Latin American Conservation Coaches Reconnect

Story from Irina Montenegro (WWF), Anita Diederichsen (WWF), Gustavo Gatti (Conserve Brasil), Estuardo Secaira (Independent Consultant), Cristina Lasch (TNC/CCNet Global) 

After a long silence, conservation coaches in Latin America reconnected virtually this August. In a lively meeting, twenty-three colleagues who work in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Perú, Spain, and the United States shared how we know and practice the Conservation Standards, looked at the evolution of our regional Network, and reviewed our CCNet values and what it means to be a coach. In breakout groups, we discussed key qualities a coach embodies, and we proposed ways in which we can support each other in our CCNet Latin America community.  

This meeting was a true test of adaptive management and perseverance: just a few minutes prior to the meeting we discovered that our link was not working, and we conducted the meeting in Portuñol (a mix of Spanish and Potuguese). We look forward to keeping the fire alive in our region with the great ideas that were recommended in this meeting of new and old friends! 

If you work as a coach in Latin America and want to connect with us, contact any of us in the list above. We’d love to be in touch! 

The word cloud above shows the qualities a good conservation coach embodies according to the group discussion. Image produced by C.Lasch/TNC-CCNet