Cheetah Conservation Fund

Category: Cheetah - Education | Date: May 28 2008 | By: cheetahconservation

We are busy organizing four international courses to be held in Namibia in 2008 at CCF, under the sponsorship of the Howard G. Buffet Foundation’s African Cheetah Initiative and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoological Park (NZP), USA. .

Two of these courses deal with Cheetah Conservation Biology and two and will be held from 25 August to 20 September and from 20 October to 15 November. These courses will provide conservation training for international cheetah conservationist biologists at CCF’s International Research and Education Centre, in conjunction with Cheetah Regional Strategic Planning partners.

Two courses dealing with Farmer training and community outreach –Integrated Livestock and Predator Management — are aimed at community development officers and agriculture extension officers in cheetah range countries, and will run from 30 June to 13 July, and 6 August to 20 August 2008. The focus will be on cheetah-human conflict, and the role of farmer outreach programs and community-based training to mitigate these conflict issues.

Course Costs: The course fee is supported by the Howard G Buffet Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo. This includes all training expenses (room, board, educational resources, instruction fees, travel in Namibia and other course related activities) for applicants that are selected to attend the course. However, applicants are expected to cover their own airfare to get to Namibia and health insurance. All applicants requesting partial support for airfares must submit a letter justifying their financial need with their application. They must also confirm that they have already secured financial support from other sources to supplement the partial scholarship.

Eligibility and Application: The courses are most appropriate for those involved in cheetah conservation throughout the world, particularly in Africa. However, those interested in conservation biology, biodiversity inventory and monitoring, animal ecology and behavior, and protected area management will also be considered. Cheetah researchers, agriculture and community extension officers, biology undergraduates and graduates from developed countries, as well as wildlife personnel from government agencies, non-governmental organizations and universities in developing countries, are all eligible to apply for the course. Countries targeted from the SADC region are Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Angola, Tanzania and South Africa. Other countries include Kenya, Algeria, Iran, Ethiopia, India, Sudan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.

For information and an application form, please visit this link: http://www.cheetah.org/ama/pdfs/2008CourseApplicationForm.pdf.

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