Rehabitate is our Sand Forest Project; Rehabilitate is the FreeMe Expansion Project, please see our other causes to learn about these projects.
Educate
At Ubuntu Wildlife Trust, we believe it is crucial to support young people in conservation by giving them the resources, access, and knowledge to generate long and successful careers. We also believe that these tools equally apply to people following another dream and corporate paths – arming the world with CEO’s and thought leaders who have values based in conservation understanding. To do this we will develop a comprehensive Conservation Field Education and Research Centre for Zululand and Maputaland. The centre will increase the involvement of local and international students in conservation and encourage the interaction between them and local communities. It will generate income that will contribute towards the associated Ubuntu Wildlife Trust projects in a sustainable manner, and secure biodiverse habitat of traditionally sand forest and contribute towards the programme to regrow this endangered vegetation type and species associated with it. By securing the centre, it has the added benefit in contributing another piece in the puzzle towards securing the link between Phinda private Game Reserve and the UNESCO World Heritage site iSimangaliso and restoring ancient migration routes and expanding habitat. The Centre will provide:
The Centre will provide:
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- World class field programmes and courses in support of international academic institutions.
- Practical hands on internships for aspiring conservation professionals looking for “bankable” conservation skills and experience.
- Fully equipped field research station for visiting regional and international researchers.
- A central resource of appropriate specimen collections for the Zululand region.
- Appropriate services to the surrounding protected areas in terms of wildlife and vegetation monitoring and research.
- Youth development programmes aimed at school going aged learners (local and international) that builds appreciation and environmental literacy and global citizenship.
- A venue for hire for holding regional meetings, courses, and conferences around conservation.
- A base for hosting fund raising and awareness trips before heading to wildlife experience projects on neighbouring reserves.
This project will be done in partnership with FreeMe Wildlife and the African Insight Academy, and include the collaboration of various other organisations that add value to the overall objectives and vision.
Facilitate
At Ubuntu Wildlife trust we believe that conservation cannot be successful without the authentic involvement of locals communities. New opportunities need to be created and investments made into community projects and programmes that are self-determined and sustainable. Common practice is to train community members in hospitality and wildlife fields so they can obtain jobs in neighbouring reserves. This is no longer viable or sustainable as the reserve resource remain the same while population size and demand grows. Too many people are left applying for the few available jobs, and they are not qualified to look for work in other fields or away from conservation areas. It leads to people working in conservation simply as a job and not a passion and limits the opportunities of people wanting to do more or following their dreams in another vocation. Ubuntu Wildlife Trust and partners will create alternative avenues leading to better opportunities for the local community.
Ubuntu Wildlife Trust is partnering with FreeMe Wildlife, local community families, and other like minded partners to provide a Skills Development centre that will create better opportunities for employment through innovative and diverse certified programmes at no cost to attendees. Main objectives include:
- To provide STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) based learning opportunities and to teach thinking and problem solving skills throughout the process
- To facilitate learning through short courses addressing practical needs such as understanding financial statements and budgets, creating business proposals, how to compile a CV, how to conduct an interview, long term objective planning, computer literacy courses and courses requested by the community
- Offering certified trade courses in areas such as building, plumbing, carpentry, chainsaw use, first aid and more
- To provide social programmes such as Gender Based Violence (GBV) mitigation, abuse and trauma mitigation and counselling, mental health and anxiety, art and creativity, and others through partner specialists
- To contribute further to the greater vision of securing biodiverse habitat
The centre will be in the heart of the community and easily accessible for all. Community members will be able to request courses or training that they need. Ubuntu Wildlife Trust will bring in certified specialists for each field to complete courses, that in turn will leave attendees with excellent, certified qualifications. We believe this will create better opportunities for local community members in following the paths and passion points to better paying careers in the major cities, while also upskilling those individuals who want to work in conservation as a choice.
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