Creating Wildlife Conscious, Sustainable Communities
The Future Rangers Curriculum and App
The future of wildlife lies with our next generation of leaders. Through the Future Rangers Program, the Global Conservation Corps works in areas with growing youth populations and vulnerable wildlife populations to create a path towards sustainable economies. We do this in three steps. First, we work with school students, starting at age 5, to educate them about the wildlife in their community, teach them about the importance of environmental biodiversity and conservation, and give them real-world experiences with their wildlife to create a lasting love and connection for their natural world. Second, we work with local leaders and stakeholders to develop sustainable industries, job opportunities and economic growth that will benefit the community and reduce the need to turn to poaching or other methods for financial stability. Finally, we work with local communities to provide internship, employment and higher education opportunities for our future rangers students, some of which are funded through the GCC Future Rangers Scholarship Fund, to ensure that the upcoming generation of environmentally conscious, conservation driven leaders are put in positions to both thrive personally and also drive sustainable development in their own communities. Through this process, we create a lifecycle of change that creates stability and sustainability for both communities and their wildlife.
What We Do:
Inspiring Passion for Wildlife
All children deserve a chance to fall in love with the natural world, and children who love wildlife will grow up wanting to protect it. Through the Future Rangers Program, we focus on youth living alongside high priority conservation areas and work to inspire passion and connection with wildlife. Starting at age 5 and working with students throughout their school career, we identify the most passionate and dedicated students through the use of the Future Rangers App, and, through our conservation education curriculum, focus on hard and soft skills and leadership training with these students to help them grow into future conservation advocates.
We then work with community partners and the local wildlife economy to match these students with work shadowing opportunities, internships and jobs or higher education upon graduation. This ensures that the wildlife economy is hiring locally, so income generated goes back into communities, wildlife jobs are able to get passionate, well-trained local staff, and young people can benefit directly from their love for wildlife and the natural world. This method ensures tomorrow’s leaders have an appreciation for the value of wildlife and the natural world.
Why We Do It:
The Global Need
We are facing a critical need to balance rapid human development with the conservation of our planet. Currently, 1 million species are threatened with extinction, and our biodiversity, oceans and natural habitats are being reduced and destroyed by human activity. Humans need nature to survive, but unfortunately human development has seen the depletion of natural resources and wildlife in areas where the populations have had little to do with that depletion but are suffering the majority of the consequences.
Our solution: we are working in these communities to establish systems for sustainable development that simultaneously benefit the people and wildlife living together in these areas. GCC works on the frontlines, in areas with disappearing rich biodiversity alongside areas of rapid human development and tourism, with existing stakeholders and most importantly, community partners, in order to conduct regular needs assessments and ensure we are centering local voices and leaders. Through the Future Rangers Program, we take it a step further by not only providing consistent conservation education which is locally led, but also by working to ensure that our graduates are able to find employment within their local wildlife economy, benefiting directly from a thriving wildlife population and putting their passion into action. This local-level employment in the wildlife economy brings direct revenue back into communities, and community members who aren’t struggling financially are less likely to poach.
How It Works:
A Roadmap to Change
The Future Rangers Program is designed to tackle the gap between communities and opportunity generated by the wildlife economy, starting from a young age. We do this in three research-supported steps:
1. Primary school classroom and outdoor based lessons and exposure to wildlife. Our curriculum is designed to provide multiple learning experiences, including: experiential, place-based learning, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, reading/writing, play-based learning, and classroom learning.
2. Secondary school skills and leadership development.
3. Employment tracks and internships within local wildlife economy.
GCC works with partners to help address Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, ensuring basic needs are met so that Future Rangers can focus on psychological and self-fulfillment needs through our programming.
All of our curriculum and student interactions are tracked through the Future Rangers App, which allows us to track progress and changes in attitudes and perceptions, as well as to conduct assessments that allow us to collect data regarding the program’s effectiveness over time. The Future Rangers App and technology-based education platform also allow the Future Rangers program to be scalable and easily implemented in schools around the world.
Support GCC
100% of your donation goes directly to conserving Africa’s iconic wildlife. Our operations are lean and covered completely by private donors. Give monthly, and you’ll become a part of “The Corps”, a passionate community invested in conserving our world through education.