Rapid Evaluation Of The Effect Of The Contribution Of 20% Gate Collections Remitted To The Host Communities Surrounding National Parks

The 20% Revenue sharing programme emerged as a result of an evidence gap in the area of enhancement of economic and social benefits from wildlife management. The programme is premised on the section 65 (4) of UWA Act (2019) where UWA is obliged to share 20% of its park entry fees to the surrounding communities in LGs surrounding the protected area from which the fees are collected to improve the social and economic well-being. Section 65 (5) mandates the Minister to make regulations on the management of the revenue sharing in subsection (4).

Of recent there has been a general concern as to whether the original intention and goal has been realized and generate evidence to inform policy makers on what is working and what is not working. The OPM in partnership with Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities and the WLA commissioned a study to undertake a rapid evaluation to assess the extent to which the use of the remitted 20% of the park entry fees has been effective in improving the livelihood of the communities in LGs surrounding the wildlife protected areas. The findings also provide a strong basis to inform the Ministry’s decision on the best way forward in implementing the conditional grant and preventing leakages in the disbursement system of the funds to the communities and make regulations on the management of the revenue sharing.