ACADIR is the first and only locally-led NGO spearheading community conservation efforts on a significant scale in southern Angola’s Cuando-Cubando province. This region is a key landscape in the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), one of the world’s largest transboundary conservation areas, home to the largest contiguous population of African elephants on earth, along with a wealth of other wildlife and spectacular ecosystems.

With unrivaled knowledge of the region and the communities that live there, ACADIR implements comprehensive conservation programs that combine wildlife protection, sustainable agriculture, and water resource management. Their work includes monitoring wildlife movements, improving local fishing practices, and implementing conservation agriculture techniques that enhance both food security and environmental protection.

Over the past two decades, ACADIR has successfully established community-based natural resource management systems across multiple villages, significantly reduced human-wildlife conflict incidents, and improved agricultural practices for hundreds of farming families. Their river basin management programs have enhanced water security for both communities and wildlife, while their conservation initiatives have helped protect critical elephant migration corridors within the KAZA landscape.