legado:
2020
Legado means Legacy.
It's who we are and
what we do.
A MESSAGE
FROM MAJKA
Dear Legado Community,
As you dig into this Annual Report, I hope you are inspired by what you've helped to make possible.
In any year, the impact you helped to create would have been transformative, but what you helped us do in 2020 was even more so given all that we have weathered together as a global community. From supporting community-based health care in Mozambique as a part of our COVID response to developing a dynamic and sought-after legacy framework that will be the basis for our future expansions, it's been a year of significant progress.
Legacy and the pursuit of Thriving Futures has been a crucial part of our focus this year. We believe that when people are activated to create and pursue their individual legacy, they create a thriving future for themselves, their families, their communities and ultimately for the wild places they call home. We have seen time and time again that our collective futures are largely determined by our daily decisions at an individual level — which is why we start with building a legacy and responsibility at an individual level as we pursue a thriving future for all.
You'll see this concept of legacy and thriving futures threaded throughout our work today. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it and if you have any questions.
I'm excited to realize this thriving future — together with you.
Onwards,
Majka
Majka Burhardt
Founder + Executive Director
1. The bounty of Mount Namuli, photo by Grant Bemis
2. Photo by Grant Bemis
3. Photo by Grant Bemis
Thriving Futures =
Thriving People +
Thriving Places
Legado: Beyond the Mountains
Legado focuses on high biodiversity areas that are also home to indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), including some of the most remote and often threatened “last mile” places on the planet. IPLCs often rely on surrounding natural resources for their daily needs and their livelihoods and can face serious challenges such as food insecurity and limited access to healthcare, education, and economic opportunity.
These needs are interdependent and whether in the USA, Mozambique, or anywhere else in the world, securing a Thriving Future depends on integrated, legacy-based approaches.
As we continue to move forward with Legado, building thriving futures on a strong foundation of legacy-based action is at the core of the work we do. Developed through our deep experience with mountain communities in Mozambique, we are excited to expand our reach to partner with IPLCs and other like-minded organizations around the world.
The power
of legacy
The cumulative impact of individual actions sets the trajectory of the future. When people think of their lives as having a legacy, they are emboldened to conceive and drive their own vision for a thriving future.
Legado works to activate the power of legacy around the world so that people and their natural environment can thrive together – now and into the future.
This past year, we've been in awe of how people have activated their personal legacy to make significant and lasting change in their lives and in their communities. Here are a few stories of the power of legacy from this past year…
Growth & Global
Programming
Legado’s work sits at the forefront of the growing holistic approaches sector and from 2021-2024 we are partnering with like-minded organizations around the world to test and refine our model inside an accelerated research and development (R&D) phase. Our ultimate goal is to utilize detailed monitoring and evaluation to establish an evidence-based, replicable approach that will help to build Thriving Futures and scale our impact globally.
In addition to our new partnership with Northern Rangelands Trust which you can read about below, we are currently vetting additional sites and partnerships in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
Click through the images below to see snapshots of the communities we are proud to partner with around the world.
Legado and Northern Rangelands Trust in Kenya
Legado: Mathews works to create Thriving Futures with Samburu communities in the Mathews Mountain Range in Kenya.
Legado: Mathews began in 2020 in collaboration with the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), and the Namunyak Community Conservancy Group, whose conservancies are home to Samburu pastoralists and the Mathews Mountain Range, one of the largest remaining tracts of forest in Northern Kenya.
As partners, we are working with the Legado Model to create a more inclusive framework and a legacy-based collective vision and plan for the Namunyak Conservancies. A particular goal is to better integrate the upper lands of the Mathews Range into the overall strategy to ensure this critical landscape is secured.
Legado: Mathews is a unique partnership for creating Thriving Futures for the Mathews Range and will play a key role in testing and refining Legado’s model to help scale our impact globally.
1. Community meeting in the Namunyak Community Conservancy | Photo by Vivian Jebet, NRT
2. Elephants at Namunyak's Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, the first community owned elephant orphanage in Africa | Photo by Jeff Waweru
3. Samburu homestead, Namunyak
Community Conservancy | Photo by Vivian Jebet, NRT
“We are excited to start working with Legado to support NRT and Namunyak Community Conservancy, I believe Legado will bring a fresh perspective and new energy to revitalize Namunyak’s focus and leadership in protecting and securing the future of the Mathews forest for the benefit of Namunyak’s people, wildlife and biodiversity.”
NAMULI: UP-CLOSE
Like so many people, families and organizations in the world, COVID-19 changed Legado.
During the COVID-19 State of Emergency in Mozambique, we carefully changed our practices to incorporate social distance protocols and refined the delivery of our programming to minimize contact and maximize safety. By adopting these new practices, our field team continued to provide support across all areas of our work — including land tenure, agricultural and apiculture programming, and our work building personal legacies that support a Thriving Future.
We are honored and fortunate to share with you that, despite the major challenges presented by the global pandemic, Legado’s work on our flagship site on Mount Namuli was also able to grow in 2020.
- A group of people from Namuli’s Murrui Community gathers for a conversation about staying safe in times of COVID-19.
- A community health activist speaks about Covid19 prevention at a community meeting. Through lectures, home visits, and using the tools and resources provided by the District Health Authority, community health activists educated their communities on how to stay safe and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Namuli.
"When I spoke with the leaders from the communities around Mount Namuli, they have expressed that they are really happy that there are these Community Health Workers advising people about the virus. The radio doesn’t reach these remote communities and often people do not have the opportunity to travel into the city to seek out information. At first, people thought that the information that they were receiving about COVID-19 was fake, but when they began to hear the information from the Community Health Workers, they realized that this was information about the virus that they could trust...This support is very good for the community and for the project, demonstrating that Legado is also here to help the community in a variety of ways— not just things that are traditionally associated with conservation."
UPDATES
FROM THE FIELD
FINANCES 2020
Legado maintained a strong financial position in 2020 and ended the year with $475,198 in net assets.
"As a former epidemiologist, I believe that human wellbeing and the health of the environment are inextricably linked. Clean water, good soil to grow food, access to education, economic opportunity, health care — all of these elements and more combine to an integrated model that does away with traditional silos to actually allow for true sustainability and longevity. I am particular about where I give — and I choose Legado because the model of thriving futures being built by thriving people in thriving places addresses all of the components that ensure human health and environmental wellness."
The Core is Legado's passionate, global community of monthly donors with a core commitment to help secure thriving futures for both people and the wild places they call home. Whether you give $5 or $50 each month, your gift goes directly to supporting our work to activate the power of legacy around the world so that people and their natural environment can thrive together – now and into the future.
With your help, together we can create a thriving future.
Thank you
Together, we are securing a thriving future
for both people and the wild places they call home.
Backed by the Best
