Dr. Elikana Kalumanga is a Private Sector Engagement Manager at RTI, where he currently supports the USAID Tuhifadhi Maliasili Activity (“Preserve Natural Resources” in Swahili) in Tanzania. In this role, Dr. Kalumanga works closely with private sector actors to leverage investments to improve the livelihood of the community members in areas of connectivity; support private sector-led efforts to reach out to a wide array of private sector members and create awareness on wildlife, forest, and marine-related crimes in Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar. Dr. Kalumanga also promotes private sector-led efforts to empower women and youth in sustainable production, value additions, and marketing of products in various value chains.
Before joining RTI, Dr. Kalumanga supported the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation to develop incentive packages to engage private sector actors in biodiversity conservation and the action plan to promote private sector-led efforts to conserve biodiversity. In addition, Dr. Kalumanga has worked for the University of Dar es Salaam since 2007, teaching postgraduate courses on wildlife ecology, wildlife management, ecosystem-based adaptation, and community-based conservation approaches.
At the University of Dar Es Salaam, he served as a program officer for the MacArthur Foundation-funded program on ‘Managing Biodiversity in a Changing Climate in the Albertine Rift Countries; Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo’ and coordinated the International Development Research Centre-funded regional program on ‘African Climate Change Leadership Program in Africa.’
Dr. Kalumanga has served in various technical committees and consultancies in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanzania National Parks, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology, and Vice President’s Office- Division of Environment. In addition, through consultancies and technical committees, Dr. Kalumanga has also worked with non-state conservation actors in Tanzania such as the Wildlife Fund for Nature-Tanzania Program Office, Jane Goodall Institute, Frankfurt Zoological Society, TRAFFIC East Africa Office, Tanzania Landscapes Restoration Organization, and the Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania.
Dr. Kalumanga is an active member in various expert groups under the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). In addition, he is a member of the Ecological Society for Eastern Africa, the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania, Nature Tanzania, the Eastern Africa Association for Impact Assessment, and the Conservation Educators Network in The Albertine Rift Countries (Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC- Congo).
