Supporting Wildlife Economies
and Sustainable Development
The Future Rangers Scholarship
Founded in 2020, the Future Rangers Scholarship Program aims to provide opportunities to all career paths within the greater wildlife economy. GCC believes that learners with the most passion, talent and ambition to pursue conservation careers should be granted further education and learning opportunities once completing high school.
Building Wildlife Economies:
About The Scholarship
GCC believes that environmental education in communities living next to wildlife is imperative. Only once you love something will you want to conserve and protect it. It is for this reason that the Future Rangers Program was built. Passionate youth are identified and taught from a young age about the environment, and exposed to many different conservation careers. However, people need to be given opportunities to use their education and passion, to economically benefit themselves, their families and their communities. Without economic opportunities, even the most educated and passionate youth will need to seek other means to derive income.
Providing Conservation Employment:
The 2020 Scholarship Awards
The Future Rangers Scholarship was established in June, 2020. GCC believes that learners with the most passion, talent and ambition to pursue conservation careers should be granted further education and learning opportunities once they graduate from high school. The inaugural scholarship fund has allowed for 12 youth from communities surrounding the Kruger National Park to become trained up as qualified field rangers at the Southern African Wildlife College. This 6 week training course will equip these learners to become wildlife guardians, and will subsequently be placed in reserves in the local area. It is vital to GCC that the students who receive the training are directly employed within the local economy immediately.
A Commitment to Long-Term Change:
Future Scholarship Goals
The Future Rangers Scholarship aims to provide opportunities to all career paths within the greater wildlife economy. While we have started with providing bursaries for ranger training, we see the scope of training expanding into all aspects of conservation vocations that add value to the region where we work. We continue working with lodges, industries and associated stakeholders in the landscape to determine what jobs are in the highest demand, and select students with those passions to gain training in those fields. We believe that the pool of rich talent residing adjacent to protected areas need to be completely integrated within the conservation sphere. We have already identified a great need in the market for local guides, entrepreneurs, artists, reserve managers, electricians, perma-culturalists, and builders to name a few vocations. We will continue to grow our resources, support and donors to allow more and more talented youth to reach their full potential, all while benefiting both communities and wildlife.
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.