Investing in youth and building partnership

When young conservationists have opportunities to learn in the field, this has wide impacts not only for their academic paths but for their future careers and contributions to the global environmental agreements the GEF works to support. This is the heart of the Fonseca Leadership Program: its scholarships are supporting and empowering young people whose research is connecting global environmental commitments with realities and opportunities in the field – in and around protected areas around the world.

The program supports young professionals from GEF recipient countries in pursuing graduate studies, conducting applied field research, and strengthening leadership skills in biodiversity conservation. Over the past year, it has established a foundation of 11 partnerships with universities, conservation organizations, and research institutions, with new collaborations under development.

Most Fonseca fellows carry out their work in the field, studying and analyzing landscapes alongside GEF-funded projects and initiatives that connect governments, civil society organizations, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, as an amplifier of both national and global conservation efforts.

For example, in Papua New Guinea, Serah Pyawa, an Indigenous woman, became the first in her community to earn a university degree and later pursue a master’s degree abroad. The Fonseca Leadership Program enabled her to start postgraduate research focused on protected area management and Indigenous governance. With GEF support, she participated in the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi in 2025 that got her connected with experts in marine protected areas and Indigenous rights, putting her research in the context of the 30x30 biodiversity target.

These connections led to an invitation to support the development of IUCN global guidelines on Indigenous Peoples’ inclusion in conservation, to participate in an IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas working group for Asia, and to contribute to national consultations on biodiversity targets in Papua New Guinea, linked to GEF-funded work to support updates to her country’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Pyawa said these new opportunities would broaden and strengthen her research to design a formal framework for Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) in Papua New Guinea that supports global efforts while honoring her Indigenous land - Simakin, in the Lumusa Rural area of the Mul-Baiyer District, Western Highlands.

“What I love most is seeing my parents' happiness in their daughter undertaking research that benefits our community and respects its customs, relationships, and values,” Pyawa said. “This work seeks to build a vital bridge between our customary ‘PNG Way’—where land is a living ancestor and stewardship is a sacred duty, and the international IUCN OECM Framework. It is a powerful validation of our traditional governance, anchored in sacred forests and tambu practices, as a proven and effective conservation solution. None of this would be possible without critical support.”

Halfway around the world, Letlhogonolo Kamuti, from the Life-Through-Wildlife Fonseca Fellowship in Stellenbosch University, began working with the Ngamiland Council of Non-Governmental Organizations to support community governance and conservation trusts across Botswana. Through the GEF-supported African Nature-Based Tourism Platform, his organization became a national partner in data collection, networking, and capacity development related to sustainable tourism and conservation.

Kamuti also played a critical role in strengthening participation in the GEF Small Grants Program. By designing and delivering training workshops for civil society and community-based organizations, he helped improve proposal quality and enabled more communities to access SGP funding. As a Fonseca fellow, he now works on revitalizing community-based natural resource management across Southern Africa and Kenya, directly reinforcing GEF capacity-building investments in inclusive conservation.

“The Fonseca fellowship shaped how I understand leadership not as authority, but as service. It is about building institutions that last, empowering communities to govern their resources, and ensuring that global conservation goals are grounded in local realities,” he said. “I am grateful to be part of a network that connects young conservation leaders across regions. The relationships built through the program will continue to shape collaborative conservation work across Southern Africa and Kenya for years to come. Conservation work can feel lonely at times, but after the connections I made through the program, it feels like there is a team that is behind me all the time, and nothing is impossible.”