Partners & Supporters

Photo © Christian Ziegler, National Geographic

BCI works in close collaboration with local community partners throughout the bonobo habitat, as well as international organizations who contribute their expertise to our mission.

DRC Partners

All of our work is accomplished in partnership with our local and indigenous partners, who are the lifeblood and driving force of the Bonobo Peace Forest.

Group of community representatives in Sankuru 
  Photo © Bonobo Conservation Initiative

Sankuru

  • Amis de Faune et Flore de Lomela (AFFL)

  • Association pour le Développement de Tshuapa-Lomami au Sankuru (ADTLS)

  • Actionnariat Partenariat pour le Développement du Sankuru (APADESA)

  • LAKASO-DIMENA

  • Fondation Maman Osako Ohowo Okenda (OSOK)

Wooden conservation center sign on a tree at Kokolopori

Kokolopori and Environs

  • Vie Sauvage

  • Début Likongo

  • Conservation des Resources de Lingomo (CRL)

  • Association de Conservation de Bonobo dans les Sources de Lomako (ACBL)

  • Reseau des Femmes pour la Développement de Djolu (REFED)

  • Forêt Riche

Lilungu women's association group photo with their sign 
  Photo © Bonobo Conservation Initiative

Lilungu

  • Association pour la Protection des Bonobos de Lilungu (APBL)

  • Association Merci Bonobo

  • Association Tombola Mboka

Vie Sauvage

Vie Sauvage and BCI have been partners since 2001. Working together, we established the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, the Djolu Technical College, and have conducted a range of conservation, research, and community development programs—with more in progress! Led by Albert Lotana Lokasola, Vie Sauvage’s influence reaches beyond the boundaries of Kokolopori, inspiring and assisting nearby communities who have joined the Peace Forest network. In 2020, Vie Sauvage won the UN Equator Prize! This prestigious award celebrates indigenous organizations for innovative strategies that address biodiversity loss and climate change. 

Action Massive Rurale (AMAR)

Founded in 1997, AMAR lives up to its name, conducting large-scale, comprehensive work with communities throughout the DRC. BCI is partnering with AMAR on the development of REDD+ programs in the Bonobo Peace Forest. AMAR facilitates stakeholder consultations to obtain the “Free, Prior, and Informed Consent” of local communities, participatory mapping, socio-economic impact assessments, organization of Local Development Committees, and more. Under the leadership of Philippe Nzita, AMAR ascribes to the motto: “Together, investing for a better world.”

Congolese government partners are also instrumental in efforts to preserve and protect the region.

DRC Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development

Center for Research in Ecology and Forestry (DRC Ministry of Scientific Research)

Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature

Center for Multidisciplinary Research of Matadi (DRC Ministry of Scientific Research)

BCI collaborates with a number of international conservation, humanitarian and development organizations, as well as universities, artists and private sector partners.

These are some of the groups with whom we have worked:

  • African Wildlife Foundation

  • Ape Alliance

  • AVSI (Association for Volunteer Service International)

  • Bonobo Hope

  • Brooklyn Bonobos

  • Conservation Agreement Fund

  • Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International

  • ECHO Flights (European Union)

  • Fanfare Verte

  • Friends of Bonobos

  • Green Afrika

  • Harvard University, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology

  • Integrity Global Partners 

  • IUCN Primate Specialist Group

  • Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

  • Médecins Sans Frontiers

  • Nature Needs Half

  • One Nature

  • Terra Global Capital

  • The Nature Conservancy 

  • UN-Great Ape Survival Partnership (GRASP)

  • University of Barcelona

  • University of Florence

  • University of Maryland

  • USAID – CARPE

  • La Vallée des Singes

  • Wild Forests & Fauna

  • Wildlife Conservation Society

  • World Wildlife Fund

  • Zoological Society of Milwaukee

Our work is supported by donations and grants from individual donors, foundations, and other organizations.

We have received support from the following:

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The following foundations have also been instrumental:

  • BCI Australia

  • Clyfford Foundation

  • Gale Foundation

  • Global Conservation Fund

  • Litner Foundation

  • Living Forest Project

  • Lourie Foundation

  • Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation

  • Rosenthal Foundation

  • What is Missing? Foundation

  • Wildlife Protection Solutions

  • Woodbury Fund