The Greenhouse Sessions series presents a six-week high impact acceleration support course for initiatives that are directly or indirectly addressing conservation threats.

Applications are currently open for the course that will run from 27th October 2021 to 24th November 2021.

Who is this high impact course for:

• Community Based Organizations, Civil Society Organizations, startups directly or indirectly contributing to conservation. (You might be working in the areas of food security, climate adaptation, impact investment, pollution management, wildlife conservation etc.)

• Established organizations that have been implementing the intervention for at least a year. (Entities at the idea stage as well as those already at scale are not eligible)

• Entities looking to scale their intervention or strengthen organizational processes

What you will gain from this high impact acceleration course:

• Knowledge, skills and experience that will enable you to identify areas in your entity that require strengthening and/or improvement

• The opportunity to prototype a solution to either scale, strengthen or improve your intervention

• Networking, ideas and best practices exchange with peers in the conservation sector

Application Process

1. Fill out the application form below and let us know more about your entity and intervention

2. Each applying organization should nominate two senior individuals to participate in the course

3. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, with a deadline of October 11th 2021 5pm

4. Shortlisted applications will be contacted upon the close of our call for applications

Course dates:

22nd October 2021: Welcome webinar for selected participants

27th October 2021: 1st in person full day session

10th November 2021: 2nd in person full day session

24th November 2021: 3rd in person full day session + issuance of certificate of completion

Other information:

• This course is sponsored by WWF Panda Labs hence there are no charges for participating organizations
• Training will take place in-person, in Nairobi with COVID protocols in place
• Transport and accommodation support may be available for entities coming from outside the Nairobi metropolitan area
• A certificate of completion will be issued to all participants fulfilling the course graduation requirements

Youth and women led entities are highly encouraged to apply.

Apply here to be part of the acceleration program or reach out to us via this link.

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As the world moves towards ensuring that economic growth happens in tandem with societal progress, millions of people confront much higher challenges in terms of severe events, health consequences, food security, livelihood security, migration, water security, and other associated hazards. New approaches to facilitate the development and deployment of transformative and innovative solutions are required.

Innovation becomes a key asset to this process, connecting economic and societal growth to impact. Innovation for social impact brings together different kinds of expertise and skill sets to tackle complex social challenges by providing novel solutions.

Join us for a conversation exploring Innovation as a Strategy for Greater Social Impact on Thursday December 2, 2021 from 3pm to 5pm. This session will feature the following guest speakers, who will drive the conversation through case study presentations and a knowledge segment:

• Federico Naccarato - Head of Innovation, World Food Programme Kenya
• Jacobeth Barno - Regional Manager Africa Anglophone, Pula 
• Moses Kimani - CEO and Founder, Lentera Africa
• Caroline Gertsch - Country Director, Amani Institute

Through this session you will:

• Understand key strategies to start innovating in their organizations

• Learn how to utilize innovation for growth and greater impact

• Get inspired on how to apply innovation tools and strategies

• Experience different types of innovation through the knowledge segment

• Demystify and showcase innovation as an actionable approach that works

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Organizations today, whether for profit or not, are rapidly beginning to appreciate the significance of creating social impact in their operations. While this is a commendable step towards moving the social impact dial, one can no longer do good without measuring the outcomes. Lack of measurement is akin to lighting a lamp under a basket. Impact measurement is therefore a key element in the introspection process that enables you to review your effectiveness and identify areas of improvement for even greater results.

Join us for a conversation exploring the what, why and how of social and environmental impact measurement on Thursday November 4, 2021 from 3pm to 5pm. This session will feature subject matter experts who will drive the conversation through case study presentations and a knowledge segment. Through this session you will:

• Understand how to measure impact effectively and the benefits of communicating impact

• Get a glimpse into some of the tools and approaches that are used for measurement

• Learn from organizations that are successfully implementing impact measurement

Sign up here to be part of this discussion.

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Community and collaboration have proven to be key components in the success of conservation efforts. Also critical to this undertaking are mobilization and advocacy, acting as a bonding agent that helps to create a strong tripartite of Cs, Community, Collaboration and Conservation.

Whether your goal is to influence leaders and decision makers, target various stakeholders that are key to your work or even secure community-based support, you cannot overlook the significance of advocacy and mobilization in furthering conservation efforts.

Join us for a discussion to explore the significance of advocacy and mobilization in driving conservation impact on Thursday September 30, 2021 from 3pm to 5pm. This session will feature conservation champions and seeks to:

• Define advocacy and mobilization in the context of conservation while drawing parallels between the two.

