The elusive, Vulnerable owl-faced monkey Cercopithecus hamlyni is a rare and little studied species and one of the least known of the African Cercopithecidae. This study describes the distribution and relative abundance of the only known population in East Africa, in Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda. This species is restricted to a small (32 km2) area of bamboo and bamboo–forest mix in the southern sector of the Park, close to the international border with Burundi. We present the first empirical data of its abundance in the bamboo forests of Nyungwe. A total length of 185 km of transect were surveyed to estimate relative abundance of diurnal primates. Encounter rates with the owl-faced monkey were 0.081 groups km-1 (n = 15). Mean group size was 3.6 individuals. Eight independent photographs of C. hamlyni were obtained from five camera traps during 182 camera-days. Four other species of primates occur in the bamboo forest: eastern chimpanzee Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii, Angola colobus Colobus angolensis, L’Hoest’s monkey Cercopithecus l’hoesti and blue monkey Cercopithecus mitis. The main threats to the bamboo forest are from the illegal harvesting of bamboo, trapping and tree-cutting. These threats originate from both Rwanda and Burundi. There is an urgent need for conservation action to halt the destruction and degradation of the bamboo forest and to ensure the long-term survival of the owl-faced monkey in Rwanda.

South-east Asia is home to exceptional biodiversity, but threats to vertebrate species are disproportionately high in this region. The IUCN Species Survival Commission Asian Species Action Partnership aims to avert species extinctions. Strengthening individual and organizational capacity is key to achieving long-term, sustainable conservation impact, and is a core strategic intervention for the Partnership. To look at the needs and opportunities for developing capacity for species conservation in South-east Asia, we undertook a needs assessment with organizations implementing species conservation within this region. We conducted a review of available training opportunities, mapping them against a list of identified competences needed for species conservation to determine gaps in current training. Our assessments revealed an imbalance in the focus of training opportunities vs the actual competences needed for effective species conservation, and that training opportunities within South-east Asia are limited in number and highly competitive. These findings corroborate other similar reviews, particularly on capacity gaps in the Global South. We discuss the implications of our review and use the findings to generate recommendations.