Small mountain streams are at threat throughout Africa - but locally led conservation initiatives can halt or even reverse this trend. We work directly with local stakeholders, whose local knowledge and keen interest in these habitats is a key to successful conservation work.

Live Streams Charitable Trust started in 2023 (with an initial financial contribution from its founder) to provide small grants to conserve mountain stream habitats and support communities.

In 2026, we provided three grants:

1. £2,325 to Amani Friends of Nature, a non-government organisation in Tanzania,. This was a follow-on to an earlier grant to protect the habitat of the critically endangered Amani Flatwing damselfly (Amanipodagrion gilliesi). The funds enabled AFON to implement key elements in a management plan previously developed with local communities (see https://livestreamstrust.org/news/protecting-the-amani-flatwing/).

2. £3,426 to Nature Tanzania, supporting the 7th cohort in the Biodiversity Monitoring Field Training and Mentorship Program (BiMO) which was established in 2020 by Nature Tanzania in collaboration with the Department of Zoology and Wildlife Conservation of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). The training enables students and early career ecologists to have hands-on experience in research and conservation practices.

3. £4,000 to Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science & Technology (NM-AIST) to support an early career researcher working on freshwater aquatic systems. She is implementing a pilot study on the relationship between environmental and climate variables and the risk of schistosomiasis at two locations in northeastern Tanzania.

We now seek to raise funds to provide more such small grants in 2027. Please help us achieve our goal!