• Give an overview on why the two approaches are important to conservation work

• Give examples of tools and approaches that make for successful advocacy and mobilization through case studies

Sign up here to be part of this discussion.

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What are Nature based Solutions(Nbs) and are they effective in addressing causes and consequences of climate change?

Nature-based Solutions—working with nature to address societal challenges—are emerging as an integrated approach that can help address the causes and consequences of climate change at relatively low-cost, whilst delivering multiple benefits for people and nature. However, the potential of Nature-based Solutions for Climate Change has yet to be fully understood, unleashed and the challenges have barely been understood.

On 26th August 2021, 3PM to 5PM, we are bringing together subject matter experts that have experience from research and implementing nature based solutions,who will drive the discussion in helping us unpack the following:

1. Getting a common understanding of the definition of Nbs, especially the three core values that underpin the concept.
2. Understanding the enabling conditions for Nbs to thrive and unleash its potential
3. Exploring some of the examples of Nbs for climate change in the region. Especially, on how they are contributing to livelihoods and community wellbeing in the long run.

As a participant, you will have an opportunity to not only learn more about Nature based Solutions but also get to engage the subject matter experts to help answer any questions you have on the topic.

Join us! Sign up here.

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What are innovative finance models for conservation all about? Traditionally, conservation works have been funded through non-market mechanisms such as government programs, philanthropic organisations and the public. These mechanisms are limited by factors such as different donor interests and state of the economy that limit scaling up and sustainability of conservation works. On the rise is recognition and push for market-aligned innovative sustainable financing that enable conservation investments from the private sector.

Innovative finance models for conservation therefore entail lending and investment instruments by the finance sector (banks, insurers, investors, asset managers…) that take into account environmental considerations thus protecting and encouraging sustainable ecosystems.

On the 15th of July 2021, we had the first session in the second series of the GreenHouse Sessions that focussed on answering some of the following questions:

• What are some of these instruments that have proven successful in our Kenyan context? 
• Which entities are championing these works to ensure financial systems serve the people and the planet? 
• What needs to be done to leverage these innovative mechanisms?
• What is the role of governments, civil society entities, entrepreneurs and financial institutions in this?

The following subject matter experts joined the event:

Around the world, local and indigenous communities in developing and emerging economies are at the front line of natural resource conservation. These communities are the gatekeepers of our most precious landscapes and seascapes with customary rights to the territories and natural resources. Many directly derive their livelihoods from their natural environment and have been protecting the natural resources they depend on for centuries. This ranges from hunting and gathering to farming, forestry to ecotourism, from artisanal mining to fishing, recycling plastics to protect wildlife corridors. Local and indigenous people living in biodiversity hotspots are also vulnerable to overconsumption of natural resources to economic scarcity and social disparity. Therefore they are critical allies as environmental stewards. However, at the same time they are at risk of being left behind if conservation efforts fail to involve them directly and trigger solutions with verifiable benefits for at risk communities.

To explore the topic at a granular level, we had a panel discussion featuring:

1. Prof. Charles Musyoki, Director of Parks and Reserves at Kenya Wildlife Service. 
2. Nelson Ole Reiyia, CEO and Co-Founder of the Nashulai Mara Conservancy.

This 90 minute session explored how we can make education on sustainable development more inclusive and participatory and ensure everyone practices sustainability.

We had a riveting panel discussion featuring:

1. Dr. Margaret Otieno - National Coordinator and CEO, Wildlife Clubs of Kenya
2. Ephantus Mugo, Conservation Education Coordinator - Lewa Wildlife Conservancy
3. Jane Waiyaki-Maina, Head of Sustainability, Absa Kenya
4. Peter Tabichi - Teacher, Keriko Primary School and Winner of 2019 Global Teacher Prize

Our food system is one of the major threats to nature in the present times. In order to be able to feed the world now and in the future we need food systems to become more sustainable. We can no longer exploit resources beyond planetary boundaries, and we need to find better solutions for feeding, nutritiously and healthily, the world’s growing billions. Underscoring the importance of concerted effort to transform the food system to sustainably produce nutritious food while protecting biodiversity, while tackling food loss and waste.

This 90-minute interactive session delved into the issue of food loss in the Kenyan context and innovative solutions to mitigate the problem and advance towards a food secure future. We had a riveting panel discussion featuring:

1. Winnie Yegon - Food Systems Analyst at the 

   Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

2. Dr William Ojwang - Africa Rift Lakes Programme Manager at WWF Kenya
3. Sheena Shah - Director & Permaculture Designer at Harvesting for Good East Africa