What makes conservationists persevere? Resilience strategies at work

Abstract

Conservation professionals face cognitively and emotionally demanding tasks and a wide range of working conditions, including high levels of uncertainty (e.g. the socio-political contexts in which they must function, possible long hours and isolation from friends and family). Resilience (i.e. positive adaptation to professional challenges) can help individuals thrive in their roles. We interviewed 22 conservationists with professional experience working in low-income countries with high biodiversity and explored what helped and what hindered them in their work. We used thematic analysis to identify factors related to positive and negative psychological states and strategies to promote resilience at work. The results revealed factors that were associated with positive psychological states, including achievements and recognition for work. Organizational policies and administration, especially perceived unfairness regarding salaries, recruitment policies and promotion, were associated with negative psychological states, as were other factors related to the job context. Respondents shared their professional resilience strategies such as aligning work with one's values, and personal reflection and goal setting. We recommend that organizations support their employees in the process of building resilience by addressing basic needs and motivational factors.

Donor perspectives on strengthening capacity development for conservation

“…The Capacity Building for Conservation Conference series (in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019) has been an important first step in this process. This conference series has resulted in numerous outcomes, such as new collaborations, new funding relationships, improved communication, as well as the articles comprising this special theme in Oryx focused on conservation capacity development (Appleton et al, 2021; Sandbrook et al, 2021; Sterling et al, 2021; Abu-Bakarr et al, 2022; Bruyere et al, 2022; Campagnaro et al, 2022; Chao et al, 2022; Gerrie et al, 2022; Loffeld et al, 2022a,b; O'Connell et al, 2022; Porzecanski et al, 2022).…”

Insights into Leadership, Gender and Organisational Effectiveness Revealed by Benchmarking Conservation Programmes against the Conservation Excellence Model

“…The management of conservation organisations is directly influenced by its leader (Black, 2018). Conservation programmes are challenging and demand a wide range of different skills to enable teams to achieve conservation goals (Englefield et al, 2019;Loffeld et al, 2022a). Black, Groombridge and Jones (2011) identified and catalogued skills in four important areas of leadership, namely: 1) the ability to establish and share a clear set of conservation goals, 2) "hands-on" management, being involved and being able to work with staff and in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, 3) ability to shift from details to the big picture, and 4) a learning and improvement mindset, which can increase organisation effectiveness and improve biodiversity outcomes (Englefield et al, 2019).…”

Capacity development for conservation

“…A number of established conservation leadership development programmes have found that experiential learning opportunities combined with peer network development are effective (Sandbrook et al, 2021; Abu-Bakarr et al, 2022). Additionally, creating safe spaces for peer-supported learning and development helps practitioners build resilience, experiment with a wider range of approaches, accept and learn from failure, and enhance creativity and innovation (Dickson et al, 2022; Loffeld et al, 2022a).…”