Bulletin of the EANHS 27(2/3) 
38 
efforts increasingly on conservation. It is also 
evident that our expanding activities, and the near 
impossibility of sustaining volunteer involvement 
on the levels of past years, make it essential to 
professionalise ourselves to some extent. How can 
we best meet these new challenges while still 
maintaining our diversity of activities, the 
involvement of our members in what we do. and 
our scienitific underpinning? 
• A frequent regret of mine as Chairman is that 1 
interact with only a small proportion of the 
membership. Yet I obtain a distinct feeling that 
many members are confused and dissatisfied. This 
is showing up on our membership lists, despite 
the strength and diversity of the Society’s 
activities, our membership is static at best, perhaps 
declining. Evidently those who you have given 
the task of running the Sociery are. in some ways, 
missing the point. Late Bullletins. cancelled 
outings, lacklustre functions — all problems we 
have experienced at times — do not help this is 
what the membership perceives, rather than our 
successes in advocating conservation. We must 
find out what members want — and ensure that 
this can be delivered We must also build up our 
membership base to the point where membership 
services become cost-effective — which they are 
not at the moment. 
• The Society’s present structure, with a Uganda 
branclu numerous sub-committees, uud a clutch 
of semi-autonomous projects, is elaborate, at times 
creates administrative strains, and prevents us 
establishing a clear and positive image — ot ‘brand* 
for those who prefer the marketing term lliere is 
strength in diversity; there in also confusiou. Mow 
do we make the Society overall stronger, mure 
recognisable and mere effective, while allowing 
Society action groups to fiounsh? Do we need to 
consider a change of name as pan of updating our 
image? 
• Where and how does the Society fit in to the 
increasingly complex and fragmented conservation 
structure in Kenya? Who! should be our role, and 
how can we play it most effectively? 
• How do we build a secure financial basis for our 
operations in the future, and ensure that our 
finances are handled competently and securely? 
A group of about 1 5 persons from the Executive and 
the sub-committees will be meeting at Elsamcre Field 
Studies Centre from 22-26 August to discu.vs these and 
other issues, and to come up with the outline of a 
strategic plan for the EANHS. Before then. I would like 
to hear the views of as many member* as possible on 
the Society: what we do well, what wc do badly and 
wtiat we should be doing at all. Subject to Ihc Executive’s 
approval. I shall be circulating a short questionnaire on 
these topics with the next newsletter, but I would be 
very pleased to hear the views of nn> members, on any 
subject, at any stage before our August meeting. This 
will be the first fundamental review of the Society in its 
long history, and nothing is off-limits for discussion. 
That said, my personal expectation is that we shall avoid 
radical changes in our overall approach and philosophy, 
which I believe give us a unique nnd tremendously 
valuable niche in the region. Should any major decisions 
be reached, these will be referred back to another General 
Meeting, perhaps in September or October. 
Some members may be bonified at the thought of 
scarce EANHS funds being spent on what may sound 
like a junket to Naivasha for the Executive (though I can 
assure you that such events are in fact very hard work 
for all involved!). Do not be alarmed. The meeting will 
be supported entirely by the Royal Society for the 
Protection of Birds, the BirdLife International Partner in 
the United Kingdom. This is part of the RSPB's very 
welcome support for the development of the BirdLife 
Partnership in East Africa. Die EANHS has been the 
Parmer designate in Kenya nnd Uganda since 1994. and 
during the year both the Kenya and Uganda committees, 
sifter some debate, decided to sign up as full Partners. 
The Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society and 
the Wildlife Conservation Society’ of Tanzania are the 
other Partner organisations in eastern Africa. 
Whul docs being a BirdLife Partner entail? Die two 
most commonly asked questions are. docs this mean 
that we will only be concentrating on birds'*, and. does 
this mean that we will lose our independence? The 
answer to these questions is no. and no. The aims of 
die BirdLife Partnership are to conserve all wild bird 
species and their habitats, and. through this, to protect 
the world's biological diversity and support sustainable 
use of resources. Die wide-ranging activities of the 
EANHS. combined with our traditional strong interest 
in birds, ideally fit these aims. No-one interested in 
\eiophy tes. dragonflies, liverworts, fairy shrimp or 
elephant shrews needs to feel in the least constrained 
by our joining the Partnership. Neither are we 
constrained from setting, ond working towards, our own 
national priorities for conservation. At the international 
level. BirdLife Partners collectively agree on policy, 
discussed in Africa once a year at a regional Partnership 
meeting. 1 attended the first of Ihcse. in Accra. Ghana 
late last year, and was Impressed by the real spirit of 
seriousness and co-operation in setting this agenda 
among the African Partnership (outside eastern Africa, 
there are presently Partners in Ghana. Sierra Leone, 
Egypt. Tunisia and South Africa) The BirdLife 
secretariat have requested us to host the next African 
Partnership meeting here in Kenya in November this 
year. 
Support to help us grow into a strong and effective 
BirdLife Parmer will be coming from die RSPB. Over the 
course of the next several years they will provide finance 
and (where appropriate) advice to liclp enhance our 
administration, our capabilities in fund-raising and 
projecl-managemeni. and our serv ices to members. Our 
conservation activities will also be given a big boost by 
a grant awarded to the BirdLife Partnership in Africa by 
the Global Environment Facility (an international fund 
run by die World Bank. UNDP and UNEP, that provides 
resources for biodiversity conservation). Wc can expect 
a modest level of funding over five years to follow up 
