Kinship Conservation Fellows Announce 2011 Cohort Representing Twelve Countries

 

Conservation leaders will gather in Bellingham, Washington, USA for a month-long fellowship exploring market approaches to environmental issues.

CHICAGO, IL, April 4, 2011 --/WORLD-WIRE/--Kinship Conservation Fellows today announced the selection of their tenth cohort of Fellows. Of the 18 Fellows, 7 come from the United States, while the remaining 11 will travel from Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Sierra Leone, and Thailand to attend the month-long program in Bellingham, Washington.

From June 28th to July 29th, the 2011 cohort of Fellows will take part in an exceptional learning community to contend with today’s most pressing conservation challenges.

Kinship Conservation Fellows are typically mid-career field practitioners with an interest in market-based conservation principles and a demonstrated commitment to leadership. “I am very excited about the 2011 cohort of Kinship Fellows,” said the Kinship Conservation Fellows Director Jim Tolisano. “This year’s cohort brings a wealth of experience using markets to solve some our most pressing conservation challenges."

During the month at Kinship, faculty with international experience instructs Fellows in economic, finance and business management skills. Additionally, Kinship Fellows receive training in the Adaptive Leadership framework and the use of strengths-based leadership techniques. Fellows select individual projects to work on for the duration of the program, and Kinship’s curriculum uses Fellows’ projects as case studies to test newly introduced concepts and skills. Combined with peer learning, the emphasis on Fellows’ own project work is central to Kinship’s interdisciplinary curriculum.

To enhance their learning, the 2011 cohort will investigate environmental issues of the Pacific Northwest ecosystem through a field visit into the North Cascades and presentations by thriving local sustainable industries. Field visits bring Fellows face-to-face with practical applications of leadership, business, and market theories. This method reinforces Kinship Conservation Fellows’ focus on concrete conservation successes while preparing the 2011 Fellows to implement market-based principles and continue Kinship’s commitment to environmental leadership when they return to the field.

Director Tolisano closes, “I have no doubt that bringing our 2011 Fellows together for an entire month will stimulate some of the most innovative and practical thinking on how market-based conservation projects can improve human well-being while simultaneously protecting our fragile environments.”

Highlights of Kinship Conservation Fellows include:

• Month-long in-residence program

• Core instruction in the application of market-based tools

• Training in Adaptive Leadership skills, economic, finance and business management practices

• Hands-on application of learning via individual and group projects

• Resident and guest faculty with international expertise

• Inclusion in a global Fellows community

• $6,000 stipend with lodging provided ABOUT KINSHIP

In 2006, Kinship Conservation Fellows became the new name for the groundbreaking program that launched in 2001 as the Kinship Conservation Institute. Kinship’s mission is to develop a community of leaders dedicated to collaborative approaches to environmental issues with an emphasis on market-based principles.

For more information, contact Sarah Knobloch at (312) 803 6200 or email sarah.knobloch@kinshiptrustco.com

Visit www.kinshipfellows.org: http://www.kinshipfellows.org/