KI21 "CONSERVATION IS LIFE"

Kicking Off Kwita Izina 21: SACOLA Rallies Communities Around Volcanoes National Park Through Football: Conservation is Life.
As Rwanda counts down to the 21st edition of Kwita Izina, the world-renowned Gorilla Naming Ceremony scheduled for September 4, 2026, the Sabyinyo Community Livelihood Association (SACOLA) has once again turned to the universal language of sport to bring communities together around Volcanoes National Park.
Under the banner "Conservation is Life," SACOLA is sponsoring a community football tournament designed to mobilize women and youth from four districts bordering the Park — Burera, Musanze, Nyabihu, and Rubavu — in the spirit and celebration of Kwita Izina 21.
The tournament opened on August 14, 2026, with a friendly match in Kinigi between a joint RDB/SACOLA team and Musanze, setting the tone for the weeks of competition to follow. Photos from the opening day capture the energy of the occasion: players from both sides lined up together on the pitch before kickoff, local leaders and officials in attendance, and teams posing for group photos in a display of unity and sportsmanship that echoes SACOLA's broader mission — linking community wellbeing to the conservation of the mountain gorillas and their habitat.
The friendly was more than a warm-up game. It was a statement: that the same communities who live alongside Volcanoes National Park, and whose livelihoods are intertwined with its conservation, are also the ones best placed to celebrate and champion it.
Four Districts, One Goal Following the opening friendly, the tournament proper continues with matches on August 21, building toward a final on August 28, 2026 — just days before Kwita Izina 21 itself. Teams representing Burera, Musanze, Nyabihu, and Rubavu districts will compete on the field in Kinigi, drawing players, families, and spectators from across the Park's boundary communities.
By engaging women and boys' teams specifically, the tournament reflects SACOLA's commitment to inclusive community mobilization — ensuring that conservation messaging and the celebration of Kwita Izina reach every corner of the community, not just those directly employed in tourism or conservation work.
Sport as a Bridge to Conservation
For SACOLA, sport has become a powerful entry point for community dialogue around conservation. A football field draws people together in ways that a meeting room cannot — neighbors, local leaders, and conservation partners standing shoulder to shoulder, cheering for the same team, ahead of a ceremony that will once again put Rwanda's gorilla conservation success story on the world stage.
SACOLA's football tournament stands as a grassroots complement to that international celebration — a reminder that the story of gorilla conservation is, first and foremost, a story of the communities who live it every day.
SACOLA — Conservation is Life. Conservation Optimism IUCN Section on Great Apes IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa IUCN Community Conservation Allies