Projects and Programmes

Conservation at iSimangaliso Wetland Park has never been about fences alone. Guided by its mandate to protect the Park while empowering the communities living in and around it, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority runs a family of programmes that turn a World Heritage Site into jobs, skills, enterprises and opportunity for the people of uMkhanyakude District and beyond.

GEF-7 Project

iSimangaliso is an implementing partner in the GEF-7 project “Catalyzing Financing and Capacity for the Biodiversity Economy Around Protected Areas”, funded by the Global Environment Facility and led by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. The project grows the biodiversity economy — wildlife, bio-trade and ecotourism — for communities around the Park, from biodiversity stewardship workshops to game donations such as the twelve giraffe delivered to the Makhasa Community Conservation Area.

Rural Enterprise Development Programme

Established in 2008, the Rural Enterprise Programme opens economic doors for iSimangaliso’s neighbouring communities. It has supported more than 645 local entrepreneurs with training and mentorship and awarded 220 small business grants, prioritising SMMEs linked to conservation, tourism and the biodiversity economy.

Tertiary Education Support Programme

Since 2010, iSimangaliso’s Tertiary Education Support Programme has helped young people from communities around the Park to study conservation, tourism and development-related fields. The programme has supported 194 students — 168 of whom have graduated — with bursary support, stipends, laptops, workshops and work-based experience inside the Park.

Environmental Education

iSimangaliso’s environmental education programme brings the wonder of the Park into local classrooms — and local learners into the Park. Dedicated buses carry school groups to uMkhuze, Sodwana Bay and the Eastern Shores for curriculum-aligned field trips that build the next generation of conservation champions.

Land Care and Expanded Public Works

iSimangaliso’s Land Care teams wage a year-round campaign against invasive alien plants, tackling around 50,000 hectares every year — the Park’s largest single source of employment, with well over a thousand people working in the field. Through the Expanded Public Works Programme and partnerships with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, thousands more job opportunities have been created for communities living in and around the Park.

Bursary Programme

Every year, iSimangaliso awards bursaries to first-year students from communities neighbouring the Park, backed by mentoring and academic support — in 2023/24, 93% of bursary students passed their registered modules. Applications can now be completed and submitted online.