Lewa Staff

The LWC staff team consists of a diverse and resourceful group of people, with the right combination of skills, knowledge and experience to face up to the challenge of working hard to conserve wildlife. Lewa Wildlife Conservancy’s ambition is not only conservation of the environment but also acting as a stimulus to development and economic growth in the local area. The conservancy, which is a major source of employment currently, has 340 permanent staff ranging from the executive director, armed security to mechanics. Approximately 1,700 people benefit from the earnings of our staff.

The human resources department’s objective is to build up a team of hardworking men and women who believe in Lewa’s mission and are dedicated to make a long-term commitment to the organisation. A majority of the workforce consists of employees who have been here since the inception of the conservancy and are thus conversant with its full operations. LWC’s staff are categorised in loosely structured groups of self-directed teams, which manage their work and improve the work processes with the common objective of attaining the company’s mission. These groups which are referred to as departments are headed by managers who work together to realize the organization’s set objectives. These departments are:

• Security and Wildlife utilisation
• Logistics – works and workshop
• Research
• Community Development
• Finance and administration
• Human Resources
• Public Relations
• Lewa Enterprises

For the above departments to function efficiently, effective employees are required. In LWC, productivity is directly related to several other resources like manpower, finance, technology and quality management. Manpower is the dominant factor because both management and staff make decisions, exercise control and influence both the use and performance of all other resources. This being the case, employees in Lewa are treated as a resource rather than a factor of production. The working environment in Lewa is conducive thus enhancing increased efficiency and effectiveness in achieving the conservancy’s goals and objectives.

The human resource function plays a major role in ensuring that the conservancy’s mission is achieved. This is done by ensuring that the right people get the right jobs and that they have the necessary skills, knowledge and ability. Key human resources activities include deciding what staffing needs exist and how to fill these needs, recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring they are high performers, dealing with performance issues and ensuring that personnel related decisions conform to the set down regulations.

Activities also include amongst others managing employees’ benefits and workmen’s compensation, employee records and personnel policies. In a nutshell, in LWC, the HR department helps to manage employees so that they can perform at maximum capability and in a fulfilling manner. LWC strives to develop and implement human resource management policies, systems, procedures and/or tools that ensure that LWC can attract, motivate, and retain an optimal mix of human capital to enable it to deliver fully on its mission and strategy.