means of environmental education was evident throughout the camps. He was supported by two dedicated volunteers, Jason Vera and Mac Strong. The camps achieved impressive youth turnout, with participants eagerly engaging in activities led by Gibbo, Jason, Mac and the CCB team.
 
Following the soccer camps, CCB organised an exciting soccer tournament and family fun day in the village of West Hanahai. The tournament - sponsored by the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, and supported by donations from Mariette Straus and Kagiso Mokotedi - offered attractive cash prizes for the top three teams across the categories U16 Boys, U16 Girls, Women and Men, further incentivizing participation. The tournament drew good attendance, and visiting teams and spectators from West Hanahai and neighbouring villages stayed to enjoy the matches. Soccer, or should we say football as it is known locally, is Botswana’s most popular sport, and the enthusiasm for the camps and tournament was widespread.  
 
The camps and tournament underscored the potential of leveraging sports to promote conservation education. The participation of locals in soccer activities which were linked to environmental education fostered a deeper connection to environmental issues, while also bringing the community together. CCB looks forward to future events that harness the power of sport to engage communities in conservation efforts, driving awareness and action for our precious wildlife.
 
Thank you to everyone who participated, supported, and contributed to the success of these camps! We are excited to continue this journey of community engagement and environmental stewardship together.

​Our Engagement and Awareness (EAA) department may be small, but they definitely do an outstanding job at producing accessible and informative resources for various audiences. We are proud to see partners like Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) — whose mission is to achieve practical solutions to conservation problems through scientific research — using our materials in the field. It is also encouraging to see the Central District branch of our long-running governmental partners, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks tapping into our knowledge pool. While CCB’s operations are primarily concentrated in the Ghanzi district, many of the species that we research are present in other parts of the country, and as such, it is imperative that we produce resources that can translate into experiences of our various stakeholders regardless of where they find themselves. 
 
Resource production is a gruelling task that requires great attention to detail. To ensure that we don’t spread misinformation, and that we produce engaging, evergreen tools for our audiences, the EAA team invests a lot of time in the packaging and presentation of our resources. We are grateful that our peers at the Botswana Carnivore Forum have been proactive with sharing these resources with their membership. We also provide links and free access to digital copies of our resources on our website (on the Resources page), so that they are available to individuals and organisations far and wide to increase awareness of human-wildlife coexistence. 
 
With more research coming out from all our departments, we foresee new and exciting resources making their way into people’s hands (and onto their screens) in the coming year.