Action For Conservation – an Introduction
There are many organisations doing amazing work to get young children below the age of 12 outside and connecting with nature through learning and play. However, once teenagers begin to consider A-levels, degrees or jobs, we need to engage them in a way that connects to their future aspirations. Getting experience and an understanding of what a career in conservation might mean is critical to transforming childhood feelings of care, connection and nature stewardship into a way young people can make a difference in their working adult life.
We believe we are on to a winning formula at Action For Conservation. Young conservation professionals are best placed to inspire and motivate young people, and by sending these handpicked and charismatic individuals into schools to deliver workshops we can capture the attention of a whole classroom and encourage them to explore conservation as a career option.
But we don’t stop there. We establish links with local conservation organisations to provide young people with work experience placements and complete their picture of a career in conservation, whilst gaining valuable skills and helping conservationists do vital work along the way.
Given that demand for work experience is high and placements are limited, we run competitions with our partners to select those who will benefit most from the classes we visit and who can become youth ambassadors of Action For Conservation and our conservation partners. The nature of the competitions means many young people, including those who don’t win, will be engaged further in conservation issues, outside of the classroom, and contribute to our online youth forum.
How can you help?
- Please promote this campaign – email, Facebook post, tweet, talk and sing about our campaign and please, please send anyone you can find to this page!
- Pledge money to our cause. We are looking to raise money towards a modest budget for 2014, to allow us to run a series of workshops, competitions and to organise work experience placements. We have set a target of £4,500 as this will allow us to run a minimum of 14 workshops and competitions and place between 28-56 young people in work experience. The way Action For Conservation works means that every pound you give can go towards running more workshops, expanding our reach and inspiring the next generation of conservationists. So please don’t stop at £4,500. For every £300 over our target we can run another workshop and competition.
Where will your money go?
By donating to us you can help us carry out our workshop programme for 2014. Any amount you give will help us carry out our vital work, but as a guide:
- Just £10 will put one child through an Action For Conservation Workshop.
- £50 would put five children through a workshop, help us run a competition and help us place two children in conservation work experience.
- A very generous donation of £300 would allow us to run an entire workshop for around 30 children and help us place four children in conservation work experience.
CORPORATE DONATIONS: donate more than £1000 and get your company logo on a dedicated corporate donors page on our website.
Rewards
We have some very exciting prizes to give in exchange for donation pledges, including signed artworks by Stanley Donwood of Radiohead fame, signed books by a series of incredible authors including, Robert Macfarlane, Richard Mabey, Jay Griffiths, Roger Deakin, Alastair Humphreys and Sir Tim Smit, Campaign to Protect Rural England merchandise, tickets to the Eden Project, Science Museum and to a conservation workshop at the University of Oxford, to name but a few. Prizes will be released over the course of the 4-week campaign. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the supporters of Action For Conservation, some of whom are listed at the end of our video, for making this possible and for their immense generosity. In particular, Sam Piranty, Guy Western, John Zablocki, Dan Leak and Spike Golding have our special thanks.
So please pledge to Action For Conservation and help us reach our target amount. Don’t forget that if we don’t reach our target of £4,500, then we don’t receive any money. So beat those February blues, empty that piggy bank and give generously to a good cause!
What people say about AFC
‘Your work is immediately inspiring, and absolutely vital’ Robert Macfarlane, Nature Writer
‘The National Trust believes that connecting young people with nature is the best insurance policy we have for the future of our planet. Our “50 Things to do before you are 11 ¾” programme has got tens of thousands of children out in the countryside enjoying themselves and the wonders of the natural world. Action For Conservation takes that idea a step further, giving older students a taste of what conservation in action really means, its challenges and rewards, and inspiring them to consider it as a career. It’s a great idea’ Dame Helen Ghosh DCB, Director General, National Trust
‘Our year 10 class found the Action For Conservation session both engaging and inspiring. Not only it did it bring the work of conservationists in the field alive and help them see it as a real career opportunity, but it also gave out the message that if they have a passion they too can follow their dreams. Many thanks and great job to all who took part’ Year 10 Teacher
‘The inspiring talks given by our visitors from Action For Conservation were excellent. All our students were thoroughly engaged by the stimulating material, style of delivery and fascinating tales. As a result, a number of them are hoping to secure work experience placements in conservation or to pursue work in this important area’ Year 10 Teacher