Hi all, I thought I'd start a discussion on here where you can ask for feedback from other course members, on your milestones examples from your own projects. This is because we ran out of time in the morning session to give feedback on these. Looking at other people's examples and discussing ways to improve them is a really good way to learn! If you are open to receiving some feedback, please post your example as a comment on this post, and others can add comments to it. As a reminder, the classroom worksheet with all the milestones examples is here. Things you can think about: Frame your comments in a positive light if possible Did they miss any milestones? Are the tasks split up well enough (they should be separated for each single task) Is it easy and clear for other people to understand exactly what needs to be done? We also ran out of time to go through the breakout room exercise in the morning's session - this is here. I think you all did a really good job at that exercise and coming up with different tasks. One thing I would suggest is just to remember that the Tasks should be working towards the milestones. The minor milestone nestles within the major milestone, and the tasks are individual actions which should all be working towards that minor milestone. Take another look at your group's work to check that yours do this. Make sure you are very specific about the tasks and milestones, so other people can pick up your work and know what to do, if necessary. For milestones, it's good to use words like 'completed' or 'finalised' which are quite specific and clear. Comment below with any questions or if you would like other people to give feedback on your own examples :)

Hi all! I had a request from some of you yesterday to set up a whatsapp group for everyone on this course. It's really great that you are all so keen to connect. I would encourage you to use this WildHub private room for chatting and messaging each other - and Mavuto and I will also monitor this room and answer any questions. However, I understand whatsapp might be more accessible for some of you. I will pass the responsibility to you to set up and maintain a whatsapp group, if one of you would like to volunteer to do that, you can comment here :) I will leave this discussion post open for you all to comment on and organise this amongst yourselves, and will take a step back from this, however Mavuto and I will be reachable via WildHub and also email if you specifically need our help with the course - liane@wildteam.org.uk and mavuto@wildteam.org.uk  Have great weeks everyone!

Welcome to this Project Management for Wildlife Conservation online private training room. I am Liane and I will be delivering this training course. I'm a WildLearning Specialist with WildTeam and am looking forward to teaching you all about project management.  For the last few years, I have been working in Seychelles, focusing on island and marine conservation efforts, particularly coral restoration and turtle nesting monitoring. Prior to that, I was managing a project in Northern Thailand, where I worked closely with a local community to set up ethical elephant experiences in their village. In my free time, I love running and hiking, as well as freediving. My colleague Mavuto will also be helping out during this PMWC course. His introduction is below: My name is Mavuto, and I will help guide you through your journey in this course. I joined WildTeam on July 29, 2024. My passion for wildlife conservation dates back to my childhood, growing up in a village between two nature reserves,– Majete Wildlife Reserve and Lengwe National Park in Malawi. I have worked in conservation projects in Southern Africa (Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe) for over twelve years. I hope to learn about your interest in conservation during our interaction in this course. In my free time I love hiking (I love hills/mountains), cycling, park walks and game drives in a national park. I'm excited to learn how you spend your free time and hope to discover new hobbies. Your introductions! This space is designed for sharing training materials, useful resources, and information that may interest others in the group. Feel free to ask questions, offer support, reflect on what you're learning, and connect with one another. Don't forget to watch the room to make sure you get notifications! And use the @ function if you want to reply to a particular person and make sure they get your message. Your exercise today is to please add your introductions as comments to this post. We would love to hear about your work, where you are based and why you are doing this training. If you feel like it please also share any hobbies you have and perhaps a link to something inspirational, fun, or useful. Looking forward to meeting you all in the first session! Stay wild! Liane & Mavuto

We had a good chat in yesterday's live session about how important those 'donor priorities' are - and how there's definitely a skill in learning what particular donors like to see and the type of projects they will fund! This was related to the Darwin grants, but I thought I'd start a discussion here for any of you to share your tips about particular donors. If you've been successful in the past with a large, well-known donor, do you have any tips on how you managed to write a successful application? Any trends you've noticed that will make the donor more likely to accept the application? Or - any feedback you've received from a donor, from a successful or unsuccessful application? That way, others can avoid the same mistakes! Sound off below!

Hi all, We had a good discussion in the live session about some tips for refining content! These included: Getting a colleague / second pair of eyes to read the applicationPrint out the application so you can make annotations on paperUse the 'read aloud' function on wordUse platforms like Grammarly, Chat GPT, or Ref-N-Write Thanks to those who contributed with their own tips! Feel free to add any more below. And please reach out if you have any more confusion about grammar - it can be tricky to phrase things the right way, so feel free to ask for advice from the 'hive mind'! See you all next week Liane

Welcome to this Grant Writing for Wildlife Conservation online private training room. I am Liane and I will be delivering this training course. I am a WildLearning Specialist with WildTeam and am looking forward to teaching you all about grant writing! For the last few years, I have been working in Seychelles, focusing on island and marine conservation efforts, particularly coral restoration and turtle nesting monitoring. Prior to that, I was managing a project in Northern Thailand, where I worked closely with a local community to set up ethical elephant experiences in their village. In my free time, I love running and hiking, as well as freediving. This private room is for sharing training materials, sharing resources and information you think others here might be interested in, asking questions, supporting each other, reflecting on what we have learnt and getting to know each other. You can use the @ to mention a particular person or you can message people directly. Don't forget to watch the room to make sure you get notifications! Your exercise today is to please add your introductions on this discussion board. We would love to hear about your work, where you are based and why you are doing this training. If you feel like it please also share any hobbies you have and perhaps a link to something inspirational, fun, or useful.  Also, feel free to comment on each other's introductions by using the @ function (if you want to mention a particular person and make sure they get your message) 😃 Looking forward to meeting you all in the first session! Stay wild! Liane

Hi all, I thought I'd start a discussion on here where you can ask for feedback on your milestones examples from your own projects. Looking at other people's examples and discussing ways to improve them is a really good way to learn! If you are open to receiving some feedback, please post your example as a comment on this post, and others can add comments to it. As a reminder, the classroom worksheet with all the milestones examples is here. Things you can think about: Frame your comments in a positive light if possible Did they miss any milestones? Are the tasks split up well enough (they should be separated for each single task) Is it easy and clear for other people to understand exactly what needs to be done?

Welcome to this Project Management for Wildlife Conservation online private training room. I am Liane and I will be delivering this training course. I'm a WildLearning Specialist with WildTeam and am looking forward to teaching you all about project management.  For the last few years, I have been working in Seychelles, focusing on island and marine conservation efforts, particularly coral restoration and turtle nesting monitoring. Prior to that, I was managing a project in Northern Thailand, where I worked closely with a local community to set up ethical elephant experiences in their village. In my free time, I love running and hiking, as well as freediving. This private room is for sharing training materials, sharing resources and information you think others here might be interested in, asking questions, supporting each other, reflecting on what we have learnt and getting to know each other. You can use the @ to mention a particular person or you can message people directly. Don't forget to watch the room to make sure you get notifications! Your exercise today is to please add your introductions as comments to this post. I would love to hear about your work, where you are based and why you are doing this training. If you feel like it please also share any hobbies you have and perhaps a link to something inspirational, fun, or useful.  Also, feel free to comment on each other's introductions by using the @ function (if you want to mention a particular person and make sure they get your message) 😃 Looking forward to meeting you all in the first session! Stay wild! Liane