As threats facing wildlife and protected areas across Africa increase, demand for innovative and transformational leadership to tackle the challenges remains high. Traditional academic training programmes are playing a critical role in meeting capacity development needs, yet opportunities for strengthening leadership capabilities are limited. This was the rationale behind Mentoring for ENvironmental Training in Outreach and Resource conservation (MENTOR), initiated in 2007 by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service through a collaborative effort with various partners to support conservation leadership and capacity development across sub-Saharan Africa. Five independent programmes were implemented over a decade, each designed to combine rigorous academic and field-based training with mentoring and experiential learning for teams of 8–9 fellows selected through a competitive process. It was envisioned that this approach to leadership and capacity development would strengthen the resolve, capabilities and competences of the fellows and position them as conservation leaders. Using data from interviews and online surveys, we assessed three key aspects of the programmes: strategic relevance and design; progress, effectiveness and impact; and sustainability. Overall, we found that all five programmes successfully delivered the objective of strengthening leadership for conservation in Africa, with the cadre of professionals acquiring new skills and expertise to advance their careers, and developing life-long relationships and networks. We discuss the potential of this approach for developing African conservation leaders.

This study was aimed to assess weed species diversity and composition in cassava monoculture at Crop and Soil Sciences Department research field, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. The experimental design was a randomised complete block design and replicated four times. The treatment factors were six weeding methods (Butachlor (4L/ha) + 2 hoe-weedings, Terbulor (4L/ha) + 2 hoe-weedings, three hoe weedings, three cutlass weedings, weed-free and weedy check) and two cassava varieties (Ampong and Dokuduade). Twenty-five weed species belonging to twelve different families were recorded and overall weed flora was composed of 80% broad-leaved weeds, 12% kinds of grass and 8% sedges. The results revealed that Cyperus rotundus, Spigelia anthelma and Panicum maximum were the three dominant and major weed species. Panicum maximum recorded the highest relative frequency while Spigelia anthelma and Cyperus rotundus showed higher values of relative density, relative abundance and important value index under both varieties.

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The study examined factors influencing adoption of NERICA rice production and post-harvest technologies by smallholder farmers in Magbema and Kaiyamba chiefdoms in Sierra Leone. The data were purposively obtained from 150 smallholder NERICA farmers through a multi-stage sampling procedure from NERICA farmers in both chiefdoms. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data, analyzed with the aid of percentage and logistic regression. Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers significantly influenced the adoption of recommended NERICA production technologies. For the post-harvest technologies, the R2 of 0.26 suggests that only the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers significantly influenced the adoption of the recommended NERICA post-harvest technologies. Contact with extension agents, promotion of a literacy drive to raise technological awareness among farmers, and timely input delivery to attract and sustain the farmers’ interest to adopt NERICA rice production and post-harvest technologies.

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