As South Africa marks Women’s Day on 9 August and celebrates Women’s Month, Nature Connect is recognising the women who are building careers, confidence and leadership opportunities through conservation training and environmental education during the organisation’s 25th anniversary year.
One example comes from Bokbaai on the West Coast, where Nature Connect hosted an all-women Quemic Africa learner group to complete the final module of the accredited Nature Conservation: Resource Guardianship qualification at NQF Level 4 earlier this year. The group completed training that combined conservation knowledge, workplace readiness and practical field skills as part of a formal accredited learnership programme.
The Bokbaai group reflects a broader pattern across Nature Connect’s programmes. Through environmental education, accredited training, mentorship and workplace experience, women are increasingly moving into roles that support biodiversity conservation while creating pathways to employment and personal growth.
One of those women is Christyline Matthews, whose journey reflects the long-term impact of Nature Connect’s conservation training and development programmes. One of the organisation’s earliest skills development participants, she began in a capacity development programme before becoming involved in several pioneering conservation initiatives. Today, she is employed through the EPWP, building her career through meaningful work that provides income, practical experience, and opportunities to contribute to community and government programmes.
“My life started when I started working with Nature Connect and I could see a bright future,” said Matthews. “Through these experiences, I truly believe in Nature Connect’s motto, ‘Changing Lives Through Nature’.”
In Calvinia, a small town in the Northern Cape’s Hantam region and part of the Succulent Karoo biodiversity hotspot, Janine Conradie joined the Youth in Nature Project in April 2025 as part of a small group of young adults selected from the town.
The project gives participants a year of accredited conservation training and field-based work. Janine completed the Natural Resource Guardianship (Terrestrial) pathway at NQF Level 4 with a mark of 87 percent and was found competent across every module.
“From 1 April 2025 until now, my journey in nature conservation has been a learning curve filled with challenges, but most of all it has felt like an adventure,” she said.“The training has been an eye-opener and changed the way I see nature. It helped me realise how deeply interconnected we are with nature, and pushed me to move beyond preservation towards actively protecting our natural world.”
As part of a hypothetical conservation planning exercise, Janine developed a management plan for Akkerendam Nature Reserve, a small municipal reserve just outside Calvinia. The plan set out practical actions to clear invasive vegetation, maintain pathways, repair public use areas and improve community use of the reserve.
Junique Fortuin was part of the same Calvinia group. She worked through modules on park ranger practice, alongside three courses in environmental monitoring, and described the coursework as challenging, but also fun.
“This programme has done so much for me,” she said.“I want more people to be connected to nature because it’s such a beautiful thing.”
For Junique, the clearest impact has come from watching children respond during school visits, where she has seen learners’ curiosity about plants and animals grow in real time.
These stories form part of a milestone year for Nature Connect. Since its establishment 25 years ago, the organisation has introduced more than 60,000 young people across South Africa to nature through environmental education, skills development and conservation programmes.
As Nature Connect celebrates this milestone, Women’s Month provides an opportunity to recognise the growing role women are playing in conservation, environmental leadership and community development across the country.
Throughout August, Nature Connect will share additional stories, photographs and interviews featuring women involved in its programmes as part of its 25-year celebrations.
About Nature Connect
Nature Connect is a Cape Town-based environmental education, training and conservation organisation that has been changing lives through nature for 25 years. Through its programmes, Nature Connect connects people to nature, creates learning and skills development opportunities, and supports communities and young people to care for biodiversity and natural systems
