Stakeholder meeting organised by the Seychelles Government prior to the expedition in 2018.
Nekton
It is not straight-forward to build trust. It can take time, skill, and resources, particularly finance and personnel. Nekton ensured that early engagement with the Government of Seychelles and Seychellois stakeholders began a year prior to the actual start of the Seychelles-Nekton field expedition. This allowed ample time to start building connections and relationships with the stakeholders and partners based in Seychelles. The Government of Seychelles gathered other locally based partners and stakeholders to build and frame a joint agenda of needs that would inform the research during the Seychelles-Nekton Expedition which took place in 2019. Co-production of the expedition included organising workshops to identify research locations, defining the pertinent research questions along with determining the stakeholders’ interest in leading specific projects.
Trust
Mutual respect
Flexibility in timelines
Time
Resources
Relationships are not easily created or maintained
Ample resources need to be allocated to effective and fruitful engagement
With poaching being a huge threat to saiga, especially given the demand for saiga horn in the illegal wildlife trade, outreach plays a very important role. ACBK holds every year in May the “Saiga Day” together with the Saiga Conservation Alliance, in which members of the steppe clubs participate in games, crafts, competitions and other educational and entertainment programs.
Participating communities and schools.
The outreach creates support for saiga conservation in neighbouring communities. Led by ACBK, the partnership is working to educate the local population about the threats to nature and the necessity of its conservation. A special monitoring group that was created regularly conducts outreach campaigns about the illegality of the saiga horn trade among the rural population. They are raising awareness of the youth living in key settlements located in the area of each saiga population to gain deeper knowledge about this species, and mobilise them around the 10 formed clubs of “Saiga Friends” in Kazakhstan. Unemployment forces many local people to poach. The clubs teach the children the important role of each species and the consequences that poaching of wildlife may have on the whole ecosystem.
Public awareness on environmental and biodiversity conservation
BirdLife South Africa has an extensive network of members, supporters, and birders locally and abroad.
BirdLife South Africa has a membership of over 6000 people, and an extensive reach of over 60 000 people through social media. BirdLife South Africa is well-regarded in South Africa and abroad as an authority on birds, birding, and bird conservation.
Effective branding, messaging, donor servicing, and communications on a consistent basis
Maintaining networks of supporters is imperative for the success of funding appeals.
The BirdLife South Africa Community Bird Guides are well regarded and respected members of the South African birding community.
The foundation for the success of the BirdLife South Africa Community Bird Guide Relief Fund was the regard that the birding community has for the guides. They are treasured and respected among birders, and there was a high level of support for this project and the guides before the pandemic struck.
A long-running, well-run, and well-publicized community benefit project with a few notable graduates who have become flagbearers for the project and for BirdLife South Africa.
Maintaining public support for projects on a consistent basis is important for future support.
