By Emily Knudson | Director of Outreach and Philanthropy
A Groundbreaking Victory for Women in Conservation: Sierra Leone’s First-Ever Grant Win!
A monumental achievement—Women for Conservation Sierra Leone has won its first-ever external grant! Thanks to the support of Women for Conservation, our Sierra Leone team has been awarded €10,000 from Conservation Connect’s Women for Conservation Circle Grant, a game-changing step in protecting endangered wildlife and empowering grassroots women conservationists.
This funding will expand vital conservation efforts, allowing women to lead reforestation, wildlife protection, and sustainable livelihood programs. In 2024 alone, Women for Conservation Sierra Leone trained 100 women and planted over 3,000 trees to restore vital habitats for the endangered Pygmy Hippopotamus and Chimpanzees. With this grant, they will scale up their impact—training more women, restoring more forests, and strengthening advocacy for stronger conservation policies.
What This Grant Will Achieve: A New Era for Conservation in Sierra Leone
This new funding brings incredible opportunities to expand Women for Conservation Sierra Leone’s work in groundbreaking ways:
Scaling up reforestation: The project will expand tree-planting efforts beyond the initial 3,000 trees, restoring degraded land and creating vital wildlife corridors for the Pygmy Hippopotamus and Chimpanzees.
Empowering more women leaders: More women will be trained in conservation, wildlife monitoring, and sustainable land management, equipping them to become leaders in protecting their forests and biodiversity.
Stronger wildlife protection initiatives: The team will launch community-based conservation patrols to deter illegal logging and poaching, directly safeguarding endangered species.
Increased advocacy and awareness: Educational programs will reach more schools and local communities, inspiring the next generation to protect their forests and wildlife.
Sustainable livelihoods for women: By expanding eco-friendly income opportunities—such as reforestation-based agroforestry—this initiative will provide alternative sources of income, reducing reliance on deforestation for survival.
A Movement Fueled by Hope—And You Can Help!
This victory proves the power of investing in women-led conservation. With continued support, we can grow this momentum, training more women, restoring more forests, and saving more wildlife.
Join us in celebrating and supporting these incredible women—your donation fuels their impact!
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
