Join The Explorers Club and the International Fund for Animal Welfare to hear firsthand about conservation and anti-poaching efforts in Kenya from Purity Lakara, a Team Lioness Ranger, and Azzedine Downes, IFAW President and CEO.
Team Lioness is funded by IFAW, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and is one of the first all-women ranger units in Kenya. Rangers like Purity were chosen based on leadership ability, academic achievements, and integrity. These young Maasai women are defying constraining social norms and creating new opportunities for women. Based under the Olgulului Community Wildlife Rangers (OCWR) on the border of Tanzania and Kenya, Team Lioness protects the traditional community land that surrounds Amboseli National Park. The rangers serve as the first line of defense against the poaching and retaliatory killing of elephants, lions, giraffes, cheetahs, and other iconic wildlife who frequent the land’s wildlife corridors.
This in-person event at the Explorers Club Headquarters will include an audience Q&A.
RESERVATIONS
This will be an in-person lecture at Explorers Club Headquarters.
In-person tickets are $20 for Members, and $35 for the General Public.
Check-in will begin at 6:00 pm, with a beer and wine reception from 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Purity Lakara
Purity Lakara, Team Lioness, is from a Maasai community in Meshenani, Kenya, just outside of Amboseli National Park. She holds a high school certificate and is a proud mother. As the seventh of ten siblings, Purity has long played a central role as the primary breadwinner in her family.
Before joining Team Lioness, Purity worked as a primary school teacher, instructing students in English, Swahili, and science. She is passionate about wildlife conservation and hopes to one day join the Kenya Wildlife Service as a park warden. She also aspires to continue her education in wildlife protection and conservation.
Azzedine Downes
As President and CEO of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) since 2012 and since joining the organization in 1997 as its Executive Vice President, Azzedine Downes has worked closely with experts and decision makers from around the world, leading a groundbreaking period of geographic expansion and strategic consolidation.
Influencing international policies to create positive change on the ground, Azzedine led the signing of a historic lease agreement with a Maasai community near Amboseli National Park in Kenya, securing 16,000 acres of habitat for elephants, while helping to establish a first-of-its-kind cooperative framework between IFAW and INTERPOL’s Environmental Crime Program.
Before joining IFAW, Azzedine served as the Chief of Party for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Jerusalem and Morocco and was appointed by President Clinton as Acting Regional Director for the United States Peace Corps in Eurasia and the Middle East. In 2015, Fast Company named him one of “The Most 100 Creative People in Business,” and he has been listed among The Nonprofit Times’s “Power and Influence Top 50.”
Named to the prestigious Council for Hope of the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation in 2023, Azzedine joins a group of prominent global thought and business leaders committed to using their influence to improve the world around us. His first book, a personal memoir entitled The Couscous Chronicles, was released in 2023.
A graduate of Providence College and Harvard University, Azzedine is fluent in Arabic, English, and French, becoming a member of The Explorers Club in 2024.
