National Scholarship Programme

New Arrivals To The GVI Kenya Team

Category: National Scholarship Programme | Date: May 12 2009 | By: gvikenya

At the weekend we welcomed 6 new members joinng our research and community development programmes, volunteering their time, enthusiasm and hard-work:

Left to right: Merijn, Kennedy, Muffadal, Karen, Deepa and James

Merijn has joined us for 5 weeks from the Netherlands, where he usually spends his days designing computer games… he’s started his real-life GVI Kenya adventure with great enthusiasm and being named after a hobbit (in Dutch, of course) we reckon he’ll feel right at home in our coastal forest and the rural communities we live and work with!

Kennedy is volunteering with us for 5 weeks under our National Scholarship Programme, to gain more experience in wildlife research and conservation to compliment his studies. Coming from Nairobi, he is undertaking a degree in Environmental Studies and Community Development at Kenyatta University having already completed his diploma in Environmental Management at Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute.

Muffadal is a student at Moi University in Nairobi pursuing a Tourism Management degree, having also graduated with a diploma in the subject from Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute. He will be with for a total 12 weeks for his industrial attachment under our National Scholarship Programme and is excited to learn about and experience some of Kenya’s finest marine habitats and wildlife during his time with us, particularly the dolphin populations and their relationship with coastal tourism.

Karen joins us for 5 weeks from the UK. Having studied for a biology degree in Glasgow, she has been ’sidetracked’ for the last few years by a job in investment banking in London… but it seems she’s seen the light and is getting back to her biology roots before launching in to a new career. With this in mind she also has an interest in the community education work we do.

Deepa is also from Nairobi, but has been working in investment banking in London as well, having studied in Brighton and Reading in the UK. She joins us for 5 weeks having recently got married and moved back to Kenya where she hopes on moving in to financial management within the NGO sector. We hope that the exposure she will have to a wide range of environmental and community development projects will give her valuable experience and insights.

And finally, James from Hull in the UK will be with us for 5 weeks, while undertaking a BTEC qualification in Supervising Biological Surveys. Having already volunteered in Zimbabwe on lion rehabilitation, James should take to our wildlife research in Kenya with ease.

We hope you’ll get to hear more from them over the next 5 weeks…

Bye for now, from a particularly wet and windy patch of the Kenyan coast!

Corti

Tags: kenyan students, National Scholarship Programme, volunteers

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KWS Training Institute Students Visit Mkwiro & GVI

Category: Community Conservation, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, National Scholarship Programme | Date: Sep 12 2008 | By: gvikenya

Over the last two years we have been very happy to host Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute students for their field attachments and so support both our partner KWS and the new generation of conservationists in Kenya. As part of our National Scholarship Programme they have always impressed us, and even been recruited for our internship.

Yesterday we were very excited to host the class of Wildlife Management students having travelled all the way from Naivasha on a field trip to the South coast and Shimoni.

I had spent time this week working with Fadhili, chairman of Mkwiro Youth Conservation Group, to prepare a lecture for the students on the community’s use of natural resources, perceptions of the Kisite Mpunguti MPA and relationship with KWS, as well the challenges they face in their dependence on the marine environment’s resources. Despite the late-running schedule, Fadhili did a fantastic job in enlightening the students on the issues and roles associated with local communities when it comes to natural resource and wildlife management.

I then took my turn to talk about the role of our research programmes in supporting governmental agencies, NGOs and community-based organisations in managing natural resources and conservation, illustrating how scientific data can be applied to target awareness and management strategies. It is always a pleasure to have the opportunity to raise awareness and reach new audiences with the issues and achievements associated with our work here, and the interest from the students in the National Scholarship Programme and field attachments was very encouraging. KWS TI have already allocated 3 students to join us in October, but I hope that we will have the chance to support some of the other students in the future, building capacity for research and conservation management within Kenya.

Tags: , environmental awareness, kenya wildlife service training institute

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National Scholarship Students All Pass

Category: National Scholarship Programme | Date: Apr 23 2008 | By: admin

Here at GVI we believe that just as important as the work we carry out, is ensuring that the skills and knowledge are passed on to others in Kenya - capacity building is central to our ethos and GVI’s National Scholarship Programme represents one of our best examples.

Above: Ekens learns compass navigation from Emma, our Terrestrial Science Officer, during his training

Each year we take on board up to 8 Kenyan nationals for between 5 and 10 weeks, undergoing two weeks of intensive training through lectures and in-the-field practice, in marine research and coastal forest research survey techniques, as well as a teaching course. They then have to sit and pass examinations before they can join our research teams and community development programmes, 6 days a week for the next 3 to 8 weeks. Although sometimes learning to cook and maintain our base for up to 30 people can prove just as challenging.

Above: Jillo (left) with another of our National Scholarship students, Raymond, at our Satellite camp by Tsavo West National Park, with the magnificent Mt Kilimanjaro behind

Our National Scholarship students so far have included four Kenya Wildlife Service rangers from the coast and four students studying at Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute (KWSTI) who have joined us for their field attachments. Our first KWSTI student, Jillo Katello, who you may remember from our last blog, was promoted to the KWS research team here at the coast on the strength of his learning and experience and now works alongside us here at KWS headquarters in Shimoni.

Above: Nasra, one of our KWSTI students at Kidong’u village on the edge of Tsavo West

At the end of last year we took on 3 of KWSTI’s students - Nasra and Ekens studying for their diploma in Environmental Management and Nigel studying Wildlife Management. All three of them became instant favourites amongst our expedition team for their overwhelming enthusiasm and love of the natural world, and I am very very happy to report that all three passed their courses and were commended for their field attachment presentations and reports. Their course supervisors were impressed by just how much they had learnt and experienced during their attachments.

Above: Nigel, studying creatures great and small in Shimoni forest

As Ekens pointed out to me yesterday in relation to his presentation back at KWSTI in Naivasha, “The problem was time. We only had 10 minutes and there was so much to say. I had 60 slides and had to keep skipping them. My supervisor said to me that the GVI students learn so much more”. Now that they have their diplomas we hope to welcome both Ekens and Nigel back to our expedition team as interns and provide the next step forward for two of Kenya’s brightest young conservationists.