Assessment of the contribution of Bangweulu Game Management Area to socio-economic development of the community: A case of Chiuponde Chiefdom

<p dir="ltr">Despite the many economic benefit the GMA make generally, there has been a wide concern on their socio economic activities to the local communities that are found in these areas. The GMA has made significance progress in fostering development to the local communities and improving the lives of many people thus, reducing poverty. Game Management Areas in Zambia aim to combine nature conservation with economic empowerment of local communities living in these areas. By observation, the infrastructure of most these places leaves much to be desired, thus, this study seek to find out the contribution of Bangweulu Game Management Area to Chiundaponde chiefdom in both social and economic on the welfare of the local people. The study focused on the social and economic benefits of households living in Bangweulu Game Management Area.</p><p dir="ltr">The study collected data from a sample size of 150 respondents who were chosen at random to represent the entire chiefdom of Chiundaponde among them were also key informants, the data were themed and analyzed by computer Programme called Microsoft Excel where pie chart and bar graphs were used to determine distribution of the study variables. The results indicated that the majority of the respondents were happy with the socio economic activities being offered by the GMA to the local communities. Thus, the had a positive attitude towards the GMA activities and 63% benefited on their projects while 92% of the respondents agreed that their activities had brought massive change and development in the study area.</p><p dir="ltr">In conclusion the study provided an insight on the immediate contribution of the socio economic of the GMA to the local community. The study revealed that the establishment of the Game Management Area (GMA) in the study area had proved to be of economic benefit to the local community. The huge populace of the respondents engaged during the study pointed to the creation of GMA with great enthusiasm as more have benefited and likely posed a serious economic benefit to the wellbeing of the community.</p>