In April 2019, the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC) and Coaching Conservation (CC) embarked on a long-term partnership aimed at scaling up children’s education for sustainable development across Southern Africa. This collaboration has resulted in significant strides toward building local capacity, providing employment opportunities, enhancing educational outreach programs, and meeting the UN SDG goals.

Accredited Coaching Conservation Train-the-Trainer Course

The first objective of this partnership was to design, develop, and institutionally accredit a train-the-trainer program to deliver CC . The course includes all core aspects of the CC delivery including theoretical background, ecology, ethology, educational principles, first aid, and practical teaching experience.

By training new coaches, this program achieves exponential impact. First; capacity building; students receive a SAWC short course credit and graduate as competent CC coaches. Secondly, they are provided new employment opportunities in vulnerable communities, and third, what they are employed to do is deliver engaging and valuable conservation education lessons.

Kids CC Delivery

In conjunction with the training, a second initiative to engage with local school children the CC program was launched. This delivery acts as both an outreach program for the college and a practical training opportunity for future trainees.

To date, this collaboration has delivered: a six-week children’s program to 280 grade 5 learners at four primary schools in the Welverdiend-Hlavekisa region, including a bush day overnight held on campus; 273 Bush Rapid Awareness Programs (RAPs) to Lumukisa, Sesete, and Khokhovela primary schools; 122 Bush RAPs delivered to grade 5 students from Beretta Primary, reaching a total of 652 local kids since 2019.

Impacts and Outcomes

The partnership has achieved significant impacts in terms of participation, education, and capacity building:

• Participation: 652 grade 5 six-week after-school participants, 280 grade 5 bush night participants, 273 grade 5 bush day participants, and 122 grade 5 Rhino RAP program participants. In total, 2194 programs were delivered, with 82% of participants visiting wildlife areas for the first time.

• Education: Eight schools reached, over 14 classes.

• Capacity Building: Eight school principals informed, six teachers mentored and participatory in CC lessons, and 12 coaches and facilitators trained, mentored, and upskilled to teach CC.

This partnership between CC and SAWC continues to foster educational growth and sustainable development, making a lasting impact on the communities involved.