Vervet Monkey Foundation Outreach and Education

The Vervet Monkey Foundation recognises the great need for education and outreach both locally and abroad. The vervets face many threats in South Africa, often driven by human activity and misunderstanding the monkeys: particularly deforestation for agriculture. Opening dialogue, providing education and offering humane resolutions are key steps to minimising conflict between humans, primates and other wildlife.

Our multi-tiered education programme intends to teach children and young adults about the importance of conserving primates and other species for the benefit of the environment, and to empower them to take a stand in their own communities to help protect wildlife. Representatives from the VMF have also gone to numerous farms, schools, hospitals and residential areas with wild vervet troops to provide advice and expertise on conflict prevention. You can find more information about living around the vervets here or contact info@vervet.za.org with any questions or concerns.

Education Programme

Staff teach our school groups all about the vervets and the forests they inhabit

Our teams loves to engage with school groups to teach them more about the monkeys and get them active in conservation. Our education team visits regional schools to provide classes centred around vervets and their importance for local ecosystems, in both English and Afrikaans. We also welcome classes to the foundation for guided tours and follow-up activities to learn more about the sanctuary and our rehabilitation work. By engaging children in conservation today, we can help cultivate our wildlife stewards for tomorrow.

The children at the Valoyi Trust enjoyed their monkey based activities with the Vegan Chef Programme

The VMF is currently working on the Vegan Chef Programme, sponsored by The Unbound Project. The VMF hosts school cooks from local schools for cooking lessons to show them tasty vegan recipes for the kids. The cooks will come out for several lessons in our newly renovated volunteer kitchen and learn about nutrition, different cooking skills and a number of recipes that are nutritious and delicious. The VMF education team then works with the children in a classroom to teach them about the monkeys, conservation and veganism. The children then have the opportunity to visit the foundation and learn more about the vervets firsthand.

Thank you to Jo-Anne McArthur and the Unbound Project for funding this project and helping us increase our education programme!

The Valoyi Community’s mural incorporates baboons and other species
A beautiful vegan meal prepared for us by the Valoyi Cooks
Our education team working with younger students
Our education team working with the younger classes
Progressive Primary class came out to the VMF for activities and a guided tour
We spoke a class of young adults about veganism and conservation
Our collaboration team with the Valoyi Trust
Valoyi School Cooks learning new tricks in the kitchen
Rentia visits a school in Polokwane for some lessons about the vervets

If your school is near the VMF and interested in becoming involved with our education programme, visiting the foundation or participating in our Vegan Chef Programme, contact manager@vervet.za.org

Vegan Outreach

In addition to our Vegan Chef Programme, the VMF also participates in several other vegan outreach initiatives, including food stalls at local food fairs. Our kitchen renovation also allows us to host vegan cooking lessons for both onsite volunteers and local enthusiasts. We provide Vegan Lifestyle Workshops and screen vegan/environmental documentaries for our many international volunteers for those interested in transitioning into a plant-based lifestyle when they return home.