Building Blocks of the Castanea Henryi Tree Planting Project
The purpose of this building block is to inform the procedure on starting and implementing the Castanea Henryi Tree Planting Project to all interested individuals and parties.
The condtions enabling the success of this building block of the Castanea Henryi Tree Planting Project include the acquirement of the castanea henryi tree seedlings, the possession of pertinent planting technologies, the ownership of the available land and suitable climate for planting.
A potential planter must learn the castanea henryi tree planting technologies to start the real planting work in order to have a sucessful planting experience.
Nature Seychelles marketed the program through placing agencies websites, paid social media ads, own websites, online magazine, and mass media through local and international newspapers, magazines and Television. Two in-house marketing videos have been produced. Information boards targeted at tourists have been erected on the island; wardens who lead the tours use them to explain the program. The program is under review and an integrated business and marketing plan rooted in the realities and practicalities of Cousin Island and Seychelles, with the ultimate goal of attracting more participants to this immersive conservation experience, is being developed.
Core staff with exeprience in media and marketing
Existing assets such as websites, blogs and social media platforms for targeted marketing
Funding for paid advertising and for media and publicity materials production.
While marketing has been partially successful, Nature Seychelles does not believe it's reaching its customer base for the program. A review of current and previous marketing efforts and related results is underway.
A review of the program by Kai, a CBC participant, on the Natucate website
Natucate
Partnerships were established with 8 agencies specialized in placing paying volunteers for continuity beyond the GEF support. They were provided with marketing information, photos, and some received news and blogs for their websites. The partners have sent 21 participants to the program.
Existence of agencies specialised in placing paying volunteers with whom partnerships could be formed.
Buy-in and collaboration between the agencies and Nature Seychelles
A wide selection of agencies catering for different markets and languages
Agencies helped to place a percentage of the participants.
Recruitment and administrative tasks take up a significant amount of time, and human resource has to be allocated to carry them out.
In addition to agencies, word of mouth and referrals work well, therefore the program experience has to be optimal.
Develop a tool to test if young people will pay to learn conservation skills
Dr. Shah, Nature Seychelles Chief Executive after a metorship session
Nature Seychelles
1) Conservation has become an increasingly popular career choice for young people all over the world. But many conservation organizations complain that young graduates don’t have the right attitude or the real-word skills. Nature Seychelles created the Conservation Boot Camp (CBC) on Cousin Island Special Reserve to test if the island could be used as a laboratory to equip young people with conservation skills, while at the same time use the fees paid as a sustainable funding mechanism for the MPA. The program was financially supported by the GEF from April 2016 to December 2019. The GEF project pays for a full time CBC Coordinator, equipment, and materials and other. The coordinator manages the application process, and receives and integrates participants into the program. A conservation manager leads on conservation work, while the Chief Warden manages all the logistics. The CBC is exclusive and takes a maximum of 6 persons per session and takes place the whole year. Each session lasts for 4 weeks and costs Euro 1000.00 (not including airfares and food). A 2 week program was been introduced due to demand. Nature Seychelles is a Private Training and Educational Institution under Seychelles law and a Certificate of Completion is awarded at the end of the training.
Cousin Island Special Reserve - the 50 year old conservation success story - as a laboratory to test the program.
Funding to support the initial implementation and testing of the program
Nature Seychelles is a certified private training institution by law
Leadership and mentorship from the CE who has over 35 years conservation experience
Existing human resource to support the implementation
Initial funding is important as program depends on participants to fill all slots for it to be viable and sustainable. Not all slots were filled throughout the year.
Having well-known successes provides credibility and helps in attracting participants.
Necessary information laid out in a CBC handbook provided prior knowledge before sign up.
One size doesn’t fit all - although targeted at people interested in conservation careers, some participants had no previous or post interest in conservation.
Mentorship with well-known figure helps to boost confidence and catalyse conservation careers
Program not able to attract participants throughout the year. Under review to improve numbers so that it remains viable after the GEF funding ends.
The program was valuable for people from the region, in particular from Madagascar (18 participants), especially where there are not
exposed to conservation success stories.
