Learning Hub
Below you will find links to both interactive e-learning courses and recordings of online training webinars,
all of which are original and completely free to access.
E-learning courses
In this course, the focus is on looking after ourselves. This is something many conservationists can struggle to pay enough attention to, though if we do, it can have clear benefits – for ourselves, those we work with, and the work itself.
We hope at the end of this course you come away with a better understanding of the areas you need to pay better attention to, and some practical ideas to take on board to help reduce stress and improve your personal wellbeing.
Unconscious bias happens when our brains make incredibly quick judgements and assessments of people and situations without us realising. Our biases are influenced by our background, cultural environment and personal experiences. We may not even be aware of these views and opinions, or be aware of their full impact and implications. Throughout our lives, we develop biases towards gender, sexuality, age, race, disability, religion, education and social classes (to name a few).
By the end of this session you should be able to:
- Explain what unconscious bias is and name different ways it may manifest
- Investigate your own unconscious biases
- Describe different strategies to reduce the effects of unconscious bias at work
This session looks at how teams develop and evolve. By the end of it you will be able to:
- List the stages of Tuckman’s model of team development
- Explain the characteristics of each stage
- Identify different techniques you could use to move your team between stages
- Evaluate your own team using the model
Receiving regular and direct feedback from managers, those we manage, and colleagues, empowers us to grow as professionals and produce better results.
However, not everyone has the same experience and relationship with receiving feedback. Feedback may make you feel anxious, afraid, or even threatened.
That’s why this course will help you understand common reactions to feedback and dispel any misconceptions you may have. You’ll explore how to adopt the right mindset and build a positive relationship with feedback.
Welcome to this session focusing on understanding the value of a well-developed personal network, and practical exercises to help you consider and strengthen your own.
By the end of this session you should be able to:
- Define a support network and how it can help you as a conservation leader
- Identify how comfortable you are with different types of networking
- Describe your own personal boardroom and plan how you’re going to use your support networks to develop yourself
If you ask someone to draw you a conservationist, they will probably draw someone in the middle of a remote natural area: passionate and driven, yes – but probably also grubby, tired and far from family and friends. Or they may draw a picture of that other stereotype – stressed-out and hunched over a laptop late at night, desperately trying to get a funding application in whilst emails and requests pile up.
As a leader, an important skill is to be able to motivate and energise people to work towards their goals. But how do you achieve that, particularly in a conservation setting with all the particular challenges that brings?
Welcome to this session on giving effective feedback. This session is made up of two parts. In this first part we will:
- Explore what stops us giving feedback, and the repercussions of this
- Discuss tips for giving good feedback
The second lesson will look at the CEDAR model of giving feedback. By the end of the session you will be able to:
- Name and explain the five different steps of the CEDAR model
- Use the CEDAR model in a practical situation
Listening to what someone is saying – really listening – is one of the most important skills a leader can have. How well you listen can significantly impact not just your relationship with others, but also your, and their, effectiveness.
This session will look at the impact of poor listening before exploring what we mean by active listening – and how we do it. By the end of the session, you should be able to:
- Explain what is meant by poor listening and its potential implications
- Describe how to listen more actively, and explain the benefits
- Evaluate your current active listening skills and identify areas that require practice
We’ll be exploring the concept of change, and how it relates to leadership, and especially leading teams.
- Recognise your own responses to change
- Conduct a force field analysis to evaluate reasons for and against a change, and methods to minimise or maximise those forces as appropriate
- Identify different strategies to support a team through change, and when to apply them
- Use Lewin’s change management model to plan how you’ll lead an upcoming change
The power to persuade people can be an invaluable tool to support conservation work. For example, you might want to persuade a donor to fund your particular project, or influence a government minister to support important legislation to strengthen national conservation efforts.
Ever been confused by project terminology? Take this short course to learn the difference between inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impact and how to use them for effective proposal writing and project planning.
Available in English & French: This online e-learning course explores stakeholder engagement, with a particular emphasis on community stakeholders. We’ll look at why stakeholder engagement is crucial to effective and equitable conservation, and how we can engage more effectively with community stakeholders.
Created by Fauna & Flora International, with thanks to support by Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.
This online e-learning course focuses on learning from failure. By the end of the session you should be able to:
- Explain the importance of learning from failure
- List factors which prevent us learning from failure in conservation
- Identify how you can improve team culture in terms of recognising and exploring failure
- Identify specific systems and tools which can help you lead learning from failure
Welcome to module 1 of the Good Fund Management elearning course. By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Identify the differences between a contract and a grant agreement
- Complete a Roles and Responsibilities form for fund management and describe the consequences of these being unclear
- Examine a draft funding agreement and be able to identify areas of concern.
In this online e-learning module, we will cover procurement, authorisation procedures and supporting documentation. By the end of the module you should be able to:
- Describe what procurement is and basic best practice principles
- Identify problematic spending patterns
- Identify common supporting documents requested by funders and where to keep them
During this module we will continue to look at key areas of importance during fund implementation. By the end of this module, you should be able to:
- Explain how a strong relationship with a funder is created and maintained
- Describe best practice in terms of fund monitoring and reporting
- Identify potential issues in a fund financial report
- Identify management approaches for exchange rate fluctuation.
Welcome to the fourth and final module of this course! Here we’re looking at what happens at the end of a funding period. By the end of this module you will be able to:
- Describe the main purpose of an audit
- Identify how to prepare for and support an audit
- Design a checklist for fund closure
- Identify the pros and cons of no cost extensions
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
- Explain what a Grievance Mechanism is
- Describe how such a mechanism can help us ensure conservation activities are fair and effective
- Recognise what constitutes a conservation-related grievance
- Identify examples of good practice in Grievance Mechanism design and implementation by applying five key principles
By the end of this online e-learning course, you will be able to:
- Identify common sources of conflict
- Categorise conflicts you have experienced by their source
- Describe four types of instinctive responses to stress and how to mitigate these
- Identify your natural conflict resolution tendencies
- Explain principled negotiation and use it to design your own conflict resolution strategy
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
- Define the meaning of Social Safeguards and the relationship with “safeguarding of children and adults at risk”
- Explain how Social Safeguards can contribute to fair and effective biodiversity conservation
- Analyse some of the risks, costs and benefits for local stakeholders that might arise as a result of common conservation strategies
- List the common tools that can help us apply Social Safeguards policies and procedures
Webinars
Introduction to Good Grant Management
A webinar recording, broadcast in April 2022, covering roles and responsibilities of external restricted grant management, how to review a contract or grant agreement, procurement best practice and adapting to donors requirements and supporting documentation.
Created by Fauna & Flora International, with thanks to support by Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.
Introduction to Good Organisational Governance
This webinar recording, made in June 2022, covers what we mean by good governance, why its important, what makes a balanced board and troubleshooting common problems such as how do you recruit trustees?
Created by Fauna & Flora International, with thanks to support by Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.
Introduction to Organisational Risk Management
This webinar recording, made in May 2022, covers the basic risk management cycle at an organisational level, including how to identify, assess and prioritise risks faced by your organisation.
Created by Fauna & Flora International, with thanks to support by Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.
Introduction to Social Safeguards.
This webinar explains what we mean by social safeguards; why they are so important; how they differ from safeguarding; and the common tools that can help us apply Social Safeguards in conservation projects.
Created by Fauna & Flora International, with thanks to support by Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.
English 
French 
Portuguese