Home Planet Fund succeeds in conservation by investing in local knowledge

This week on the Newscast, we're joined by Dilafruz Khonikboyeva, the founder of the Home Planet Fund, an independent, Indigenous-led nonprofit that provides funding for local and Indigenous communities and conservation projects around the world.

Khonikboyeva, who is also the organization's executive director, speaks about the ethos of the Home Planet Fund and how it works. But I must emphasize that in my conversation with Khonikboyeva, what stands out most to me isn't just the fund's focus on Indigenous-led conversation and investing in local knowledge. It's the well of experience Khonikboyeva brings to it that, growing up in Tajikistan under Soviet occupation and having firsthand experience of a community making do under extremely difficult circumstances, I believe, is rare among philanthropic efforts.

In a sector that runs on reports, restrictions, and guarantees, Khonikboyeva encourages funders to work differently, which often might come in an answer they don't want to hear.

"If you're getting a satisfying answer in this space, something isn't right," she says.

She explains: "I think sometimes people wanna hear, 'Yes, we'll take your money. Yes, we'll do what you want in the timeline that you want. Yes, everything is possible." And it's just not true, right? That is actually not how life works, and anybody who tells you otherwise is certainly selling you something."

The Home Planet Fund chooses to focus on four distinct ecologies that "researchers have pinpointed around the world [as] critical from a climate and biodiversity angle," Khonikboyeva says.

These are the Tongass Rainforest of Alaska; the glaciers around Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India — sometimes referred to as "the third pole"; the grasslands of East Africa; and the South Pacific. Through trusted networks, Khoniboyeva and her team identify and build relationships with local communities in these areas who are already engaged in conservation efforts and provide them with funding.

"Making sure we have elders, making sure we have whole communities, making sure we have women's groups, making sure we have youth groups involved and co-building with them is really, really important," she says.

Please take a minute to let us know what you think of our podcast here.

Mike DiGirolamo is the host & producer for the Mongabay Newscast based in Sydney. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

Banner image: Faye Saemala, whose family has lived in the village of Lilisiana, in the Solomon Islands, for generations. Image courtesy of Jason Gagame.

—-

Timecodes

(00:00) "The Hardest of Humanity That I've Seen"

(03:41) Dilafruz Khonikboyeva Explains the Home Planet Fund

(08:39) Growing Up in Tajikistan

(12:00) Community Works Over Monetary Incentive

(16:58) How the Fund Built Relationships

(19:45) Identifying the Four Ecologies

(24:10) Support Mongabay on Patreon

(24:48) 'We Don't Accept Grant Proposals'

(27:56) Women's Collectives in the South Pacific

(31:58) The Case for Unrestricted Funding

(35:02) Towards a Collaborative Fund

(38:33) "If You're Getting a Satisfying Answer, Something Isn't Right"

(40:51) Working in Conflict Zones

(45:10) Mindset Shifts for Philanthropists

(46:55) 'Investing in Healing Ourselves'

(50:49) Closing