Get involved - Volunteer campaigns
Time and human resources are two of
the scarcest commodities faced by a successful conservation group. Your
time and skills could prove invaluable to the future of our birds and
their habitats. Here are some of the areas where you could be directly
involved and make a difference
Become a BirdLife Membership Campaigner
Membership
is the foundation of any successful NGO. The more members we have the
louder will be our voice against destructive, unsustainable
development. Equally important, higher membership numbers gives us
increased financial security to continue our valuable work.
BirdLife
South Africa is looking for enthusiastic individuals from across the
country who can become “membership champions”. This involves direct
promotion of BirdLife South Africa, our work and recruitment at various
events and public venues.
We
need an “army” of concerned individuals and environmentalists to spread
the word about our work, help educate the public and encourage people
to sign up as members. This is arguably some of the most critical work
we undertake - changing perceptions and getting people directly
involved in supporting the organisation.
Mentor a community bird guide
BirdLife South Africa’s Avitourism Division has trained over 400 community bird
guides across South Africa. These guides act as ambassadors for birds
and bird conservation in their communities, which are mostly adjacent
to or nearby Important Bird Areas. The income that these guides earn
through guiding tourists also acts as a major incentive for conserving
birds and their habitats in rural areas. The guide training programme
gives us an opportunity to add direct economic value to birds and their
habitats, whilst also mitigating the impacts of poverty on conservation.
However,
most guides get basic training only and require many hours of
mentorship and support to develop their birding skills and develop their
confidence when it comes to dealing with birders and the public as well
as developing their businesses.
If
you have the time or regularly go birding in any of the more rural
parts of South Africa, you could make a big difference in someone’s
life by taking a newly trained community bird guide
under your wing. This could involve anything from simply taking a
community guide along with you on birding outings to teaching business and communication skills, or just being a support structure. The value that
this adds to the success of a community bird guide is phenomenal.
Especially valuable is undertaking to mentor a guide in work on data
collection projects such as the Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2).
For more information on getting involved as a “mentor” please contact Martin Taylor on +27 (0) 72 277 7254 or emai tourism@birdlife.org.za
Community Conservation Projects
The Community Based Conservation Division works at a site level with local communities living around priority Important Bird Areas (IBAs).This work is multi-faceted and is aimed at community development and IBA conservation.
The Division currently needs people to assist with:
- Skills training for community projects in the area of business management, financial management, arts & crafts, marketing.
- Developing brochures
- Sourcing funding for site based projects, e.g. indigenous nurseries, bee-keeping, bird-hides, etc.
In addition, the projects always need binoculars and bird field guides for our eco-clubs. Our project sites each have an eco-club (young, enthusiastic birders in the making), and we are looking for knowledgeable birders to take these groups on outings to enhance their birding skills and knowledge.
If you have any skills in business management or marketing which can be of value to these community projects, please contact Daniel Marnewick on +27 (0) 82 772 4432 or email community@birdlife.org.za
