The course aims to equip participants with practical skills, experiences, and knowledge to advance conservation models that respect Indigenous rights, recognize Indigenous knowledge, and promote equitable and sustainable outcomes.

It combines a 10-day tailored adult learning with a 5-day immersive fieldwork experience among Indigenous Communities, allowing participants to directly engage with Indigenous knowledge holders. The hybrid model blends theoretical and policy-based insights with lived realities, enabling participants to develop practical skills in indigenous-led conservation.

It explores 5 modules:

• Module 1: Historical and contemporary context of Indigenous peoples in conservation
• Module 2: Principles and frameworks for inclusive and rights-based conservation
• Module 3: Indigenous-led approaches to biodiversity conservation
• Module 4: Intersectionality in conservation practice.
• Module 5: Applied experiential learning in Indigenous-led conservation

The course is designed for Indigenous leaders, conservation practitioners, development professionals, policy makers, academics, NGOs, and government representatives from Anglophone Africa. It will be delivered by a diverse faculty including Indigenous traditional knowledge holders, academics, human rights advocates, and conservation experts.

By the end of the course, participants will:

• Emerge as champions of inclusive conservation, equipped to design and implement initiatives that uphold Indigenous rights, restore dignity, and deliver sustainable outcomes.
• Contribute to global knowledge through the documentation and publication of their work as case studies, thus, building an evidence base and resource pool accessible to governments, donors, funders, and the wider conservation and development community.
• Become part of a Community of Practice on Inclusive and Rights-Based Conservation, joining a pool of practitioners, experts, and Trainers of Trainers (ToTs) who collaboratively design, replicate, implement and advocate for inclusive conservation models, strategies, and frameworks that respond to pressing, context-specific challenges.

Overall, this course represents a transformative opportunity to embed Indigenous perspectives into conservation and development in Africa. It will provide the tools, networks, and vision to challenge exclusionary models, promote self-determination, and catalyze more equitable and sustainable stewardship of lands, resources, and biodiversity.