MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The Fransmanshoek Conservancy thanks the Garden Route Casino Community Trust (GRCCT) for its continued financial support, this time in the form of funds being provided towards providing a student a placement in the 2018 Fransmanshoek Mentorship Programme.
The R36 000 funding the Conservancy has received, provides two deserving students with a stipend so they may be financially secure to be able to live and work for a year on the Conservancy.
The Fransmanshoek Conservancy have been in existence since 1994 and been particularly active since 2004, providing a space for Nature Conservation Diploma students to fulfil their practical year requirements and creating employment opportunities for qualified Nature Conservators.
The Conservancy fulfils a role in the community, dealing with all things in the field of conservation.
The Fransmanshoek Conservancy has cumulatively accommodated and mentored more than 20 conservation students who are required to complete a practical year to complete their diploma in Nature Conservation.
Most of these students have gone on to further their studies and have attained Btech degrees or higher.
Fransmanshoek Conservancy has produced many nature conservators who successfully enter the job market and this is testament to the quality mentorship and valuable experience provided by the Conservancy.
The Conservation industry in South Africa is notorious for being difficult for upcoming local South Africans to find good jobs or internships, as many prospective venues enter into paid volunteerism programs and thus take on wealthy foreigners who pay for experience instead of hiring from the local market.
The Conservancy has made an effort to accommodate two local South African students for each year.
Unfortunately, with inflation and costs of living going up, this often means the students struggle financially and is a large determinant in whether the deserving student accepts the invitation or survives the year, as they must provide for some of their own living expenses.
This year, the GRCCT has enabled the Conservancy to continue to provide the facilitation of two local students’ practical years in its mentorship program which will greatly aid the local communities and students with a continued turnover of local graduates from the opportunities Fransmanshoek provides. The two students, Veronique le Roux and Erich Goold both hail from Nelson Mandela University (NMU), George Campus (commonly known as Saasveld), and will be under the guidance and mentorship of the Conservancy’s head Ranger, Kei Heyns, for the year where they will be exposed to a wide spectrum of management scenarios that typically play out in the conservation industry.
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