The total population of the world’s mountain gorillas is approximately 760 animals; more than half are found in Uganda. Although the gorillas are only one of the many examples of Uganda’s diverse wildlife, these rare and charismatic giants are a symbol of the natural assets of the country and a champion for conservation awareness and efforts in the region. In a country challenged by poverty and threats to its biodiversity resources, the gorilla have the opportunity to become the flag-bearer to promote the country’s sustainable tourism offer, while also highlighting to the people of Uganda the unique characteristics and sustainable economic opportunities in their country. 

In a bid to raise awareness of conservation at a national and global level as well as build Uganda’s image as a prime sustainable tourism destination, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) with support from the USAID funded STAR - Uganda (Sustainable Tourism in the Albertine Rift) program, launched an awareness and promotional campaign, Friend-a-Gorilla (www.friendagorilla.org).The campaign uses social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to inform people about the Gorilla’s activities and build awareness of these unique animals. People can ‘friend’ a gorilla, learn about their gorilla, see video’s and pictures, and get updates from the rangers on their activities. The program officially launched on Saturday September 26^th and already has 6,000 followers on Facebook. The program was also covered in many media outlets, including on USA Today and Time Magazine.

To assist UWA in this effort, STAR mobilised Hollywood stars Jason Biggs, Kristy Wu, and Simon Curtis, to help launch the campaign and act as Uganda’s human spokespeople for conservation in the country. These stars, with their strong international followings on the internet and in the media helped to build awareness of the canpaign and Uganda. The stars joined in the gorilla trekking as part of the launch along with the Uganda cabinet Minister of Tourism Kahinda Otafire. 

The initiative included support from the national government, NGOs, the private sector, and concerned international organizations and individuals. Using the principles of the Global Development Alliance, STAR was able to leverage private sector support and contributions for the celebrities to be able to travel to Uganda. STAR solicited six discounted business class tickets from Fly Emirates paid for by UWA and the airline then upgraded them to first class, making Fly Emirates’ total contribution to the program over $110,000. Hotels, the NGO AED, and other partners then contributed to make the campaign launch a success. 

By aggressively promoting Uganda and its biodiversity, STAR hopes to promote tourism to the country, improving the linkages between tourism and economic benefits to Ugandan’s, especially at the community level, and therefore strengthen the support of biodiversity conservation in Uganda. Ultimately the campaign stands as a tool to achieve conservation goals while at the same time raising awareness and funds for conservation. 

The STAR communications team supported UWA by organizing partnership-building meetings with potential campaign funders and supporters including embassies, NGOs, government institutions, and the private sector such as airlines and hotels, building support for the initiative. STAR organized press kits, wrote press releases, and organized celebrity press conferences attended by international and local media. STAR also helped in the organization and success of the official launch even, the Gorilla Gala, attended by many of the countries decision makers and whose tickets sold out due to the major publicity that the celebrities captured in the country. 

STAR is a 5-year program of the Global Sustainable Tourism Alliance, started in August 2009. The approach embraced by the program is to build collaboration among tourism and conservation partners by engaging the whole tourism industry in the process and building momentum through catalytic activities identified by the partners. STAR was able to realize fast action by meeting with partners such as UWA, identifying quick activities that could build large-scale support and awareness and then injecting targeted assistance to help catalyse action by these partners. UWA had the great concept of Friend-a-Gorilla, STAR helped to take it to scale so that the program could have maximum impact for conservation.