Full Time Volunteer Conservation Officer Placements 2011

Closing date for applications is December 14th 2010

    

igoMANGO and Ambios are now recruiting full time volunteers for an inspirational project based in South Devon. A 15 week Full Time training placement is available to 18-25 year olds beginning in early January.

We offer volunteers a comprehensive programme of environmental monitoring, practical habitat conservation and community education with accommodation, food, travel and training provided through Vinvolved project funding.

Placements are an ideal opportunity for young people to gain practical skills in environmental conservation and outdoor learning. Whether you’re hoping to build on previous education with practical experience or looking for a total career change the project is highly varied and we welcome your application. Candidates should be committed to a 15 week placement, outgoing and flexible within an evolving working environment.

This January there are four specific pathways on offer, each working closely with a local partner organisation. The majority of your time will be dedicated to assisting one of the following:

1. Wildlife Conservation Placement
   The Barn Owl Trust
2. Outdoor Education Placement
   Sharpham Outdoors
3. Marine Science Placement
   Ambios Ltd/Ambios Environmental Consultants
4. Conservation/Estate Management placement
   Sharpham Trust

(For a detailed breakdown of the placements please see information sheets in application pack)

The rest of your time will be spent along side your co-volunteers to address local conservation needs through a wide variety of partnership projects: 

• Habitat monitoring programmes focusing on protected species – dormice, bats, badgers, barn owls, river and marsh, woodland
• Community based environmental projects in disadvantaged areas across South Devon.
• Public learning events aiming to connect science with society
• Sustainable use demonstration – vegetable gardening, energy saving initiatives, site improvements etc.

Skills and Training Received:

• Work with children, youth and disadvantaged groups in outdoor education
• Wildlife Species Identification
• Partnership Networking – gain opportunities through local avenues
• Land management skills – pathway development, stepping, woodland management etc.
• CRB Check
• NVQ Level 2 (Part 2)
• John Muir Award
• Lantra Chainsaw Certificate
• Further Training module of your choice

For further information or an informal chat about this opportunity please contact Christine by email at christinecarol@igomango.com or telephone on 07813 754306.

Click here to download Volunteer information (Word Doc, 432KB) and an Application Form (Word Doc, 436KB).

This project has been funded by v – the youth volunteering charity – inspiring a million more young volunteers.

A vinspired igoMANGO project!

The aim of this project is to promote volunteer involvement in community-run wildlife and habitat conservation activity in South Devon. Flexible levels of volunteer involvement are on offer (from live-in full-time through to short-term visits). Financial support is available for volunteers.

The project is developing a sustainable, experimental, volunteer-operated benchmark site of environmental good practice on the Sharpham Estate at Ashprington (near Totnes, on the Dart Estuary). Ambios Ltd and igoMANGO have teamed up with the Sharpham Trust to enable this innovative project to happen. This facility will also be a hub to support local volunteer-run conservation projects being carried out in the communities of South Devon.

The project thus has two tiers:

1. Activity on the Sharpham Estate.

An environmental conservation and sustainable-use demonstration project run on the Sharpham Estate. This project will focus on established best-practice and give scope for experimentation. Young volunteers will plan, develop and run projects, which will aim to inspire the visiting public and organisations in understanding that conservation effort is in the hands of everyone, and that by using well-planned and volunteer-based projects local-scale conservation effort can be stimulated and made sustainable. The demonstration projects on the Sharpham Estate will relate to the rural, coastal and urban environments.

 

2. Activity in the wider community.

The team and their demonstrations on the Sharpham Estate will act as a source of stimulation and a support facility to volunteer-run conservation projects within communities in the surrounding region. Sharpham volunteers will ‘go on the road’ to kick-start new community-based volunteer projects opened through the VTeam network. Ownership of these satellite projects will pass fully to the local communities/VTeam partnerships once established as viable.

 

Similar volunteering opportunities are planned for both tiers. These will include :

• Hands on conservation practices - improving existing wildlife habitat, building artificial wildlife habitats, endangered species etc.
• Carrying out simple scientific surveys and wildlife monitoring, to include data collection and analysis.
• Improving public access (pathway development, sties and steps etc).
• Forestry work.
• Recycling and waste control/management skills.
• Designing and developing interpretative educational materials and taking the public on guided walks around the estate.
• Environmental artwork.
• Estate and horticultural work (including vegetable and fruit gardening).
• Opportunities to develop a kitchen to produce traditional fare.
• Planning and leading rural events both at the estate and in the local community such as village fetes, summer festivals, conservation walks, forest-food-days etc.
• Fundraising activities.
• Administration works.
• Consolidation of practical skills acquired through National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs).
• ITQ skills development as part of conservation support (Word, Excel, GIS, Drawing, Web).

 

Want to volunteer?

To register on-line click here.

igoMANGO is an Ambios Ltd initiative to enhance the value of volunteering in conservation. It is supported by the igoMANGO Trust.

 

v exists to inspire a new generation of young volunteers (aged 16-25) in England and enable a lasting change in the quality, quantity and diversity of youth volunteering.