Support 50 Global South Environmental Leaders

This spring, the Global Diversity Foundation team met to discuss the growing Global Environments Network (GEN).  How are members currently engaging with GEN, we wondered. How can the network become even more accessible and relevant? What kinds of opportunities, platforms and events do members want to see? And what is  the lived experience of GEN? How does it function in members’ lives?

We knew that GEN members-the environmental leaders who have taken part in events and become part of the network--would have answers to these questions. In April, we began to interview members. Here, we share a few initial glimpses into their experiences in and visions for the network (for more, see my blog post on the GEN website). We'll let you know more about our findings as we continue our interviews and analyze our findings!

Ana Elia, from Spain, studies how social capital and gender shape empowerment in community ecotourism in Ghana. She attended the Global Environments Summer Academy (GESA) in 2014, and went on in 2015 to co-organise the first Latin American regional academy, the Academia Latinoamericana de Liderazgo Socio-Ambiental (ALLSA). The organizers' focus on peer-to-peer learning meant that they learned new things during the event, as well.. Ana Elia shared, "At ALLSA, I learned about mapping in a way that accounts for socio-ecological interactions. I think that has been critical in shaping the way I’m going to be sharing my results with communities… because I want to develop participatory workshops and I think there are a lot of methodologies that I was not thinking about that have become more clear. Also Indigenous methodologies, or different epistemologies that since [ALLSA] I have been way more curious about.”

Gloria, from Kenya, works on sustainable resource management in dynamic cultural landscapes and improvement of community livelihoods, using local ways of knowing as a starting point. She reflected on the GESA communications exercise of creating a TED-style talk, and its importance for her professional and academic growth. “That has really helped me. I got a lot of good feedback from the talk I did in Bern. I often use the link. And then I’ve carried on those skills that [GEN founder] Gary was teaching us in giving other talks…. These days I’m very serious about what to say, how to say it, how to make the slides, how to make the story compelling, how to tie it together. No one in my life had ever taught me that.” 

Interviewees also discussed how GEN events generate inspiration that fuels new work. Priscilla (Cree (Canada)) is an activist and academic working on Indigenous, women's and youth issues in Canada and Latin America who took part in both North American Community Environmental Leadership Exchanges (NACELE 2013 and 2015). In her interview she reflected that, “One thing that has happened post-event: I am putting together with a colleague... a book proposal on some of the topics that I spoke on, namely Indigenous food sovereignty. So I think in that respect [NACELE] kind of mobilized me forward. I met some amazing food sovereignty people, like Nancy (GDF US Board of Directors President), and we’ve stayed in touch... so it was a great connection and it was an inspiration that in part led to me wanting to do a book. I mean, I wanted to do a book before I met Nancy... but I think it propelled me forward in new ways.” 

Conducting these interviews has afforded us the privilege to hear about the projects and aspirations of the many wonderful individuals working and collaborating for positive change in their respective contexts. Read the full story in this blog post , titled GEN Interviews: Where is GEN, where are we going, and how should we get there? You can also learn more about Angela, a GESA 2015 alumna from Canada.