PROGRAM – Protector of the Great Apes of the Moukalaba

• Ensure the sustainable protection and conservation of great apes through targeted habitat preservation, scientific research, training and community awareness – covering habitat protection, great ape research and monitoring, community education, and anti-poaching efforts.
• Foster prosperity and modernisation of target villages, blending innovation and tradition to improve quality of life – through capacity building on conservation/research tools and improved access to resources and value chains.

The NGO Protectrice des Grands Singes de la Moukalaba (PROGRAM) has its roots in the idea of protecting the whole of Gabon’s biodiversity.
In the early 1900s, long before the national parks were created, the Compagnie Équatoriale des Bois (CEB) operated in what is now the buffer zone of Moukalaba-Doudou National Park. It employed nearly 80% of the local population, which ensured the prosperity of the surrounding villages.
After the company left at the end of the 1900s, the community was plunged into extreme poverty. Deprived of sources of income, the population was left with poaching as its only means of subsistence.
It was in this context that the founders, Professor Pierre André Kombila and the late General Athanase, jointly created the association in 2004. It was officially recognised on 5 June 2007 (final receipt No. 0002 MISI/SG/RZE) as a non-political, non-profit Gabonese association working in the field of the environment, in accordance with Law 35/62 of 10 December 1962.
Their aim was to involve local communities in nature conservation, in particular by developing community-based tourism centred on observing western lowland gorillas, and by setting up environmentally friendly income-generating activities.