The Emerging Leadership Initiative seeks to support emerging leaders in conservation through collaboration, mentoring and professional development.
We believe mentorship is an effective way to support emerging leaders, as these experiences can lead to increased confidence, community-building, professional competency and, ultimately, careers of impact in conservation.
To this end, Crowd Conservation is proud to partner with the Western Collaborative Conservation Network (WCCN) to create a Mentorship Toolkit, a digital toolkit with resources for individuals and organizations looking to harness the power of mentorship for its many benefits. While mentorship practices are well established in some sectors, including higher education, tech and banking, our research has identified a gap in available resources specific to natural resources and conservation. We aim to address that gap through development of the Mentorship Toolkit.
The Toolkit’s primary objectives are to identify:
- The different types of mentorship, relationship-building best practices, benefits and potential outcomes of a mentorship relationship.
- Mentor roles and responsibilities
- Mentee roles and responsibilities
- How to best build relationships between mentors and mentees
- How to start or build up a mentorship program
- Needs, opportunities, and next steps for us as a community of practitioners dedicated to supporting the next generation of conservation professionals
- Existing Mentorship Programs and other relevant resources
The Toolkit will be an iterative resource, evolving as new information becomes available. Our aim is to have the first edition available online in Fall 2024.
The process for developing the toolkit will include interviews with individuals and organizations that have successful mentoring programs or high-impact experiences as mentors and/or mentees. Our IRB-approved research and findings will be shared in a professional paper.
Please join the conversation! If you are interested in the Toolkit (either as a co-creator, supporter, or as an interviewee), please contact us! We want to include your voice and perspective into this work.
