Natural Prospects: The Reunion

BY JAMES BENWELL, Communications and Content Officer

On Friday 31 March, we celebrated the end of our hugely successful four-year traineeship programme with a reunion celebration event at Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Programme partners, representatives from the funder, previous trainees and Craig Bennett, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts, joined trust colleagues for this special event.

Thanks to funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, our Natural Prospects project has enabled 25 local people to take their first steps into careers in urban conservation. The purpose of the traineeship was to help tackle the barriers that some individuals face when looking for work in the environmental conservation sector and therefore welcomed applications from non-graduates, those in receipt of benefits or people from black or minority ethnic groups.

The trainees worked towards a City & Guilds Level 2 Work Based Diploma in Environmental Conservation whilst gaining practical hands-on skills and experience from their expert mentors during their 12-month placements. Birmingham City Council, Walsall County Wolverhampton City Council each hosted one trainee each year at Lickey Hills, Walsall Arboretum and Pendeford Mill Nature Reserve with the remaining trainees working directly at the Trust alongside our conservation and engagement teams.

We are delighted to confirm that all trainees who achieved their Level 2 Diplomas have moved into further education, are studying environmental subjects, or have secured employment within the conservation sector. Five former trainees have even secured further roles at the Trust; Kasia Kordybacha River Engagement Officer, David Howard as River Restoration Officer, Jane Grove as Centre of the Earth Development Officer, Sarah Nixon as Conservation Officer and me as Content and Communications officer!

We are now seeking new funding opportunities to continue to provide traineeship opportunities for the next generation of urban conservationists.

Craig Bennett commented: “What a pleasure to hear from such a diverse group of people about their journeys and motivations for working in nature conservation. We want to inspire and empower communities around the UK to play their part in nature’s recovery – and trainees like these are front and centre of that cause. Training schemes like Natural Prospects provide fantastic opportunities for people to learn life-changing skills. We need more programmes like this to help tackle nature loss and climate change – the biggest challenges of our time.”