Would you like to be a change leader in your community to improve human-baboon coexistence? Have you ever wondered why human-baboon coexistence is challenging, and collaboration around this topic remains elusive in Bitou Municipality?

Apply to attend our six-week Social Learning Program starting 21st October to 30th November 2025 at Piesang Valley Community Hall, and venues in The Crags/ Nature’s Valley.

The program consists of 6 workshops, taking place once a week from 9am-13pm, on a weekday (for those who can’t make a weekday, a Saturday option is available).

During these workshops, you will learn:

• Communication and leadership skills to be a change leader and mediate different views around baboons and their management
• Understand the complexities of human-baboon coexistence in the urban-rural interface
• Come up with a vision and plan to improve human-baboon coexistence in your community

Join us to bring in your voice and local knowledge and to learn skills that enable communities to work better together. We welcome individual residents as well as representatives of NGO’s, CBO’s and municipalities from The Crags, Nature’s Valley, and Plettenberg Bay to apply. The only criteria is that you commit to attending all six workshops as each week will build on the previous week. The program is free, and refreshments will be offered.

To apply, send a WhatsApp or an email to Miila: 071 2041 883 / miila.kauppinen@gmail.com, with a short explanation of who you are, your motivation to attend the program, and your preference to attend Saturday or weekday sessions. Please apply by 17th October.

The program is funded by Wageningen University in the Netherlands as part of a PhD project of Miila Kauppinen. The workshops will be facilitated by Dr. Ruth Kansky and Miila Kauppinen.
Dr Ruth Kansky is a Research Fellow in the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Her expertise is in community-based human-wildlife coexistence.

Miila Kauppinen is a PhD candidate working on the topic of human-baboon conflict in Bitou. She is especially interested in how humans and wildlife can coexist in complex social-ecological landscapes.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world” – Become a change leader!