The Gorilla Organization (formerly The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Europe)

www.gorillas.org

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is a UK registered charity that was founded in 1989. Its overall mission is to secure the survival of gorillas in their natural habitats within Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Currently the Fund operates twenty projects in this region all of which are run by local project partners. While it funds two community gorilla reserves in DR Congo and is in partnership with the national wildlife authorities of these countries – the Fund supports their endeavours within the national parks – the majority of its projects are either education or socio-economic development projects for the communities surrounding the national parks. These include providing water cisterns to collect drinking water in the villages, income generation and micro-credit projects, training in sustainable organic agriculture and giving assistance to marginalised, indigenous peoples.

The principle underlying these projects is that the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is protecting the habitat of the gorillas by enhancing local standards of living and providing alternative resources to those of the parks. Its projects of assistance to indigenous peoples were developed in line with this principle, but also to try and rectify the detrimental consequences they have suffered as a result of conservation activities.

The projects themselves are directly administered and supported by the Fund’s regional resource centres in the project areas. These are located in Ruhengeri in northwest Rwanda, Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kisoro in Uganda, and are staffed by local, African liaison officers.