Conservation Leadership Programme call for applications: 2012 Conservation Awards

The Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) aims to contribute to long-term conservation of biodiversity in priority areas by encouraging and engaging potential conservation leaders and providing them with opportunities to gain practical skills and experience. This partnership between BirdLife International, Conservation International, Fauna & Flora International and the Wildlife Conservation Society has been supporting young conservationists globally for over 25 years by offering awards, training and mentoring.

In 2012 the following awards will be offered: Future Conservationist Awards (up to USD 12,500 each); Conservation Follow-up Awards (up to USD 25,000 each), available only to previous CLP Future Conservationist Award winners; and Conservation Leadership Awards (up to USD 50,000 each), available only to previous CLP Follow-up Award winners.

CLP supports applicants living and working in Africa, Asia, East/South-East Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. Countries designated by the World Bank as high-income economies and countries with US Sanctions are not eligible for CLP support. Exceptions to these criteria include high-income economies located in tropical areas of high biological diversity, including Pacific and Caribbean Islands and the Middle East.

Application forms for 2012 awards will be available on the CLP website in August 2011 and must be submitted by the deadline in November 2011. Award winners will be announced in April 2012. Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact a member of CLP staff well before the application deadline for advice or input on their proposal. Staff members can help teams determine if their project fits within specified criteria, offer advice on methods and project activities, and put teams in touch with local partner offices or other experts who can provide additional advice. All teams submitting an eligible application will receive feedback on their proposal.

Visit http://www.conservationleadershipprogramme.org for detailed eligibility criteria, guidelines and an application form, or e-mail clp@birdlife.org

Call for applications for The Whitley Awards 2012

Do you know a proven local conservation leader who deserves recognition? The Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) is a UK registered charity offering Whitley Awards to outstanding nature conservation leaders around the world. Whitley Awards are both an international profile prize and a form of project grant (currently GBP 30,000 over 1 year).

WFN aims to: (1) Identify, recognize and fund the world’s most dynamic conservation leaders and their teams, focusing on local leaders who are nationals of the countries where they are working. (2) Support work that is rooted in good science and which also emphasizes the benefits of biodiversity and ecosystems to local communities; we place a high value on projects that have achieved groundswell grass-roots support, and often the leaders we fund have helped set up a local NGO but are now ready to scale up significantly. (3) Fund pragmatic projects that aim to have a measurable, long-lasting impact on the ground. (4) Raise the profile of our winners and help them network effectively, educate others, and heighten public awareness of the problems facing biodiversity and ecosystems worldwide.

Whitley Awards are the result of a competitive process. Each year, one recipient of the Whitley Award also wins the prestigious Gold Award, worth an additional GBP 30,000 over a second year of funding. The awards are presented at the annual Whitley Awards Ceremony each May, hosted by our patron HRH The Princess Royal, at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

Winners of the Whitley Awards join a growing network of over 120 winners across more than 60 countries. WFN stays in close contact with winners and the most successful gain access to apply for further Continuation Funding of GBP 30,000–60,000 per grant.

If you are a dynamic conservationist working outside the developed world, who would like to gain publicity, media training and funding for your project, we invite you to apply to us for The Whitley Awards 2012. The deadline for applications for the next Whitley Awards is Monday 31 October 2011. Potential applicants should read more about eligibility requirements at http://www.whitleyaward.org, from where the 2012 application form can also be downloaded.

Please note that WFN does not fund undergraduate projects, expeditions, MSc research, or pure-research PhD work. If you have any questions regarding the Whitley Awards, please email the Awards Coordinator at WFN, david@whitleyaward.org