Coaching for Conservation

Coaching for Conservation

Coaching for Conservation (C4C) is the primary social development program of the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust. It is born from an understanding that conservation is impossible without the support and commitment of local people. It is founded on the belief that people cannot value something until they understand it, and the realization that knowledge alone does not change behaviour. Coaching for Conservation understands that in a country struggling with HIV and Aids, having a future orientation is difficult, but an essential first step to addressing numerous social challenges facing the country – including conservation. Coaching for Conservation is an innovative and dynamic multi-platform curriculum that leads children through a process of discovery - integration - intention - attitude and, finally behaviour. It links children with conservation awareness through sport as sport inherently creates a fun and receptive environment.

In addition, C4C has developed the Learning from Wildlife Model where the animals we want to see protected become familiar mentors on the sports field enabling a relationship of respect while creating an empathetic link directly to those animal species. Leopards, for example, are territorial animals successful in the wild because they are good at hunting but they respect each other’s space. On the soccer field we can learn to maintain your own position, and strive be the best dribbler or best shooter, while respecting each other’s positions on the field. The conservation message linked to the leopard coach is to teach that everyone (an animal too) has the right to a territory in a healthy habitat that includes food, water, shelter and space, and by extension one learns the value of Botswana’s wildlife areas.

Coaching for Conservation makes sport synonymous with healthy lifestyles, respect for self, and respect for the natural world. It strives to engender a sense of community and self-respect among participants, to reinforce healthy core values and link conservation and environmental issues to real health and lifestyle decisions in developing Botswana.

C4C has reached over 2,000 youth and has increased the participation of girls to 42 percent. Dedicated to the long-term success of the program in the community, C4C now includes local and international coaches, as well as a permanent educator and sports facilitator. With the help of Tusk, C4C has also built a permanent Conservation Education Centre to provide year-round programming to Ngamiland’s primary schoolers.

Education Centre

Last year, with Tusk support, BPCT broke ground and the Maun Centre for Conservation Education was started. The Centre will provide year round support to primary school teachers and coaches with much needed books, videos, microscopes and computers to help bring the values of conservation into to the classroom. The centre will also host trips from all the Maun primary schools for conservation programs like “a starry night” where the children will overnight in the centres dormitory facilities and learn about Botswana’s nocturnal wildlife. In addition, Tusk enabled a significant milestone for the program by providing funds for the purchase of a twenty-seat minibus that supplied much needed transport for coaches and children.

Download a summary of the Coaching for Conservation Programme

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