Course Dates & Live Sessions:
The next dates for this course are:
3 February-21 March 2025
29 September-14 November 2025
Registration closes one month before the start date.
Course Introduction:
Of the more than 157,000 species assessed through the global Red List, 28% are considered threatened with extinction (IUCN, 2024). Well-resourced, effectively implemented species conservation plans will play a key role in reversing this situation and improving the status of threatened species worldwide. To achieve this change at scale requires a significant increase in the number of competent planners able to support governments, non-government organizations, zoos, aquariums, botanic gardens, and civil society groups to plan for threatened species recovery.
Planning can be complex. Often multiple stakeholders and their interests need to be considered. Facilitation skills provide us with the confidence and competence needed to lead groups through the process.
The IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) has developed and facilitated many hundreds of multi-stakeholder species conservation planning processes that have been ‘pivot points’ in recovery efforts for threatened wildlife globally. In 2020 CPSG published it's Species Conservation Planning Principles and Steps, a resource for those seeking guidance on how to design collaborative species conservation planning processes. This online course explains how to put these principles and steps into practice.
Learning Outcomes:
This is an introductory course to species conservation planning.
By the end participants will be able to:
-Apply the CPSG Species Conservation Planning Principles and Steps to the design and facilitation of species conservation planning processes.
-Demonstrate the role of the facilitator in consensus-based decision making.
-Select facilitation tools to help groups solve problems, make decisions, and develop plans.
Course Format:
This online course (delivered through www.conservationtraining.org/) consists of pre- recorded lectures, reading materials, and problem solving activities along with ‘live’ webinars and discussions. You will interact with some of the world’s leading authorities on species conservation planning, share in their experiences, and develop your own understanding of the skills involved.
Pre- recorded sessions can be listened to in your own time. Live webinars will be repeated each week to accommodate different time zones.
Costs:
The cost for participating in this course is US $300. This does not reflect the true cost or value of this training as CPSG is committed to reducing financial barriers to training that will benefit threatened species worldwide. This is currently possible only due to the support received from the Global Conservation Network, (GCN) a group of committed institutions and individuals who support CPSG work. If you or your organization would like to consider becoming a GCN donor, or if you would like to learn more about CPSG, please contact: [email protected]. A limited number of scholarships are available for this course. If you would like to discuss this opportunity, or have other questions, please contact: [email protected]
Course Duration:
The course lasts for seven weeks and involves 4-6hrs work per week, depending on how quickly you work through the materials.
Certification:
Participants successfully completing the course will receive a Certificate of Completion. Those going further to apply the skills to their work can be considered for a Certificate of Reflective Practice (additional assessment criteria apply).
Application:
Participant selection will take into account priority target groups (government staff and SSC Specialist Group members in particular), and an assessment of the likelihood that skills and knowledge developed will be put into practice within species conservation planning workshops.
To apply, please fill out the application form found on the left by clicking 'Apply Here'
For further information contact:
Jamie Copsey at [email protected]