Summary

 

EWCL Board members and participants chose numerous training topics as priority knowledge and skills to be addressed in the three sessions by specialists in the leadership and conservation fields. At the closing Washington D.C. session in December 2014, the EWCL Board of Directors and World Wildlife Fund hosted a luncheon for participants, Board Members and current leaders and peers in the wildlife conservation community. Additional participant opportunities for networking and mentoring over the course of the two-year class were made possible by numerous scheduled –as well as informal– one-on-one mentoring sessions with EWCL Board of Directors members. Additionally, all interested participants were partnered with a member of the EWCL Alumni Advisory Group to offer career and project mentoring advice throughout the two year program.

In addition to the training workshops, the participants designed, implemented, and evaluated an international wildlife conservation campaign. EWCL participants partnered directly with conservation organizations to work on the following issues: (1) Lessening the incidence of African painted dogs being hit by cars or killed in snares through the design of reflective collars that allow the dogs to be more visible and escape snares; (2) Addressing the issues of Indian turtles being unintentionally caught by fishermen by redesigning nets that simultaneously allow for turtles to exit and fishermen to maintain their livelihoods; (3) Developing educational camps to bring awareness to communities living in the midst of conflict with snow leopards and livestock management practices in Nepal;(4) Creating media and educational materials to increase awareness about the giant armadillo and distributing them through partnerships with Brazilian zoo and international networks. The class directly raised $27,506 for conservation, and $6,995 of additional in-kind support for these wildlife programs.