Delivering Grassroots Conservation Initiatives Internationally, Year 1

Susannah McCandless will work as full-time International Program Director to strengthen the Global Diversity Foundation's capacity to deliver grassroots conservation initiatives.  The Global Diversity Foundation (GDF), a UK-based organization, develops programs in partnership with local and international institutions framed around biodiversity and community.  GDF has a rich history of building community-based conservation projects in Malaysia, Mexico and Morocco working with government institutions, NGOs, academic research scientists to train local community members in protecting biodiversity while also respecting local livelihoods and traditions. Susannah will direct the organization's U.S. office from her home base in Vermont, thereby building its administrative capacity in addition to her programmatic work.  She will assume supervision of the organization's Regional Coordinators in Meso-America and Southeast Asia.  Susannah also works as an Adjunct Professor in the University of Vermont's Department of Geography, teaching about the social and ecological impacts of conservation.  This project builds directly on her experience in human-environment geography.