Economic Wildlife Enterprise Business (ECOWEB)
Significant proportion of Kenya's Wildlife lives outside the protected areas. This often results into conflicts when game rampages destroy crops and attacks the domestic animals or even in some extents the humans. For Kenyans therefore, living in close proximity to wild animals can be a painful and expensive exercise and at times tragic. Through our Human-wildlife program attends to community-driven projects, which motivate the local to live harmoniously with the wildlife. We lobby the communities to embark on community based projects through which they can earn direct returns from accommodating wildlife.

For Kenyans therefore, living in close proximity to wild animals can be a painful and expensive exercise and at times tragic. Through our Human-wildlife program attends to community-driven projects, which motivate the local to live harmoniously with the wildlife. We lobby the communities to embark on community based projects through which they can earn direct returns from accommodating wildlife. Through ECOWEB we have been able to address the following problems;

Solving of human - wildlife conflict & Conserving endangered species.
Communities living in the dispersal areas area that supports 90% of Kenya's wildlife receive less than 5% of the estimated Ksh 21 Billions earned by wildlife based tourism annually. Despite this, the communities have literally no say in conservation policy. The recent outrage by the Maasai community in Kitengela whose cattle had been killed by lions is a pointer to the urgent need to review the wildlife policy that seems to favor animals to human beings. Conservationists driven with good intentions and fundraisers raise millions of dollars in the name of protecting wildlife and have an incentive to keep things as they are. These groups have pursued preservation policies as opposed to conservation. Conservation is the sustainable use, manipulation and management by man of renewable natural resources for both cultural and economic purposes such as hunting, fishing, logging, and grazing of livestock and soil utilization for agriculture. While preservation on the other hand focuses on complete protection of resources with minimal management interventions allowing natural regulations to determine the evolution of the ecosystems such as national parks.

ECOWEB has established that human centered conservation, based on incentives to protect both animals and vegetation, is critical to the success of any conservation endeavor. This will happen only if the rural poor who live closest to the wild animals are involved and enfranchised in the process of conservation, through the extension of protection of property rights to land and wildlife. Giving communities the right to benefit from wildlife to the exclusion from others will be strategic. Let this communities own shares in the wildlife resource, this will give them an incentive to not only protect wildlife but also participate in its management. Ownership of this natural resource provides economic freedom and an incentive to make the communities develop more innovative ways to co-exist with wildlife.

Poverty alleviation through tourism
Tourism has been identified an important vehicle in addressing the current development challenges facing the African continent, this is so because tourism has unique characteristics that make it different from other industries. Namely, Labour intensive, tourist attractions are located in remote area, the north-south dichotomy, high multiplier effects and the fact that the tourists travel to the destination as opposed to the product being shipped.

The power of tourism can be more effectively harnessed to address the problems of poverty more directly since it is one of the most dynamic economic activities of our time . We at APTDC are convinced that the benefits of tourism should be widely spread in society and that the poor should benefit from tourism development. As a central component of our work we has initiated research and consultation on the interrelation between tourism and poverty.

Reduction of the problem of gender inequality
Kenya is a country conscious of change, but proud of its traditions. At a national level, the country is actively moving towards being part of the global community. It is pursuing international principles in human rights and social values. However, issues of gender inequality between men and women. Such inequalities include differences in access to and control over resources. These differences can easily increase with the social and economic changes taking place under Kenya's rapid growth in development.

Men dominate society in Kenya. Positions of leadership are, by tradition, held by men. Men are always assumed to be the head of the household and rights to land are mainly given to men. Married women are normally not allowed to open a bank account or take a loan without their husband's signature, while men do not need the consent of their wives to make such decisions. Nevertheless, there is growing awareness in Botswana to address both legal and social inequalities

ECOWEB takes taken proactive steps in reversing the disadvantages and discrimination faced by women through the use of tourism as a strategic development tool. Because the value of wildlife has increased substantially for communities, benefits are paid at community level rather than at individual or household level. Because wildlife is the "men's"
resource, men tend to dominate discussions surrounding its use. ECOWEB creates opportunities for women to meet separately to discuss how they would like the resource to be used, and how they, as women, feel the financial returns should be used.

ECOWEB initiates projects that include activities where women collect or make things for sale bring financial returns directly to the individual. These activities have proved attractive to women. Although the returns from these activities are relatively small, women do not have to negotiate the use of this income in a male-dominated setting. There is less risk of individuals feeling they have lost access to the resource if they see that they are benefiting directly from it.
Ensuring that Increased Value of Wildlife Resources does not Stop Women and Female-Headed Households Benefiting from them.

Provision of Baseline Data pertaining Pro-poor Tourism Development in Kenya
pro-poor tourism is the fastest growing sector of the international travel industry and travellers are now better informed than previously and looking for a wide experience, understanding of the broad environment being visited and seeing to it that the revenue they use directly benefits the local people who have been neglected for a long tine. The demands must be met by presenting a wider variety of ways in which natural environments can be explored. Since pro-poor tourism in a new for of tourism in Kenya a lot of studies must be undertaken so as to identify the best ways to adopt the new concept and how to increase community benefits from tourism without compromising the tourist's satisfaction. ECOWEB is committed to conducting research related to pro-poor tourism so as to accelerate its growth in Kenya and maximize the benefits for the local communities who have been ignored by opportunistic tour operators who eco-label their products.