The African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA) has partnered with Oxford University and the African Leadership University School of Wildlife Conservation (ALU SOWC) to launch a groundbreaking new executive fellowship programme on nature and biodiversity finance. The programme aims to address the urgent need for more financing of sustainable natural capital management in the continent and empower senior managers and executivesin Africa to become catalysts for change.
The ANCA Executive Fellowship Programme, which is funded by the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), will see 20 senior executives from financial institutions and other relevant sectors across the continent taken through a one-year specialised fellowship programme on nature and biodiversity finance.
The programme includes a ten-day residential course at the ALU SOWC campus in Rwanda or Mauritius and five days at Oxford University in the UK as well as a one-week face-to-face session in a selected African country to see at first hand nature and biodiversity finance projects.
Candidates will be selected based on a nature-related project that they intend to implement within their organisations. Mentors from both universities will be assigned to each of the participants to support them in their projects and they will also have access to other experts. The ultimate objective is to create a pipeline of projects which will deliver increased biodiversity and enhanced disclosure of nature-related risks and opportunities as well as community benefits such as new jobs, improved livelihoods and increased resilience. The aim is to mobilise $10m of capital into nature-based solutions projects over the first three years of the programme and double that by the end of five years. This will come from the participants’ own organisations, the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), public sources, DFI’s and private capital.
Closing date for applications for the first year is 30th September 2024.
