Awareness
SOFA also conducted a number of legal awareness trainings in line with its vision, mission and agenda. A legal awareness training was conducted at Akashinga in Kariba where the rangers were equipped with the legal knowledge that will aid them in conducting their duties in the protection of wildlife. Another legal awareness training was conducted at the Chizarira main camp in Binga and this training was held as an initiative by SOFA towards capacity building of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority rangers. SOFA was also invited to attend the Painted Dogs Legal Awareness Workshop in Hwange hosted by Painted Dog Conservation Camp.
The major highlight for the legal awareness trainings that SOFA conducted in 2018 was the Hwange Legal Awareness Training which was held at Hwange National Park at the main camp. This legal awareness training was hosted by SOFA in conjunction with Space For Giants (Kenya), United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime and European Union. The main agenda for the workshop was to create a prosecution toolkit that would assist the prosecutors in prosecuting wildlife crimes in Zimbabwe and it was also a capacity building workshop which was called for by various stakeholders. The attendees of this workshop comprised of Prosecutors, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority personnel and Zimbabwe Republic Police personnel. Facilitator for the workshop was Advocate E.V Chinoda and the guest presenters were Katto Wambua from Space For Giants Kenya and Barnabas from United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime.
In 2019 so far, SOFA has managed to conduct a legal awareness training in Beitbridge which was held from the 29th of January to the 30th of January. This training was attended by various stakeholders in the animal and wildlife fraternity and the legal fraternity. The attendees included wildlife conservancy owners, prosecutors, magistrates, the police, CAMPFIRE officials and Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority personnel.
More legal awareness trainings are in the pipeline and are going to be conducted by SOFA this year.