Across Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Kenya, we’re protecting vital ecosystems, restoring wildlife populations, and partnering with communities so people and nature can thrive together. Download the full report to explore the stories, data, and partnerships behind this year’s impact.
Great Plains Foundation
2024 Annual Impact Report
The Path Back to Balance
“…There was once a time when everything was in balance, and it seems to have swung way off course. Our job is to bring elephants into landscapes where they have been poached or move rhinos into places where they were once prolific but now extinct. Hungry children often just need a helping nudge to attend schools and trees can be planted to put us on track again in the imbalance of our carbon footprint that has tipped the scales one way, and that needs correcting…”
Dereck and Beverly Joubert
Founders of Great Plains Foundation, National Geographic Explorers At-Large.
“…There was once a time when everything was in balance, and it seems to have swung way off course. Our job is to bring elephants into landscapes where they have been poached or move rhinos into places where they were once prolific but now extinct. Hungry children often just need a helping nudge to attend schools and trees can be planted to put us on track again in the imbalance of our carbon footprint that has tipped the scales one way, and that needs correcting…”
Dereck and Beverly Joubert
Founders of Great Plains Foundation, National Geographic Explorers At-Large.
Conserve Land
Securing space for wildlife and people
From the Okavango Delta (Botswana) to the Zambezi Valley (Zimbabwe) and Maasai lands (Kenya), we safeguard connected corridors that sustain iconic migrations and climate resilience. In 2024, we expanded our landscape monitoring efforts, collaborating with national agencies to enhance the long-term protection of the land on which we operate.
2024 highlights
Biodiversity Protection
From daily monitoring to emergency action
Healthy ecosystems depend on robust species populations and real-time data to inform our protection initiatives. Our teams combine boots-on-the-ground patrols with conservation tech to prevent wildlife crime, inform management, and respond rapidly when populations are at risk.
70 giraffe + 68 zebra moved to reinforce Hwange-border populations; elephants monitored daily via EarthRanger and satellite collars.
The expansion of our Female Rangers programme and the development of our conservation team has facilitated improved biodiversity protection strategies and outcomes.
Multi-partner surveys advanced carnivore and herbivore baselines; research launched on carnivore spatial ecology and translocation outcomes.
Community Empowerment
Removing barriers, growing opportunity
Local communities are custodians of these landscapes. We invest in empowerment and emergency support initiatives such as education, well-being, and sustainable livelihoods that strengthen resilience and support coexistence.
2.4M nutritious meals delivered, supported 54 schools across three regions in Kenya, feeding 14,002 students daily.
Access & Safety: 1 steel bridge replaced after floods in the Maasai Mara, for year-round access to schools, clinics and markets (4 built in total).
Earth Academy: Trained 101 students in Botswana to date with 99% of those successfully placed in attachments or full-time employment.
Women-led enterprises grew. Solar Mamas expanded to 800 home systems, and the Naboisho Women’s Group grew in terms of quality, sales, and income.
Great Plains Foundation Grant Programmes
Our partners in conservation and human-wildlife coexistence
Big Cats Initiative (BCI)
Grants that strengthen community-based conservation, scaling human-wildlife coexistence solutions, and protection for lions, cheetahs, leopards, jaguars, and tigers. In 2024, BCI supported 5 new organisations, bringing the total to 173 grants to date.
Project Ranger
Flexible funding that keeps rangers in the field, supported, equipped and effective. Since 2022, we’ve issued 15 grants to units across nine countries, enabling snare sweeps, aerial surveillance, K9 deployments, and the establishment of new all-female community ranger teams.
Why This Work Matters
Land conservation. Biodiversity Protection. Empowered Communities. Food security and livelihoods. Biodiversity underpins the systems we all rely on. By protecting connected habitats, protecting wildlife populations, and investing in people, together with dedicated supporters like you and our incredible partners across Africa, we’re reaching thousands of people worldwide, building a sustainable future, one where ecosystems and economies reinforce each other.
Voices of Impact
Download the 2024 Annual Report for full stories, methods, and impactful, life-changing results.
Earth Partners – How to get involved
Become an Earth Partner to be a part of this journey and our monthly community of dedicated partners in conservation and community development. Sponsor a programme that speaks to you: education, rangers, rewilding, women-led enterprise, or tree planting. By working together, we can ensure that Africa’s magnificent landscapes and the people and communities that care for them continue to thrive.
Related Stories
Big Cats Initiative Partners in Africa: Lion Conservation
Big Cats Initiative Partners in Africa: Lion Conservation
Project Rewild Update: Elephant Translocations and Conservation in Zimbabwe
Project Rewild Update: Elephant Translocations and Conservation in Zimbabwe
Great Plains Female Biodiversity Rangers Are Leading With Purpose
Great Plains Female Biodiversity Rangers Are Leading With Purpose
Milestone Giraffe Conservation Translocation in Hwange Zimbabwe: Monitoring 70 Giraffes to Understand Ecosystem Recovery
Milestone Giraffe Conservation Translocation in Hwange Zimbabwe: Monitoring 70 Giraffes to Understand Ecosystem Recovery
Make your gift today
The Great Plains Foundation is dedicated to creating a brighter future for some of the most endangered wildlife, fragile ecosystems, and remote communities worldwide. Join us on this journey and make your tax-deductible gift today to invest in a brighter future for thousands across Africa.
