Natural Resource Management
This report sets out to highlight my viewpoint of the learning environment and the knowledge I have acquired at the Southern African Wildlife College through the donor support programme.
The Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC) learning environment is ideal in many aspects of Wildlife conservation and management techniques that integrates theory and scientific lectures.
I am a female young Conservationist aged 22 years. I completed the Higher certificate – Nature Conservation, Implementation and Leadership NQF Level 5 (2012) and Advanced Certificate – Nature Conservation, Transfrontier Conservation Management NQF Level 6 (2013) at the Southern African Wildlife College, South Africa. I also underwent a bachelor’s degree in natural resource management at polytechnic of Namibia. I did my workplace assignment working with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Zambia Programme office in Mulobezi Game Management Area adjacent to Kafue National Park and within the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation area. I also conducted a social economic baseline survey for Kaindu community central Zambia with the same organisation.
I was the contracted for over 2 years by the TNC to collect livelihood data for the local communities in Mulobezi GMA where TNC is providing management support for sustainable conservation and livelihood projects. I have participated in law enforcement, community mobilisation, research data collection, analysis and presentation of reports.
Due to my outstanding results from the Southern African Wildlife College, I was admitted in the Third Year of the Bachelor of Natural Resource Management (Nature Conservation) degree at Polytechnic of Namibia and completed my degree in July 2015. This greatly helped me to further my long term career in conservation. I have great passion for working with people in the rural areas in helping to secure our biodiversity within the KAZA and Kafue Ecosystem. I am employed by the Namibia Nature Foundation to coordinate a community conservation fisheries project in KAZA. This has given me exposure to participate and interact with high official within the KAZA the landscape. With this recognition I have gained I am very confident and certain and that there are greater chances to be snapped by other future community that venture with Zambian communities.
Many rural young women have great passion and are the most affected by the policy decisions on how to manage our environment, despite all the hardship exposed to the African child and especially women, not everyone have had an opportunity to excel academically or make progress in nature conservation. The funds from KFW helped me therefore as a young female woman with much needed education, to further build on my career and contribute to the development of my community. By implementing the knowledge I acquired from the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC) I have managed to be exposed to different projects and research projects in Namibia and Zambia. My passion for Nature has increased and I have become confident in implanting my knowledge and skills.
After graduating from the Namibia University of Science and Technology, I was employed by the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF) to coordinate a community conservation fisheries project in the KAZA area. I was based Zambia and worked for a year as Fisheries Development Officer to represent the Zambian component. Unfortunately in December 2016, the project was frozen by the European Union due to lack of funding. I later got a consultancy project through Peace Parks Foundation to conduct a survey in the Simalaha Conservancy to monitor the progress of the conservation farming investment by the PPF in the conservancy. In January 2017, I was admitted for my Honours in Natural Resource Management at the Namibia University of Science and Technology where am currently studying until this December when am expecting to complete. I am hoping to apply for my Masters degree in the same field provided I get a scholarship (2018).
In 2019 I got married to a Zambian and I have moved to Zambia and I look forward to reporting on my further progress.