The Pole Pole Foundation UK (registered charity no. 1173386) supports the work of the multi-award winning Pole Pole Foundation to protect the Grauer's Gorillas and support the sustainable development of communities in and around Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Pole Pole Foundation's (POPOF) mission is to work with communities to protect the critically endangered Grauer's Gorillas in Kahuzi-Biega National Park. The foundation was set up in 1992 and has achieved great success in spite of the conflict and poverty that has afflicted the Democratic Republic of Congo for the last two decades. The founder of POPOF, John Kahekwa, is an expert on gorilla conservation and winner of the 2012 Marjan-Marsh Award for an outstanding conservationist working in a region of armed conflict, the 2013 Whitley Award and the 2016 Prince William Lifetime Award for conservation in Africa, and was finalist in the Protect and Restore Nature category of the inaugural Earthshot Prize in 2021. All monies raised by The Pole Pole Foundation UK on this page are donated to POPOF in DRC.
