A facilitator addresses Kabarze women during an indoor awareness session supported by African Parks and the Ministry of Gender in Greater Pibor Administrative Area. Photo credit: Paul Bilfman and Kelvin Kujuj.

In Boma National Park, where wildlife moves freely across vast plains, a new kind of leadership led by women is taking shape.

In the Greater Pibor Administrative Area, communities have long depended on nature for survival. But years of conflict and harmful environmental practices have threatened both livelihoods and ecosystems. Today, women are stepping forward as protectors of peace and the environment.

A few months back, African Parks, with support from the Ministry of Gender of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area, brought together 60 Kabarze Women in Boma National Park. The gathering marked a new step in community-led conservation.

The Kabarze Women movement began in 2017 in Pibor, when women united to stop violent age-set conflicts. Their actions earned them recognition as key voices for peace and social cohesion.

Now, that same leadership is being extended to conservation.

African Parks plans to work with the Kabarze Women to lead awareness activities in villages and Bomas. The goal is to help communities understand the importance of protecting natural resources and using them sustainably.

Women play a key role in shaping behaviour at home and in the community. As mothers of young people often involved in harmful environmental practices, they are well placed to guide positive change and pass conservation values to the next generation.

With support from the Rumble in the Jungle campaign, and in partnership with the Ministry of Wildlife, Conservation and Tourism and local communities, African Parks is working to protect the Great Nile Migration landscape while strengthening women’s leadership in peace and conservation.

In Boma, the Kabarze Women are proving that when women lead, both communities and nature can thrive.