There are increasing conflicts arising between humans and elephants throughout Africa
and Asia. The Republic of Botswana, which has one of the world’s largest elephant
populations, is no exception. One strategy for improving relations between humans and
elephants may be participatory and community-based environmental education
initiatives. Thus the goal of my project was to work with the non-governmental
organization “Living With Elephants Foundation” (LWE) and local Batswanan
communities to apply participatory research methods to the collaborative development of
an elephant educational outreach program in Botswana. This study describes the process
and the results of efforts to collaboratively develop, test and modify educational
programming that aimed to contribute to a sustainable relationship between people and
elephants. The study had three phases. Phase I involved reviewing academic and nongovernmental
organization literature and determining needs of the elephants and people
of Botswana through conducting key informant interviews and focus group discussions.
Phase II began with an analysis of the initial emergent themes in the data collected in the
previous phase in order to develop the goal and objectives and the first draft of the LWE
Education Outreach Program. Phase II also involved an evaluation of this version of the
program, and was based on student, teacher and community feedback, and the collection
of drawings from Botswana students participating in the LWE outreach program. This
phase created a space for further revisions, development of follow-up activities, and
identification of further needs. Phase III occurred in Canada where I reviewed all the
data collected, conducted further analysis as needed and wrote the thesis. This thesis was
shared with LWE and a summary will be provided to all interested stakeholders
