Most of the CRU team members have little educational background, yet through a series of capacity building activities have been trained in assessing and selecting priority areas for CRU activities and field patrols, operating hand held GPS units, filling in standardized data-sheets for forest patrolling and conducting HEC assessments. This empowerment has provided a sense of dignity to the mahouts, a yet unexplored potential source of human resources working for field based conservation.

The CRU project has 4 main objectives: 1) mitigating human-elephant conflict; 2) reducing wildlife crime activities in the important elephant habitat through forest patrol and monitoring; 3) raising awareness among local people of the importance of conserving elephants and their habitat; 4) establishing community-based ecotourism to ensure long-term CRU financial sustainability. IEF funding supports all aspects of this project.

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