We have managed projects at field and office level for both business and NGOs, taking into account time and resource limitations, logistics, precise budgeting and financial planning alongside management and motivation of staff and contractors. We have led projects through their design and assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation, incorporating both strategic direction and hands-on day to day project management.

Our project management services relate to both field and office based projects, and our experience in managing individuals and groups spans cultural and socio-economic groups, education levels and working styles.

The following brief case studies give some indication of where we have carried out project management work in practice.

Developing and Strengthening Protected Areas Systems

UNDP contracted Kilimanyika in 2009 to undertake a project proposal regarding the overall conservation and management of the Coastal Forests of Tanzania. In order to achieve the funding goal, Kilimanyika worked with the Tanzanian Government, largely through the forestry sector, WWF Tanzania and other NGOs. The project has now been funded and is designed to run for four years through with a geographical focus on Zanzibar as well as landscapes in south-eastern Tanzania.

In 2009, Kilimanyika undertook a UNDP project proposal which aimed to bring about funding to conduct an assessment of the specific Protected Area systems to develop a detailed profile of the forest Protected Area system in Western Kenya. This project is now being funded and is expected to analyze strengths and weaknesses of the current institutions responsible for Protected Area regulation, planning and management in Western Kenya, both central and field capacities and their links to decentralized administration.

In Manyara, Tanzania, 2004, Kilimanyika worked with the Tanzania Land Conservation Trust in association with AWF to manage a community liaison project with Maasai communities and the district government. The purpose of this was to develop both a wildlife corridor and grazing area on Manyara Ranch. The process involved considerable relationship building and conflict resolution.

Setting up a Non Governmental Organization

An NGO named The Mpingo Conservation Project was set up in Kilwa, Tanzania in 2004 with Kilimanyika's support. This was a process that began with a UK based research project that has become a fully functioning field-based NGO that is working to support the communities of Kilwa District in Participatory Forest Management (PFM). Setting up the organisation involved careful planning, budgeting, logistics, vehicle and supplies, procurement and relationship building. Kilimanyika continues to offer support and advice to this project, including through partners Environment Africa Trust.

Community-based management plans

Kilimanyika has worked with the The Mpingo Conservation Project in Kilwa in 2004-05 and 2007-08 in the development of community forest management plans. This has included providing technical support, political, legal and economic guidance in setting up and running a field-based community forest management project. We have worked with local government, village leaders, councils and community members as a whole to develop the capacities of individuals and village government to be able to manage their own resources through the development of Village Forest Areas. This has involved regular consultation, participatory discussions, awareness raising campaigns and step-by-step mentoring in developing management planning structures and guidelines. Good Governance has been an important aspect of this ongoing work.

In 2007, Kilimanyika worked with two villages in Sudan's Dongonab Bay Marine Park to create a village environmental management plan on behalf of IUCN and the African Parks Foundation. The aim of this plan was to increase the capacity of rural communities to own and manage their marine and coastal resources sustainably. The process was developed through participatory focus groups and close collaboration with local leadership, government representatives and marine park managers on the Red Sea coast of Sudan.

From 2002-03, the company founders undertook a project involving the management and diversification of a sisal estate in Arusha, Tanzania. This project included working with the owners BCW Holdings Ltd., taking on the management of over 200 staff and working with them on a wide array of projects simultaneously, both long and short term. Projects included delivering a water supply to neighbouring villages, setting up an electric fence and related infrastructure and the management of a fully productive sisal farm, from harvesting, transporting, producing and marketing the finished product. The process required considerable logistics and planning.