Social and Political Dimensions of Livelihood Transformations around Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda: Intersections of Conservation, Tourism, and Gender Dynamics

This research will examine the socio-political dimensions of conservation and development interventions in communities surrounding Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park (VNP) with a particular emphasis on how these interventions are experienced and negotiated through gendered social relations. It will explore how the three interlinked forces: cash transfer programs (CTPs), tourism development, and park expansion are reshaping livelihoods and social relations in this ecologically significant region. While conservation and tourism interventions aim to align biodiversity conservation with poverty alleviation and economic development, they also produce uneven outcomes. CTPs are intended to alleviate economic vulnerability and promote conservation-friendly behavior, but little is known about their broader social and political implications. Similarly, tourism has brought infrastructure and investment to the region, yet its benefits are often unequally distributed. The recent VNP’s park expansion policy introduces further complexities around land use, displacement, and local inclusion in conservation planning. The study will place intersectional gender dynamics at its analytical core, recognizing that these interventions affect community members differently depending on gender, age, social roles, and household power structures. Guided by Political Ecology as the main theoretical framework, this research will draw on two key research fields: Feminist Political Ecology and Conservation Intervention Politics, integrating structural analysis of power and resource access with attention to everyday, gendered experiences. Through long-term ethnographic fieldwork, semi-structured interviews, and participatory methods, the study aims to generate grounded insights into how conservation and development are negotiated on the ground. Ultimately, this research will contribute to debates on the governance of conservation in Africa, the political economy of cash transfer programs, and feminist analyses of sustainability, particularly the labor of care and gendered dimensions of environmental interventions in protected area contexts.