Kinship Conservation Fellows Affinity Groups and Regional Projects

Kinship Conservation Fellows are encouraged to join and participate in Affinity and Regional Groups (AG/RG). The idea behind these groups is to generate collaborative opportunities between Fellows. Each AG/RG has access to funding from the Foundation ($10,000 (US) per calendar year) that can be used to foster Fellows collaborations.

In order to generate collaborative work among Fellows, Fellows who are facing a conservation challenge, where a market-based tool can be applied, are able to propose a project wherein the funding for a given AG/RG can be used for their project. The criteria for said proposal is explained below. Given the current reality, where in-person work has become extremely difficult or impossible, this collaboration could be in-person or virtual, depending on the situation. Fellows can have a joint application with more than one AG/RG, in which case, the recipients could possibly avail a larger funding opportunity if agreed by all groups involved.

Proposal Criteria

  • Projects must foster collaborative work between Fellows
  • At least three Fellows need to be involved in the project
  • The project needs to involve a market-based tool approach
  • Funding must be used to enable a conservation intervention or address a conservation challenge
  • Multi-disciplinary projects are encouraged
  • Proposals must delineate the involvement of the AG/RG (e.g. through video-conferencing consulting, in-person participation, etc.)

Proposal Format

The proposal must be one page, include Fellows leading the proposal, and adhere to the criteria above. The timeline to submit a proposal will be from November 1 to December 31 each year. Proposals will be reviewed in January each year, with a decision sent to Fellows by February 1. If an officer of an AG or RG applies with their own proposal, then they cannot participate in the selection process. Funds can be disbursed ahead of the project commencement, but full accounting to Kinship Foundation will be necessary once the project has concluded. The AG/RG and Community Advisory Group are not responsible for the success or failure of the selected proposal, nor for the disbursement or balancing of funds. Projects will be selected based on merit and conservation gain and blindly voted by members of the respective group.

Proposals must include: 

  1. Project purpose and outputs/deliverables
  2. Description of market-based-tools involved
  3. Key partners involved in the project (Fellows and other stakeholders)
  4. Budget breakdown
  5. Expected Outcomes / Outputs
  6. Project timeline

Reporting

  • Activities
  • Fellows participation
  • Lessons learned
  • Accounting report
  • Recommendations for future experiences
  • High-quality photos for Kinship Foundation
  • Final report for the Foundation and Affinity/Regional Group(s)
    • This should be short and explicit (five pages max)
    • Conservation intervention description
    • Successes/failures/lessons learned
    • Links to other outputs (could be materials produced, website, app, etc.)

*The Foundation reserves the right to share non-sensitive or confidential information about the project for future promotional materials and/or newsletters/media content.*

Please reach out to Gonzalo Araujo with questions: gonzo@mareco.org.uk

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