Catalyzing self-aware, capable and dynamic leaders →
Today and tomorrow's conservation leaders need to drive systemic change by building organizations and networks far greater than the sum of their parts. Conservation needs leaders who can address local and global challenges, build collaborations and movements, and build and manage outstanding teams of diverse and talented individuals.
Maliasili’s Leadership Programs are designed specifically for community conservation leaders in Africa. We’ve taken a different approach to leadership development, ensuring everything is as practical and useful as possible. Our programs offer a unique blend of personal leadership exploration alongside training on the technical skills that leaders need to run an effective organization. Additionally, we create opportunities for organizations to build and foster effective collaborations and partnerships beyond their organizations and into the broader systems and contexts where they operate.
Like with everything Maliasili does, our approach is grounded by our own experiences working in community conservation organizations. Our goal is to equip conservation leaders with the skills, knowledge, and self-awareness to develop their own leadership potential while helping their organizations - and those within their networks - to achieve even more.
Maliasili’s leadership programs generally runs for 10-12 months and focus on three key levels of leadership:
Leading Self - Helping leaders understand their approach, leading style, strengths and behaviors that shape their attitudes and leadership style.
Leading Organizations - Empowering leaders with the skills and competence to engage, motivate and inspire their teams to build strong organizations that fulfil their mission and deliver excellent performance.
Leading Collaborations - Fostering a leader’s ability to collaborate within the broader system that their organizations operate within, such as working between multiple different actors and interests, including government, donors, partners and more.
Maliasili launched the African Conservation Leadership Network (ACLN) initiative in 2016 to develop new approaches to building leadership capacity in southern and eastern Africa.
Since then, we have run five programs that have supported 80 African conservation leaders from 40 local organizations from eastern and southern Africa have benefited from this training and are now part of a growing initiative for an African leadership network working on diverse issues such as biodiversity protection, land rights advocacy, and marine conservation.
Maliasili - in collaboration with our key partners - currently runs three leadership programs to strengthen conservation leaders across the continent.
African Conservation Leadership Network
Maliasili - in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, Africa - runs the African Conservation Leadership Network (ACLN). We launched ACLN as a pilot initiative in 2016 to develop new approaches to building leadership capacity in southern and eastern Africa. Since piloting the program in 2016, ACLN has been adapted and run with three cohorts and we have just launched a fourth. ACLN has grown to include 65 leaders from 33 organizations across 10 countries in east and southern Africa.
Learn more →
ACLN 4 Overview
Investing in African Conservation Leadership
2019 Forum Summary
WATCH | African Leadership, Sam Shaba, Honeyguide →
African Marine Conservation Leadership Program
Inspired by the success of the ALCN program, Maliasili and Blue Ventures have teamed up to run a leadership program specifically aimed at marine conservation organizations - the African Marine Conservation Leadership Program (AMCLP). So far, the first cohort of the AMCLP brought together 17 leaders from eight marine conservation programs working in Kenya, Tanzania and Somalia and we are planning a second cohort that will kick off in the latter half of 2022.
BLOG | Conservation leadership: nurturing collaboration for the African marine conservation sector →
Madagascar Environmental Leadership Program
Recognizing Madagascar's critical role in protecting some of the world's rarest biodiversity, Maliasili is launching a leadership program to equip Malagasy conservation leaders with the tools, knowledge, and expertise to lead effectively and create sustainable impact and take the initial steps towards establishing a Madagascan peer-learning network that can grow and evolve over time.
This program incorporates 18 leaders from nine local conservation organizations and will kick off in early 2022.
ILC Program
In 2018, Maliasili partnered with the International Land Coalition to pilot a customized leadership program through ILC’s Africa membership. Modelled on the ACLN structure, this program involved 17 leaders from eight African civil society organizations working on land rights in six Zambia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda and Senegal.