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Call for applications: Leaders in Coral Reef Restoration Training Workshop, Seychelles

1-10 June 2019 – Praslin Island, Seychelles

ABOUT THE LEADERS IN CORAL REEFS RESTORATION TRAINING WORKSHOP

This is a two-week intensive full-time 120 hours’ hands-on, in-water practical program. In addition to providing an experience on what is involved in coral reef restoration using the coral reef gardening concept, the workshop touches on basic principles of restoration ecology, current best practices for coral reef restoration, appropriate design and logistics.

The workshop will be divided into a series of classroom lessons and field activities. It will be coordinated by Dr Phanor H Montoya-Maya of the NGO Corales de Paz and Research Associate to Nature Seychelles, the NGO responsible for the largest coral reef restoration project completed to date in the Indian Ocean: the USAID/UNDP-GEF-funded “Reef Rescuers: Restoring Reefs in the Face of Climate Change”. The current Reef Rescuers Project Technical Coordinators, Paul Anstey and Chloe Shute, will assist in training and logistics.

The sessions will be held at the Reef Rescuers, Centre for Ocean Restoration Awareness & Learning (CORAL) in Praslin Island, Seychelles, which is about 20 min flight from Mahe, the island capital. All field activities will be carried out on SCUBA diving equipment. This workshop will result in the first cohort of Coral Reef Restoration Leaders, a collaboration between Corales de Paz, the Noble Caledonia Charitable Trust  and Nature Seychelles.

ONLINE COMPONENT OF THE WORKSHOP

Before attending the workshop in the Seychelles, participants will be required to complete an online course in coral reef restoration presented by The Nature Conservancy’s Reef Resilience Network. Through this course, participants will learn critical background information on reef restoration best practices and have the opportunity to discuss concepts with peers and course mentors who are experts in the field. The online course runs from April 15 – May 24th, 2019, and will include the following lessons: 

  • Lesson 1: Introduction to Restoration & Project Planning
  • Lesson 2: Restoring Coral Populations with Coral Gardening
  • Lesson 3: Restoring Coral Populations with Larval Propagation 
  • Lesson 4: Restoring Reef Structure for Coastal Resilience
  • Lesson 5: Emergency and Rapid Response Restoration
  • Lesson 6: Monitoring for Restoration Success

Combining the online course with the hands-on workshop will be a very effective means of training as you will spend time on background knowledge prior to the in-person workshop where hands-on practice will be the major focus.

OBJECTIVES

  • After the e-learning and field training period the participants will be able to:
  • Understand key considerations for planning a restoration project
  • Describe common restoration techniques including coral gardening and monitoring
  • Make informed decisions on the need and suitability of a coral reef restoration project
  • Identify the logistics and funding needs of a coral restoration project
  • Build mid water coral nurseries
  • Populate coral nurseries
  • Outplant corals onto a degraded reef site

Participants will also experience the process of selecting and evaluating donor, nursery and transplantation sites; maintaining nurseries; and monitoring of nursery and transplantation components.

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PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS

This workshop targets community leaders and reef practitioners from the Western Indian Ocean region (Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Reunion Island, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa and Tanzania) who are working or plan to work on coral reef restoration in their home countries; people that don’t have the resources to pay for such training but are committed to coral reef conservation. The objective is to build capacity for people living in the WIO region and to improve coral reef conservation efforts at a local and national scale in the region. For application, applicants must mention how they will apply the knowledge and skills gained in their home reefs. A product of the training program is a draft proposal of a project the applicant would like to undertake back home.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

  • Interested participants are invited to submit their application package to Corales de Paz using the online form that can be found in this link: https://goo.gl/forms/skyuuMsDUjHCOYlu2
  • Applications must be completed in English. If another language is used, it would be helpful to include a summary of the CV in English
  • An application will be deemed admissible only if it is sent by the deadline and includes the documents referred to below. All documents submitted by applicants should be duly filled in, legible and signed

Supporting documents: 

Each application shall include the following documents:

  • A cover letter explaining the applicant’s motivation for answering this call and stating what contribution the applicant could make to the workshop and to coral reef conservation in the region
  • A selection criteria form duly filled in documenting how the applicant fulfils the selection criteria listed below of this call
  • A CURRICULUM VITAE (CV) for the individual, preferably not exceeding three pages. We suggest that CVs shall be submitted in the European format and must include two professional references

Additional supporting documents (e.g. diving certifications) may be requested at a later stage.

IMPORTANT DATES

  • 22 March 2019: Deadline for applications
  • April 15 – May 24 2019: On-line component of the training
  • June 1 – 10 2019: Hands-on workshop in Praslin Island, Seychelles

WORKSHOP TUITION

All course fees are covered. Also covered are onsite accommodation at the Reef Rescuers, Centre for Ocean Restoration Awareness & Learning (CORAL) in Praslin Island, Seychelles and flight costs from home countries. Selected applicants will be required to pay a registration fee of US$200 on arrival in the Seychelles, which would then be returned as seed funding towards their project on successful completion of the workshop.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Corales de Paz and the selection committee will take the following criteria into account when assessing applications:

  • Proven and relevant competence and experience as leaders in his/her community, in the conservation of marine ecosystems and/or at least in coral reefs of the Western Indian Ocean and/or worldwide
  • Proven and relevant experience and interest in setting up coral reef conservation (i.e. protection and restoration) projects at the country and/or international level
  • Proven and relevant competence and experience in diving using SCUBA equipment (at least 50 logged sea dives)
  • Good knowledge of the English language, allowing active participation in the discussions

CONTACT INFORMATION

For all inquiries regarding this this training please contact Dr Phanor H Montoya-Maya, via phmontoya @ coralesdepaz.org, with a copy to info @ coralesdepaz.org

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