Women in Conservation Leadership Programme

In 2021 we launched the ASAP Women in Conservation Leadership Programme.

Whilst the inclusion, active participation, and voice of women is linked with improved conservation outcomes, women in conservation often face gender related work place challenges. Gender bias and harassment can negatively impact confidence, erode an individual’s ability to reach their full potential, and block or hinder career advancement and entry into leadership positions. We believe that tackling these challenges and empowering women conservationists in this region is critical for long-term, sustainable and successful conservation of ASAP species.

Through the ASAP Women in Conservation Leadership Programme, we are providing targeted training and support to build leadership skills for women conservationists conserving ASAP species. The programme has been specifically tailored for women managing and leading conservation efforts, and we have partnered with the Tropical Biology Association (TBA) to deliver targeted training modules to strengthen core skills used in managing and implementing conservation programmes and leading teams. The programme is aimed for aspiring leaders and those in leadership positions.

The programme brings together participants from across the region, and is providing opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and networking, providing a support mechanism beyond the training programme. We also work with each individual to help champion their work and support their efforts.

So far, the programme has provided over 50 hours of training in project design and proposal development, fundraising, leadership and communication.

Training content

The training consisted of three modules and focused on:
 

1. Project design and proposal development

 

Designing projects

  • Problem trees and impact statements
  • Project hierarchy, understanding terminology
  • Theory of change for your own conservation project

Measuring impact

  • Approaches to measuring impact
  • Exploring different types of indicators and baselines – and choosing them for your own project
  • Monitoring and evaluation, and adaptive management

Proposal writing

  • Creating a coherent proposal structure
  • Translating project ideas into funding proposals
  • Writing skills for fundraising

 

2. Fundraising skills

 

Fundraising strategy

  • Fundraising approaches
  • Designing a fundraising strategy
  • Diversifying funding streams

Developing funding proposals

  • Interpreting different proposal formats and terminology
  • Writing winning proposals
  • Reporting and maintaining funder relationships

Logframes

  • De-mystifying and writing logframes

Budgeting and resourcing

  • Budgeting
  • Resourcing projects and evaluating “hidden” costs

 

3. Leadership and communication

 

Leadership

  • Exploring characteristics of a conservation leader
  • Gender and leadership
  • Creating collaborations and partnerships

Stakeholder engagement / and gender

  • Gender and conservation
  • Community diversity and stakeholder mapping
  • Integrating social issues into projects (e.g. social safeguards)

Communication skills

  • Communicating to different audiences
  • Presenting results
  • Sharing success stories

Conflict resolution and negotiation

  • Negotiation strategies for successful dispute resolution

 

Dates

The training dates are:

  • 21st – 25th June 2021: Project design and proposal development
  • 26th – 30th July 2021: Fundraising skills
  • 8th – 12th November 2021: Leadership and communication
  • 15th – 18th February 2022: Face-to-face workshop
The training sessions will be held online between 12.30-16.30 Yangon time / 13:00 - 17:00 Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta, Phnom Penh, Vientiane time / 14:00 - 18:00 Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila time. Each course is a total of 18 hours (including live sessions and offline assignments) spread across the 5 days. You will need to be able to commit to the full sessions for each module as well as approval from your organsiation.

Application process - applications closed

Applications are now closed - thank you to everyone that applied. We will review the applications and respond shortly.

Photo credits from left to right: Wildlife Reserves Singapore/David Tan, Yayasan Kanopia Indonesia, Sam Tippett/EPRC