Forest of Hope Association is a local non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 2012 that has conserved the Gishwati Forest (now part of the Gishwati-Mukura National Park) in Rwanda. It emerged from the senior Rwandan staff of the Great Ape Trust/ Gishwati Area Conservation Program (GACP), an International NGO that conserved the Gishwati Forest Reserve from 2008 through 2011. Our mission is to engage local communities in conserving and restoring protected areas. This is done by promoting active community forest protection, community outreach and environmental education, improving local livelihoods through income generation and capacity building, eco-tourism, and facilitating research on the Gishwati Forest ecosystem.

Forest of Hope successfully advocated for upgrading the Gishwati Forest to a National Park in 2016 and developed an interim management plan for the Gishwati Natural Forest that served as the basis for the management plan of the Gishwati-Mukura National Park and infrastructure programs around the Gishwati Forest. The new status brought long-term protection of the Gishwati Forest and continues ensuring the survival of the biodiversity it shelters and increasing other ecosystem services, including water and microclimate regulation.

The conservation results achieved would not have been possible without the community engagement programs developed by Forest of Hope. We work with local farmers who own plots adjacent to the Gishwati Forest to mitigate crop raiding and to reduce illegal activities within the forest as part of our reduction of human-wildlife conflict plan. Our activities also include environmental education and raising conservation awareness through 13 local schools’ eco-clubs, establishing a small library to support local students and teachers, and regular community meetings. In addition, Forest of Hope assists local people in improving livelihoods through job provision, community tourism development, and linking cooperatives to markets.

In the area of ecotourism, we collaborate with Wilderness Rwanda on tourism product development. Through the Forest of Hope Guest House and Camp Site, we facilitate the visit to the Gishwati-Mukura National Park. Every visit contributes to restoring and conserving the park’s diversity and uplifting its surrounding communities. Our partnership with Wilderness includes a conservation and community development component focusing on chimpanzee monitoring and habituation, and community education, respectively.

Forest of Hope Guest House also serves as the Shinehouse Gishwati Research Station. Established in partnership with The West Chester University Foundation of Pennsylvania, the research station facilitates different research on Gishwati ecosystem, hosting researchers from different universities and institutions. This contribution helps to better understand the Gishwati biodiversity and socio-economic life by promoting research on primates, forest dynamics, crop raiding, and livelihoods.

Through grant proposals, Forest of Hope receives funds from different international donors to contribute to the conservation of the Gishwati-Mukura National Park. These include the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, World Wide Fund for Nature/Sweden through the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, Rufford Foundation, International Primatological Society, British Ecological Society, International Tree Foundation (ITF), West Chester University Foundation, Drake University, Wilderness Rwanda and TerraFund for AFR100.