Netty Cheruto
- @Netty_Cheruto
- | She/her
The Assignment
‘To establish an East Africa conservation technology virtual hub on the WILDLABS platform, by developing and delivering a plan to launch the community of practice, identifying and engaging key stakeholders, organizing meetings, surveying this network to determine training priorities and developing a strategy of engagement & training to grow the network.’ In addition to other roles and responsibilities, this was my main task when joining WILDLABS on 1st October 2021. With the knowledge, skills and the experience I had, I was very excited and pumped to take on the responsibilities, to deliver and make an impact in the Conservation Technology space!
Contributing to meaningful impacts was my main goal and WILDLABS’ mission, vision and work would be a driver to achieving this. With the East Africa Community set up, I knew I would be able to reach the Conservation Technology community, identify the gaps and needs present and in the best way possible, address these challenges through the resources, tools and opportunities entrusted to me. That was one of the many ways I was convinced I’d make tangible contributions to effective conservation in the space I was going to immerse myself in.
Explaining my role and where I work has most times left many wondering, but let me give it a try: “I am a Fauna & Flora International Conservation Technology Intern, working with WILDLABS as the East Africa Community Coordinator, under the Conservation Leadership Programme and based at the Conservation Tech Lab, Ol Pejeta Conservancy.” Maybe I also lost you somewhere in the middle of describing my role but it doesn’t matter at all, because being part of all these great networks was a dream! I had access to invaluable opportunities, connections and experiences, which contributed so much to establishing the East Africa Community and ensuring great resources are made available for the community.
Achievements so far!
Well, I think I understood the assignment, but I can only justify this by mentioning a few things I have achieved, and then I’ll let you be the judge of that :)
Prior to my internship, a capacity needs assessment was conducted to understand the conservation technology needs and gaps in Kenya and East Africa. My internship was therefore majorly a role that would ensure the identified gaps are filled. Upon reporting to the office, my first task was to read through reports and materials which gave me an idea of what had been done, what was pending and the vision for my role. I list this as an achievement because the inferences from the reports have been my main reference points when setting most strategies for the community and when tailoring resources, programmes and events.
My next step was to then do a thorough scoping and identify key stakeholders in the conservation technology space, the resources available, the gaps present, the opportunities and much more. The output of this was a comprehensive literature review report and a stakeholder map that have been my other guiding compass throughout my internship. While doing the literature review and stakeholder map, I was also reaching out to key people who have interesting projects or work to better understand what has so far been done in the Conservation tech field in East Africa, and the opportunities present. Through this, I have so far highlighted amazing projects, written up articles, found experts and users of conservation tech tools to feature in discussions and identified topics and questions that should be covered in events. Speaking to those in the field was a valuable way of getting diverse perspectives on issues and has been critical in shaping some of the conversations, resources and the events we run.
I had the opportunity to contribute to building an inventory of Conservation Technology products, projects and organizations; a project WILDLABS is working on, to ensure easy access to reliable and up-to-date conservation tech information. While working on this database I explored interesting projects, understood so many of the tools and resources available in the field and had a look into innovative conservation tech solutions around the world. I am truly honored to have contributed to this instrumental bank of data and information that will be beneficial to the conservation technology community and all stakeholders.
The East Africa community went live when the new WILDLABS platform was launched and the resources I had so far collated were now available to the community. Before going live, I had several strategy and brainstorming meetings with my manager (Stephanie O’Donnell) to strategize and plan for what was ahead. Creating a well-ordered plan for what tasks are to be done, how they’d be implemented and an idea of the outcome and outputs of the tasks are some of the things we’d discuss and it was a very essential part of establishing and growing the East Africa community.
The ball was rolling and I was here for it! After the establishment of the East Africa network, community building and engagement was my main focus; this includes seeding conversations on pressing topics, sharing resources in form of articles, interviews and Q&A discussions (which I will discuss below), sharing relevant opportunities and events, guiding community members to the right resources and people and most importantly, connecting with the members. Being at the inception stage of community building, creating good relationships and connections with members and stakeholders in the region is a great way to grow the community, understand the needs, know what they are most interested in, what doesn’t work and what they hope the community would be.
In celebration of International women's day on 8th March 2022, the East Africa community launched the Women In Conservation Technology Programme to foster, empower and develop women conservation technologists and leaders in order to advance and strengthen conservation impact. Up to date I don’t have the right words to describe how phenomenal the first workshop was- you can check out this article for a detailed report of the workshop. It was a great honor being part of the planning team, facilitating, benefiting from the technical, field and professional development sessions too, and most importantly interacting with brilliant women in conservation technology. The cohort is currently undertaking virtual sessions on topics raised during the first workshop and will have a final in-person workshop sometime in November. I am immensely grateful to have been part of the inaugural WCT Programme and I am certain it will turn out to be a huge success and an impactful initiative that will be replicated and upscaled. The Women In Conservation Technology is an exceptional Programme!
Let me quickly take you back to the Live Q&A sessions. The idea behind the Live Q&A was to host expert speakers to answer frequently asked questions around a certain conservation technology tool and topic. As this ‘mini-project’ slowly evolves, the team hopes to figure out the best way of delivering Q&A discussions, feature more speakers and cover more topics and tools. The goal is to break down information in an easy-to read format and allow the community to ask any questions they have and get expert feedback and advice. I have so far managed to run 3 successful Live Q&A’s and believe the community will be able to access and refer to information gathered in these discussions.
Coming up very soon is Tech Tutors East Africa! Have you listed speakers you’d like featured and topics covered? If not please do so in this discussion thread; this will go a long way in shaping this event series. The tutorial series will answer the big "how do I do that?" questions of our growing East Africa community, providing practical steps and skills participants can use as the building blocks of their conservation tech knowledge. This season aims to fill in the gaps present and address unique regional conservation challenges so far identified. Through talks with stakeholders and research, I identified a few key topics and speakers that the team hopes to deliver on. The events series will feature outstanding speakers from East Africa and will cover innovation tech tools and solutions leveraged in conservation.
While I mention these as what has so far been achieved in establishing the East Africa community, there’s still a bunch of opportunities for the Conservation tech field in the region. This is just the beginning of efforts geared towards creating impact in East Africa, and I am certain that much of what will come will ensure a great network of stakeholders, support innovation, foster collaborations, and contribute to solving conservation challenges.
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