Conservation Leadership Programme Team Awards

The Conservation Leadership Programme is delighted to be accepting applications for our 2021 Team Awards, via the online portal. The awards target exceptional teams of early-career conservationists leading high-priority projects across the world.

The CLP is a partnership between BirdLife International, Fauna and Flora International and the Wildlife Conservation Society, and for over 30 years has been providing important career stepping stones to over 2,500 individuals who now form an extensive global network of conservation practitioners.

Applications for Future Conservationist Awards must be submitted using the online platform by 11:59pm GMT on 23 October 2020. CLP alumni applying for Follow-up or Leadership Awards must submit a Logical Framework by 17 September 2020 and, if this is approved, they must submit a full application by the 23 October 2020 deadline.

Read on to find out more about the awards, eligibility criteria and application process.

Why apply?

The award-winning teams will benefit from a project grant as well as global recognition for their exceptional work in conservation. All team members will have opportunities to build connections with peers and access expert mentorship through the CLP Alumni Network (comprising over 2,700 past recipients around the world); our partner organisations; and the Management Team.

Individuals from winning teams are also invited to participate in international, regional and online training courses to develop their conservation knowledge and skills. The international Conservation Management & Leadership course is particularly renowned among CLP alumni. One trainee from last year’s course described it as helping her “shape the way I see conservation and how to be an effective leader, making me a better mentor for future conservationists” (Gabriela Ochoa, Honduras).

About the awards

The CLP Team Awards are a competitive process through which CLP aims to identify, recognise and empower rising stars in conservation who work mainly in the developing world. Awards are granted to teams undertaking high-priority projects that involve not just research but also practical actions and community outreach to promote pro-conservation attitudes and achieve tangible, effective and long-lasting conservation solutions.

Through our new online application portal, eligible applicants can apply for one of three types of award:

1. Future Conservationist Awards (up to $15,000 per project)
2. Conservation Follow-Up Awards (up to $25,000 per project; available only to previous recipients of a Future Conservationist Award)
3. Conservation Leadership Award (up to $50,000 per project; available only to previous recipients of a Follow-Up Award).

Many past recipients of CLP awards have gone on to lead successful careers in the conservation sector, including establishing their own NGOs, influencing conservation policy, discovering new species, driving forward scientific knowledge, and bringing threatened species back from the brink of extinction.

Dr Nelly Isigi Kadagi, Director of Conservation Leadership and the Education for Nature Program at WWF, describes how the award helped her career. “The CLP award built my confidence, provided a platform to develop my ideas about my contribution to conservation, and enhanced my credibility in terms of delivering outputs and working on the sustainability of my work over the long term.”

Are you eligible to apply?

Applicants must propose projects that support the conservation of species listed as Data Deficient, Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered on the global IUCN Red List. Projects must take place in an eligible country, be led (or co-led) by a national of one of these countries, and involve at least three team members. Projects submitted for Future Conservation Awards should last for three to 12 months. Follow-up projects may be up to but no more than two years in length.

More details about the eligibility criteria and application process can be found on our website, including Frequently Asked Questions and Guidelines for Applicants.

What happens after you apply?

Once you submit your application, it will be reviewed by the CLP Management Team who will check that both the project and team meet the eligibility criteria for funding. If your application is eligible, it will then be reviewed by conservation experts who will score your project proposal based on its feasibility, contribution to conservation, and capacity development of the teams. Decisions will be made in March 2021 by the CLP Award Selection Committee and the winners are expected to be announced in April 2021.

We wish you the best of luck with your application!

This call for applications has been made possible thanks to support from Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.

Main Image: Christina Imrich