economically disenfranchised. The creation of forest concessions and conservation areas exclude them physically from their forest homes, and intellectually from forest management decision-making. These indigenous communities - about 9,000 people - are semi-nomadic, illiterate, and widely dispersed throughout the concessions, making it difficult to involve them in formal meeting processes traditionally associated with participative management practices.

This project will establish the first-ever indigenous forest peoples’ language radio station in Central Africa. The project will build the capacity of indigenous communities to manage the radio station and most importantly, choose broadcast content. The station will facilitate a two-way dialogue between these communities and CIB, a private company that manages 1.3 million hectares of forest. The project will also distribute portable radios to the community to enable their participation, and train them to use GPS to make maps which will identify places of importance to them. These maps will form the basis of subsequent discussions with CIB, prior to any logging activities. Once engaged in forest management, the indigenous communities will feel respected and protected and thus be willing to support efforts to control illegal hunting of endangered species and resist pressure to assist criminals involved in such activities.