Many SSC Groups establish and nurture diverse partnerships with organisations that share a commitment to species conservation within their taxa, geography or discipline. Although the SSC Chair鈥檚 Office provides support, connections and small grant opportunities directly to individual SSC Groups, many of the partnerships led by the SSC Chair鈥檚 Office are focused on efforts that support the entire SSC network.听
The SSC Partnership and Grants team works to establish mutually beneficial partnerships with the SSC network to improve the collective impact and effectiveness of species conservation efforts worldwide. These partnerships are focused on strategic support of the Species Strategic Plan and the Species Conservation Cycle: Assess, Plan and Act.
The team focuses on understanding and supporting SSC Groups in their partnership and grant needs as much as possible. We are also currently working to consolidate existing partners and build new partnerships to expand a coordinated platform of experts, local communities, national governments and organizations to lead and enhance our collective capacity to assess-plan-act for species conservation, especially at the local level. Through this approach, we continue to grow and refine the partnership structure to better reflect and support the interconnections between the different types of SSC Groups, Centers for Species Survival and other leading species conservation partners. Within this strategy, the SSC Chair鈥檚 Office has three key types of partners.
Donors play a critical role in the functionality and operations of the SSC Chair's Office team by providing financial support to ensure the work of its staff and the ability to provide the SSC network with knowledge products and support in the execution of their conservation actions. Our donors are leading international associations, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens and private companies that recognize the global impact of SSC for species conservation.听
Allies provide unique and strong support to SSC that enables the creation of multi-sector partnerships to improve and scale how we implement different priority conservation initiatives. They play an important role in hosting projects, managing resources and providing technical support to advance our Strategic Plan for Species. Thanks to them, SSC is able to coordinate and support important projects such as: Sumatran Rhino Rescue and BASPA; develop funding programs for SSC networks such as: SSC Internal Grants and SSC EDGE Internal Grants.听
Our in-kind contributors bring valuable and mutually-beneficial partnerships that significantly expand the capacity of our staff and facilities and extend the reach of our collective work around the world. This is particularly the case with Center for Species Survival (CSS) partnerships. Centers for Species Survival host organizations establish a team of dedicated paid employees who work closely with the SSC network to catalyse priority assessment-plan-action efforts across various geographic scales or taxonomic priorities. Although CSS teams are staff of their host organizations they also function, in many ways, as extensions of the SSC Chair鈥檚 Office team. Together CSSs increase our joint capacity through training, hosting or supporting the implementation of projects, technical support and networking with key stakeholders. Meet the CSS teams and read about their work here.
The SSC Chair鈥檚 Office is extremely grateful to our partners who provide invaluable and critical support in different ways that make it possible to advance our Species Strategic Plan and allow us to focus on supporting the SSC Network鈥檚 efforts toward the achievement of our mandate. The SSC Chair鈥檚 Office team is committed to working hard, with your help, towards the ambitious task of saving species around the world and continuing to strengthen the alliances of partners around the world.听
For further information about alliances, resources and funding opportunities please reach out to Kira Mileham and Mayerlin Ramos.
