USAID’s VukaNow Activity Quarterly Report FY2021 Q2: January - March 2021

The initiative focuses on two key objectives: (i) Catalyze learning and sharing for improved results to combat wildlife crime; and (ii) Increase collaborative action to reduce wildlife crime in targeted Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs). VukaNow's expected results include increased collaborative action between governments, civil society, and communities to reduce wildlife crime in targeted areas, deepened learning and knowledge sharing to improve the efficacy of combatting wildlife crime initiatives, and increased application of effective tools, technologies, or approaches that mitigate wildlife crime. The initiative also aims to improve policy frameworks and harmonization that mitigate wildlife crime, improve application of legislation and policy guidelines that enhance benefits to communities and deter wildlife crime, and resources leveraged to support reductions in wildlife crime. VukaNow's approach is rooted in a theory of change and a fundamental belief that a collective impact model is necessary to achieve USAID's goal of significantly decreasing wildlife crime across southern Africa. The initiative is coordinating with SACWC Landscape Partners to catalyze learning and knowledge-sharing, and is working with SADC to implement the SADC Law Enforcement and Anti-Poaching (LEAP) Strategy. VukaNow also implements a grants portfolio to accelerate specific, targeted interventions to combat wildlife crime, including community engagement in these activities. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, VukaNow's activities are geared towards the scaling-up, sustaining, and institutionalizing of investments made since its inception to deepen regional collaboration to combat wildlife crime and ensure sustainability beyond the life of the project. Building on progress made in Quarter 1, VukaNow continued to operate predominantly virtually in Quarter 2 due to the COVID-19 situation, while making substantial progress in achieving the contract goals of advancing collaborative action across the region. VukaNow successfully hosted its first ever media round table, which aimed at increasing awareness among the media on the conservation status of pangolins and the perils the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) poses to these animals. The initiative also conducted virtual IWT training for the judiciary and rolled out the development of a module on wildlife forensics for prosecutors on eVukaLearn. Additionally, VukaNow hosted its seventh Special Platform for Action, Reflection, and Collaboration in Combatting Wildlife Crime (SPARCC), with the theme "Implementation of the LEAP Strategy: Lessons, Models and the Way Forward", which created a shared understanding of how the SADC LEAP strategy has been implemented, and generated recommendations to improve implementation and inform the future direction of LEAP strategies. Significant progress was also made in the implementation of the grants portfolio, including work on updating mutual legal assistance (MLA) and extradition legislation in Malawi and South Africa to include wildlife offences, as well as on the development of predictive models to identify and disrupt wildlife trafficking routes. These efforts demonstrate VukaNow's commitment to advancing collaborative action across the region and ensuring sustainability beyond the life of the project.