EDGE fellow Becky Shu Chen gives us her highlights from the recent EDGE training course held in Kenya.
It was a great experience to join the 2013 EDGE Conservation Tools Training Course. Skills learnt on project planning & managing would substantially benefit the Chinese giant salamander Darwin Initiative project I am working on as the Project Coordinator. Specifically, systemic training on budgeting, proposal writing and communicating has largely enhanced my confidence and capacity to manage this challenging project involving in multiple organisations. Also, conservation tools on wildlife survey & monitoring, statistics, spatial analysis and CEPA would be directly applied to the Chinese giant salamander surveys & public awareness-raising. Handling these tools would also pave my way to become a future conservationist in China leading conservation programmes of endangered wildlife species.
Apart from the fantastic training course provided by the excellent EDGE team, we spent an enjoyable time in Camp Tsavo with close contacts with nature & wildlife. My most exciting moment was doing day transects and watching giraffes wandering across the African savanna! The great experiences strengthened my links to conservation, and I feel it is my mission to let the wildlife exist in the beautiful nature. Also, it was a great opportunity to work with other EDGE Fellows and hear about conservation stories around the world. Friendship, camp fire, EDGE song, pitfall digging, and transect spotlighting were all best memories that we will all remember forever.