PACE Pan African Conservation Education

PACE is about sharing environmental success stories – sharing simple solutions to common problems between communities across Africa. The PACE pack was first published in 2004. It is a set of multi-media educational materials about issues confronting poorer people, including those living with wildlife as they go about their daily lives across Africa. The PACE pack is arranged in nine modules: Living with Wildlife, Water, Soil, Forests, Energy, Living by the Ocean, Urban Living, Health and Careers in Conservation. It includes beautifully illustrated introductions with background information and context, games, activities and puzzles that draw on traditional wisdom and science. Supplements go into more detail. Films illustrate grass roots success stories. Action sheets will help you put the solutions into practice. There are posters. An educator guide links PACE to frameworks and curricula that teachers follow in schools. Together the modules show how everything in our environment is linked and that if we look after our environment then we, the wildlife and other people we share the planet with will all benefit.

Careers in Conservation module

We all need a source of income and many people do not understand how conservation can help them to earn a living. This module shares the stories of people who have made successful careers in conservation. It describes different kinds of conservation organisations that are successful and employing people, people with practical skills and interests and also people with academic and professional interests and qualifications. We show how including conservation values and sustainability in our work is not only for conservationists, but the way forward for farmers, artists, mechanics, lawyers, accountants and every one of us.

Careers in Conservation, Green economies

Conservation Organisations – the kind of jobs they provide

Big Life - An international NGO in Kenya and Tanzania

Mokolodi - A nature reserve in Botswana

Project Grande Singes – Scientific tourism in Cameroon

Selected Careers in Conservation

Community outreach and anti-poaching

Wildlife translocation and monitoring

Conservation science research

Conservation education research

Vet Activist

Anti-poaching ranger

Sociologist

Scientific tourism coordinator

Civil Servant – Director of National Parks and PR

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Green economies

Introduction

Case study: Carbon Green Africa – Zimbabwe

Case study: Beadworks – Kenya

Glossary

Careers in conservation

Wildlife Conservation is a growing and an exciting sector, across Africa. Conservation provides an extraordinary range of job and career opportunities, more than most people realise.

This booklet demonstrates the kind of opportunities that exist in conservation. Five very different organisations, in different African countries show the great range of jobs and the many different kinds of people that work in conservation and related employment.

Sixteen careers in conservation are outlinedwhy and how people came to do the jobs they have, what it involves and the impact they’ve had. They range from young mum’s who had never left their home villages to a senior civil servant and a highly qualified vet. There is a woodcarver who is now running a national organisation planting millions of trees, an antipoaching ranger who travelled from South Africa to London to collect an award for exceptional service, a sociologist, a teacher, a coder.

You can read about the background, role, employer and achievements of women and men in these contrasting careers. We hope their successes will inform and inspire many of you to build your own careers in your own way.

Green economies

Conservation is becoming a part of everything we do. In the past Conservation Values were at the centre of traditional African ways of life – the way people farmed, hunted, built their homes, made clothes and ornaments ensured that there was always a harmony with nature. It is not just how life used to be in Africa it is also the way forward.

The last section of this booklet describes how conservation organisations in very different countries and contexts have helped local people to make their way of doing things green and sustainable at the same time as increasing their standard of living.