GVI

In the spring of 2021 I did an online internship for wildlife conservation with GVI. I helped organize camera trap data on pangolins in Thailand. After completing the online internship with GVI, I decided to pursue a career in wildlife conservation. I cannot thank GVI enough for giving me the incredible opportunity. I am also excited to say that I am saving up money to volunteer in person. Volunteering with elephants has always been a dream of mine and now it is a goal. If you are looking to make a difference in the world, GVI is the place to do so.

I've always had a strong desire to be involved in the conservation of our earth, its fauna and flora. The problem is that when you have a full-time job completely outside of this area (I work in the hotel industry), you often don't have much space to be as involved as you'd like. So when the Coronavirus crisis started, I saw an incredible opportunity to be able to get involved in the cause again, following the volunteering I had done with GVI in 2014. I quickly visited GVI's website and saw that they offered online courses for anyone who wanted to learn a little more, in conservation, for my part.
I decided to sign up for the Foundations in Sustainable Development - Conservation course. What I loved was the fact that you could progress at your own pace, with live lectures from time to time (which you can watch later). The courses were very interesting, I feel like I've added to my knowledge, not only in terms of conservation, but also for my daily life. Having been promoted to the position of manager at my work, I was pleased to see that the leadership course gave me a solid foundation to take on these new challenges with less fear and more confidence. I gained knowledge and tips that I use daily in my work. Also, having said that I was not a native French speaker, all the instructors were extremely kind to me, spoke at a pace that suited me perfectly and I felt totally confident to tell if I didn't understand something.
I know that in a few years I would like to change my career to work in conservation and having taken these courses has reinforced this idea, because I felt the involvement of all the participants, the instructors, the workers of GVI and it gives a kind of positive synergy that is hard to ignore.

Have you ever tried to just focus on one thing at a time. No distraction. No influence. My experience with GVI was a bit like that, you see I could fully immerse myself with wildlife, from the moment I woke up right to patrol at night counting turtle eggs. The staff was also brilliant, not only were they a crucial part to my leaning because of their experience mixed with knowledge but they were always positive. I think that was very important because it allowed a safe environment to learn but also a good place to be interactive with both staff and other volunteers. I've enjoyed my stay so much that even though I've been back from this experience for a few days I'm planning to return next year! If I could give two pieces of advice to anyone going is that A) you should really consider to do 4 weeks+ this is because you start having all the opportunities but as soon as you get used to it you leave. B) bring an outfit in a ziplock bag for your flight home because your clothes will smell of Jalova. but just to recap, it's one of the best experience you can get not only to work on conservation but also yourself

I had the best time in Greece working with GVI at the turtle conservation program. It was amazing to experience the nesting and hatching season and to learn how to collect the data. In total I’ve been at the program for 8 weeks and I have learned so much about sea turtles, conservation and GVI. I have met so many new people from all over the world and have made friends for life here. I had the best summer and I will definitely do another program with GVI. will highly recommend this program and GVI in general.

I’ve just completed the Advanced Wildlife Conservation online learning programme through GVI. This programme consists of 6 courses – Wildlife Conservation, Conservation Science & Research, Climate Crisis & Sustainability, Impact Measurement, Leading Teams for Impact and Careers in Sustainable Development. I loved the flexibility of the programme and being able to work this around my day job. The course material was relevant, topical and inspiring. The online learning platform was simple to navigate. And GVI support was outstanding throughout the process, as always. I have now signed up for a GVI Wildlife Conservation Internship next year and I can’t wait to get into the field and put what I’ve learned through this programme into practice! Highly recommend.