Leadership Workshops for Women in Conservation
Late fall 2022 Update
During the majority of the Covid-19 pandemic, in-person workshops were postponed and a leadership dispatch was sent out by email.
With the pandemic subsiding, we are currently planning the return of the workshops. Check back for more information or subscribe to our newsletter using the form at the bottom of the page.
The Women Making Waves for Nature Leadership Dispatch has arrived!
We are working to resume these workshops as soon as possible with appropriate precautions. We are monitoring the situation and hoping for the best, as so many of you are. Please check back for updates or subscribe to our email news at the bottom of each webpage.
“When you journey with a woman you are not just making one step but making two because you are holding the hand of another powerful woman.”
Workshop Goals, Topics and Format
The goals of the workshops are to achieve more effective conservation outcomes by: 1) strengthening the leadership skill set of women working in conservation; and 2) developing a peer network of women conservationists who can share ideas, support and lessons learned over time.
Topics
Workshop content will be driven in part by an informal needs assessment via advance input from the attendees.
Below is a summary of topics most often requested by participants who take the full two-day course.
Leadership styles
Identifying and enhancing your personal style of leadership.
Myths of leadership. What leadership is not.
Links between leadership, communication and collaboration.
Establishing an effective culture of team work for work groups, stakeholder processes, meetings and collaborations, with emphasis on communication, adaptability, innovation and diversity
Problem-solving techniques to innovate and address stubborn resource management issues.
Conflict resolution techniques, avoiding conflicts, working with "difficult" people and “stuck” situations, discrimination.
Inspiring others – techniques for creating compelling stories and speaking in public.
Participants will also create a road map to use their new skills and continue learning.
Format
The emphasis is on knowledge, techniques and skills tailored for women in each of the topic areas. Examples and case studies are drawn from conservation and from previous workshop participants.
Workshops are intensive learning. We cover a lot of material that participants will pursue in greater depth on their own as leadership is a lifelong journey.
Workshops include Powerpoint presentations and videos but aim to have as much group participation as possible – discussions and brainstorming, experience sharing, small group exercises for the participants.
Advance readings and/or exercises are usually assigned.
An informal networking event is usually held that all participants will organize together.
Workshop content was co-developed by Cathryn Wild (see below) and Anne Walton, formerly of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Custom versions of this workshop have been extensively taught in the Mediterranean and South Pacific regions as well as the Caribbean to women conservation leaders.
Future Workshops
Bring the workshop to your colleagues or community! If you are interested in hosting a future workshop, please contact Ralph Pastor at admin@seventh-generation.org.
Workshops may be offered in Spanish or other languages with appropriate arrangements and may be hosted in almost any location.
Workshop Leader – Cathryn Wild, Seventh Generation Institute
Workshops are facilitated by Cathryn Wild, Executive Director of Seventh Generation Institute. Ms. Wild has twenty years of broad experience in conservation, with the last twelve years at the Institute. This has included working with communities and stakeholder groups to develop protected area management and use plans in California, Colombia, the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, and Honduras, managing multi-stakeholder projects for the Coastal Conservancy in California, trained citizen scientists and delivered dozens of presentations and workshops to the public, to stakeholder and at scientific conferences.
Cathryn Wild holds an M.S. in environmental management, with emphasis in conservation biology, from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a B.S. in Agricultural Education in addition to teaching credentials in Life Science and Vocational Agriculture from the University of California at Davis. Ms. Wild is also a member of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management.
Additional Instructors
We strive to present a variety of voices. Additional instructors vary from workshop to workshop.
Who Should Attend? Minimum and Maximum Enrollment
An application is required. Workshops are intended for professionals actively working in conservation, future professionals currently enrolled in higher education or non-professional community leaders working on conservation.
These workshops require a minimum participation of 12 and a maximum participation of 24.
Seventh Generation Institute reserves the right to: 1) cancel workshops which do not meet the minimum attendance; 2) add additional workshop dates in response to demand; or 3) select the applicants most likely to benefit from and/or contribute to the workshops, in the event of high demand.
