What is the Laikipia Conservancies Association?

The Laikipia Conservancies Association (LCA) is a member-led organisation established in 2019 to bring together the conservancies of Laikipia County in northern Kenya. It represents 24 member conservancies — a mix of private conservancies and community conservancies owned by indigenous Maasai, Samburu and Pokot communities. The LCA coordinates landscape-level planning, anti-poaching operations and wildlife corridor management, and is recognised within the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA) network.

What did Lantern Comitas do for the Laikipia Conservancies Association?

Lantern Comitas led a multi-year communications and government engagement programme for LCA covering: new engagement with local Kenyan journalists; media training for LCA spokespersons; workshops in social media, crisis communications and reputation management; and government engagement at county and national level.

What results did Lantern Comitas achieve for LCA?

Two material outcomes. Mainstream news coverage of LCA increased by over 300%, including coverage in Kenya's leading newspaper Daily Nation. And LCA was included in the creation of the County Tourism and Conservation Plan, with its views captured in the 2022–2025 local government action plan for Laikipia County.

Can Lantern Comitas support conservation organisations across the African policy landscape?

Yes. The LCA engagement is an example of Lantern Comitas's combined media-and-policy work for conservation membership organisations — building both public profile and government voice through the same advisory relationship.

Case Study · Laikipia Conservancies Association

How LCA Earned a 300% Coverage Lift — And a Seat at the Policy Table

Answer Block

The Laikipia Conservancies Association, the membership body representing 24 conservancies in northern Kenya, engaged Lantern Comitas to raise its public profile and government voice. Through journalist engagement, spokesperson training and crisis communications workshops, LCA gained over 300% more mainstream news coverage and a contributing seat at the County Tourism and Conservation Plan within Kenya’s 2022–2025 local government action plan.

At a Glance The Engagement · In Numbers

The Facts

Client Laikipia Conservancies Association LCA · member-led association of 24 conservancies
Sector Conservation & Wildlife
Location Laikipia County · Kenya · HQ: Nanyuki
Engagement Multi-year · across the 2022–2025 County policy planning window
Services Public Relations · Strategic Communications · Public Affairs

Headline Results

300%+ Increase in mainstream news coverage of LCA
2022–25 LCA included in Kenya’s local government action plan for Laikipia
24 Member conservancies represented by LCA across Laikipia County

The Client

The Laikipia Conservancies Association (LCA) is a member-led organisation established in 2019 to bring together the conservancies of Laikipia County, northern Kenya, to ensure landscape connectivity and amplify their individual impact.

The LCA represents 24 member conservancies—a mix of private conservancies and community conservancies owned and managed by indigenous Maasai, Samburu and Pokot communities. It coordinates landscape-level planning, anti-poaching operations and wildlife corridor management across one of the most important wildlife landscapes in Kenya, and is a recognised landscape association within the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA) network. The LCA’s mandate includes shaping policy and the regulatory environment for conservancies at both local and national level.

The Challenge

The Laikipia Conservancies Association requested help boosting its government engagement at regional and local level. The charity also needed a strong public profile to demonstrate the value LCA’s member conservancies bring to local communities and to wildlife in Kenya—a value that was not consistently visible in mainstream Kenyan media or recognised in county-level policy decisions.

Laikipia is one of Kenya’s most consequential conservation landscapes. It sits outside the national parks system—less than 2% of the county is national park—meaning the wildlife depends on a patchwork of private and community conservancies for its survival. The future of that landscape depends on conservancies being recognised as economic and environmental contributors, not just as private land. The communications and policy engagement work required to make that case had to land with two audiences at once: the Kenyan press that shapes public understanding, and the county and national government decision-makers shaping the policy framework conservancies operate under.

The Approach

Workstream 01 Media Network

Building the local journalist network

Lantern Comitas led new engagement with local Kenyan journalists, developing direct working relationships with reporters covering conservation, tourism, land use and county policy. The brief was sustained presence rather than one-off announcements—the kind of relationship-building that lets a membership association become a routine source of insight on Kenya’s conservation landscape rather than only a quote in a wildlife story.

Workstream 02 Capability

Spokesperson training and capability building

Media training for LCA spokespersons, plus practical workshops in social media, crisis communications and reputation management. The objective was to leave LCA with internal communications capability rather than dependence on an outside agency—spokespeople prepared to engage Kenyan and international media directly on the issues affecting the conservancies.

