When we began working with Jamma International on their first podcast series, focused around the topic of community-led conservation, we were excited by the charity’s ambition to push forward the global conversation on who has a stake in wildlife conservation and why communities and indigenous knowledge is critical to success.
Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan stepped into presenter shoes, bringing his deep knowledge and passion for international human-wildlife issues to fascinating conversations with leading thinkers in this field. Having achieved just short of 40,000 downloads with this first series, and an additional filmed episode on mountain(!), we were delighted when Jamma chose to build on their success with an even more ambitious plan for series 2.
Now a fully-filmed, on-location series is taking viewers and listeners to the faultlines of human-wildlife conflict in locations across Africa and beyond. Jamma’s own Katie MacKenzie worked tirelessly with support from Theo Horton, Alison Chusey and local contacts to assemble a packed recording schedule spanning two trips. She, Gordon and cameraman Olly Pemberton met with village leaders and individuals to find out how their livelihoods and lives give us perspective on creating balanced coexistence with precious species and habitats.
Rick Simmonds, Series Producer says:
It’s been a hugely engaging and often exciting project to be involved in, speaking not only to those who are leading charities and NGOs in the countries we visited, but to those directly affected, who wouldn’t normally get their voices heard outside of their direct communities. To be able to tell these stories in both audio and video formats, with the added power that can only come from speaking to subjects face to face in a familiar environment (rather than a sterile studio or glitchy video call), is a career highlight. The conversations in these episodes often challenge the orthodox thinking of the global north and I hope we’ve communicated the individual and community challenges, using a variety of narrative techniques, both sensitively and effectively.
George Chinn of Eagle & Beagle has been behind the animating and editing of over 10 terabytes of footage, including drone shots, walking conversations and diverse environmental schemes. He says:
Working in partnership with Podcast Pioneers and Jamma International has been a hugely rewarding and interesting experience. The beautiful footage shot by Olly Pemberton and presented by Gordon Buchanan gave us ample possibilities to demonstrate the coexistence challenge faced by a wide range of African communities. The resulting content is something we at Eagle & Beagle are incredibly proud to have been part of.
The issues and stories told are extremely moving and clearly display the importance of Jamma International’s work. We hope the episodes will encourage audiences to learn more about the difficulties faced by other communities worldwide and educate future generations.
Series 2 of Beneath the Baobab: The Coexistence Challenge, from Jamma International is now available to watch and listen to on all podcast apps and Youtube. A new episode will be released every fortnight.
Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Castbox and more
Or watch the films on YouTube.
You can find out more about the incredible work Jamma does within communities and conservation at jammainternational.com
And you can find out more about how Podcast Pioneers works with purpose-driven organisations to share ideas through audio at podcastpioneers.com