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www.janegoodall.org
Our Mission
Our Core Values
Our History
Through subsequent years, Jane opened the world’s eyes to the complexity and richness of chimpanzee communities, writing of close family bonds, dominance struggles among males, human-like communications such as pats on the back and hugs, and much more. Today the Gombe chimps are perhaps the world’s best-known, and the Gombe research program represents the world’s longest continuous wildlife study. JGI’s Gombe Stream Research Center is a hub of scientific inquiry for researchers from all over the world. In the 1980s, rampant deforestation and its effects on the chimpanzees in Africa compelled Jane to shift her focus from research to conservation. She began traveling the world speaking about the amazing beings she’d come to know so well. Here and there, she learned of individual chimpanzees in need, many orphaned by poachers and being sold on the black market or kept chained in backyards as “pets.” As a result, the Institute’s sanctuary program was born. Conservation and Communities: The harsh realities facing villagers in the Kigoma region outside Gombe shaped the Jane Goodall Institute’s evolution further. On a flyover of Gombe one day in the 1990s, Jane saw hillsides denuded in every direction, right up to the park boundary. Thus she cemented a broad vision for species conservation: to be effective, it had to address the needs of the human populations surrounding habitat. Jane started the TACARE (Take Care) program in Kigoma in 1994. This community-centered conservation and development program partners with communities to create sustainable livelihoods while promoting conservation goals.
JGI’s TACARE is succeeding in changing lives because its projects are driven – and embraced – by local communities. It has been recognized by the US Agency for International Development and others as a model worth emulating. In recent years we’ve replicated TACARE in central and western parts of Africa.
 Youth: Jane’s life story and mission have special appeal for young people. They respond not only to her passion for and curiosity about animals, but to her courage and steadfast hope for a better world. Reaching out to young people is a high priority for Jane, and conservation education is a critical part of JGI’s work. We help create the leaders of tomorrow through our global youth program, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots. Roots & Shoots nurtures values of civic responsibility, environmental stewardship, and peace.
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Founded by renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, the Jane Goodall Institute is a global nonprofit that empowers people to make a difference for all living things. Our work builds on Dr. Goodall’s scientific work and her humanitarian vision. Specifically, we seek to:
Chimpanzees: Jane had a daunting assignment – find and get close to wild chimpanzees, documenting their behavior to shed light on our own evolutionary past. She rose to the occasion, very quickly making the first observations of any wild animals making and using tools. Jane also observed chimps hunting bushpigs and other animals, disproving the widely held belief that chimpanzees were primarily vegetarians.