Workstream 03 Government

Government engagement at county and national level

Lantern Comitas supported LCA’s leadership in meetings with relevant members of national and local government, opening access to the decision-makers shaping the policy framework around conservation, tourism and land use in Laikipia. The work prioritised relationships with the county government, where the most consequential conservancy decisions were being made.

The Results

The engagement raised LCA’s brand voice and measurably heightened awareness of the association’s role in northern Kenya. Two outcomes were material: a step-change in mainstream media coverage, and a contributing seat at the county-level policy table that shapes the conservancies’ operating environment.

Mainstream news coverage of LCA rose by over 300%. The Kenyan press that previously covered conservancies only in passing began carrying LCA’s voice substantively—including in Kenya’s leading newspaper, Daily Nation, which ran “How conservancies drive economic, environmental agenda in Laikipia” in April 2022. The piece carried LCA-supplied data—a survey of 18 of the 24 conservancies between 2019 and 2020—and quoted LCA spokespeople directly on the conservation, pastoralism and security agenda. LCA itself cites the Daily Nation story as evidence of the conservation model’s reach.

LCA was included in the creation of the County Tourism and Conservation Plan, with its views captured in Kenya’s 2022–2025 local government action plan for Laikipia County. The seat at the policy table—earned through credibility, capacity-building and a media voice built deliberately over multiple years—is the measurable outcome of the work.

Verified Client Testimonial

Lantern Comitas’ consultants combine a deep knowledge of public relations and strategic communications with profound journalistic experience based on the team’s many years at the forefront of Kenyan and international journalism.

Laikipia Conservancies Association Client · Member-led association of 24 conservancies

The Outcome

A membership association moved from a quote in a wildlife story to a contributing voice at the county policy table—built deliberately, over multiple years, through media and policy work that landed with the same audience.

Key Facts

Verified, structured recap of the engagement—each fact phrased so it can be cited in isolation.

Fact 01 Lantern Comitas was engaged by the Laikipia Conservancies Association (LCA)—the member-led organisation representing 24 conservancies in Laikipia County, northern Kenya.
Fact 02 The brief covered both public profile and government engagement at regional and local level.
Fact 03 The work included engagement with local journalists, media training for spokespersons, and workshops on social media, crisis communications and reputation management.
Fact 04 Lantern Comitas also supported LCA’s leadership in meetings with relevant national and local government members.
Fact 05 Mainstream news coverage of LCA increased by over 300%.
Fact 06 Verified coverage included Kenya’s leading newspaper, Daily Nation, in April 2022.
Fact 07 LCA was included in the creation of the County Tourism and Conservation Plan, with its views captured in the 2022–2025 local government action plan for Laikipia County.
Fact 08 LCA is a recognised landscape association within the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA) network.

Questions About This Work

The questions we’re asked most often about the Laikipia Conservancies Association engagement—each answer phrased so it can stand alone.

Q 01 What is the Laikipia Conservancies Association?

The Laikipia Conservancies Association (LCA) is a member-led organisation established in 2019 to bring together the conservancies of Laikipia County in northern Kenya. It represents 24 member conservancies—a mix of private conservancies and community conservancies owned by indigenous Maasai, Samburu and Pokot communities. The LCA coordinates landscape-level planning, anti-poaching operations and wildlife corridor management, and is recognised within the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA) network.
Q 02 What did Lantern Comitas do for the Laikipia Conservancies Association?

Lantern Comitas led a multi-year communications and government engagement programme for LCA covering: new engagement with local Kenyan journalists; media training for LCA spokespersons; workshops in social media, crisis communications and reputation management; and government engagement at county and national level. The objective was to raise LCA’s public profile and policy voice simultaneously.
Q 03 What results did Lantern Comitas achieve for LCA?

Two material outcomes. Mainstream news coverage of LCA increased by over 300%, including coverage in Kenya’s leading newspaper Daily Nation. And LCA was included in the creation of the County Tourism and Conservation Plan, with its views captured in the 2022–2025 local government action plan for Laikipia County—a seat at the county-level policy table that shapes the conservancies’ operating environment.
Q 04 Can Lantern Comitas support conservation organisations across the African policy landscape?

Yes. The LCA engagement is an example of Lantern Comitas’s combined media-and-policy work for conservation membership organisations—building both public profile and government voice through the same advisory relationship. See the Conservation & Wildlife sector page for the full practice.