Quarterly Report FY2021 Q1: USAID’s VukaNow Activity

VukaNow focuses on two key objectives: to catalyze learning and sharing for improved results to combat wildlife crime, and to increase collaborative action to reduce wildlife crime in targeted Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs). VukaNow's activities in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 are geared towards scaling-up, sustaining, and institutionalizing investments made since inception to deepen regional collaboration to combat wildlife crime and ensure sustainability beyond the life of the project. Operating during the COVID-19 pandemic requires continuous adaptation; VukaNow has embraced a hybrid approach to implementing its FY2021 work plan, with primarily virtual activities complemented by a few in-person interventions, such as small in-country meetings and training activities, where and when the situation allows. A number of important studies and assessments were undertaken during FY2020, laying the groundwork for VukaNow's FY2021 priorities. Activities began in earnest in the first quarter of FY2021 to implement the recommendations stemming from these assessments, developing scopes of work and identifying consultants for key areas including mutual legal assistance (MLA) and extradition. Similarly, VukaNow developed a scope of work to conduct a follow-up analysis of poaching and trafficking hotspots. The aim of this second analysis is to document shifting dynamics of poaching and trafficking in light of international, regional, and national COVID-19 restrictions. The eVukaLearn platform, which was successfully developed in FY2020, was promoted extensively this quarter to VukaNow's landscape partners. Through this engagement, VukaNow identified 35 candidates, who are legal officers, prosecutors, magistrates, and criminologists, from Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to participate in the Illegal Wildlife Trade and the Judicial System course on eVukaLearn, which will be conducted in the next quarter. VukaNow also identified a senior wildlife law enforcement expert and a Senior Public Prosecutor, who specializes in criminal, civil litigation, and environment law, to mentor the participants and facilitate the virtual training. In addition, VukaNow developed content for Wildlife Forensic Training for Prosecutors, a new course on eVukaLearn. This quarter, VukaNow continued to organize and host virtual learning and sharing events, ensuring that stakeholders remain engaged despite the current inability to meet in person. These events included the sixth in the series of Special Platforms for Action, Reflection, and Collaboration in Combating Wildlife Crime (SPARCC), which focused on the effective use of technology in combating wildlife crime; a Monitoring Evaluation Learning and Communications (MELCOM) training meeting on Data Quality Assessment protocols delivered by the USAID Southern Africa regional mission; and three Landscape Partner monthly meetings. VukaNow is committed to providing a responsive service to its stakeholders, and endeavors to provide quality virtual engagements and online learning opportunities. The activity's focus on customer service is reflected in its efforts to engage stakeholders through virtual learning and sharing events, and to provide them with the tools and resources they need to combat wildlife crime effectively.