Launching the Latin America Pride Alumni Network
After nearly canceling the event several weeks earlier due to the outbreak of the H1N1 virus (swine flu) in Mexico, Rare staff and Pride campaign alumni persevered to launch the Latin America Pride Alumni Network in Guadalajara, Mexico, on July 12th. After three days of workshops, training updates and networking, the 43 conservation leaders in attendance established a solid framework for supporting each other’s on-going work and by doing so, strengthened local conservation across Latin America.
The scene at the front desk of our hotel in Guadalajara on July 12th was like a red carpet for conservation. 43 Pride campaign managers from 14 countries across Latin America were arriving to the first-ever Rare alumni gathering. Some of them knew each other, and some were meeting for the first time.
The theme of this first-ever Latin American Alumni Meeting was “Planting the Seeds of Conservation”.
View photo highlights of the Latin America Alumni Meeting!
A Critical Piece of Conservation Success
Alumni represent the true potential for the long-term success of Rare’s work. Although Alumni campaign managers don’t work for Rare, 75% of Latin America alumni have sustained their campaigns after their formal partnership with Rare has ended, 45% have run second or new campaigns, and nearly 100% are still involved in conservation.
Launching the Network
The two main objectives of this event were to design and officially launch the Latin America Pride Alumni Network and to build capacity in new Rare tools and other conservation methods. Both objectives were met during the three rigorous days of workshops, speaker panels, “World Café” roundtable discussions, small group work, free time for side meetings, and of course, like any proper Latin America gathering — dancing, mariachis, and tequila. Daily themes progressed from “Increasing Conservation Impact” to “Building Our Capacity” to “Launching the Network.”
By the end of the meeting, participants had designed a vision for their own Latin America network:To be recognized internationally for the action, generation and interchange of knowledge to achieve conservation impact, through a participatory space and for the benefit of the community and other organizations.
From this unifying vision, campaign managers created five key objectives to reach this vision, organized by five committees that produced specific action items and work plans:
- Create a space for exchange of communication and information.
- Generate and provide follow up support to campaigns.
- Promote teaching, learning and capacity-building.
- Take action to influence environmental policy.
- Develop a strategy for strengthening and sustaining for the network.
Rare Alumni Manager Sharon Price explained the implications of the objectives set in Guadalajara. “What this means for the alumni program is that we’ve set a precedent that all the work we do with our campaign managers is co-owned, co-developed and based on their direct needs. We asked alumni what they needed to maintain conservation impact in their current work and how forming an alumni network can help them to achieve these goals. Now that they’ve told us and drafted an action plan, we have a lot of work to do together to see the vision materialized.”
