Damien Mander, IAPF on the We Are For Good Podcast

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Overview

Meet Damien. He's an Australian special operations sniper who was traveling through Africa in 2009 and was inspired by the work of rangers and the plight of wildlife. Liquidating his life savings, the International Anti-Poaching Foundation was established to be the last line of defense for nature. Over the past decade the IAPF has scaled to train and support rangers which now help protect more than 1.1 million acres of habitats in Zimbabwe. And these rangers are ALL WOMEN. They're trained like special operations soldiers and are warriors protecting wildlife and wild spaces. Ya'll. This story😭🥰 Do yourself a favor, and don't miss it 🎧

Today’s Guest

Damien Mander, Founder, International Anti-Poaching Foundation

“We were just fortunate enough to to be able to refine a model that seems to become the intersection for women’s empowerment, conservation, community development, healthcare, education, water, roads, and rural development.”

— Damien Mander, Founder, International Anti-Poaching Foundation

Episode Transcript

Download Full Episode Transcript Here

Episode Highlights

Damien’s story and journey to where he is today (4:40)
An overview of the issue of poaching in our world today (13:00)
Developing community-centered programs (19:40)
Akashinga: The Brave Ones (24:00)
A powerful story of philanthropy in Damien’s life (40:00)
Damien’s One Good Thing: Be kind in the process. (42:20)

Powerful quotes

“There's very rarely been a moment where there wasn't an element of fear or uncertainty, but it’s never stopped me from doing something.” -Damien

“It's how we deal with that fear and manage risk, I suppose, that creates the opportunities for us doing nothing and living a life of safety. That's the scary thing for me.” -Damien

“I was one of the lucky ones when I hit rock bottom, I bounced. And you know, there's a lot of people that weren't that fortunate.” -Damien

“We're all a product of our past. We're all human beings, you know, we all have vulnerabilities. It's the scars in life that build up the mindset and the ability to take the next steps. And hopefully, those next steps are in the right direction.” -Damien

“And in a selfish way, the more good that we did as an organization, the better I felt, as opposed to try and do things that were self fulfilling, doing things for others and for animals and doing the right thing. It just sort of grew and grew and grew and got us where we are where we are today.” -Damien

“Poaching, as an industry, is one of the largest criminal industries in the world, behind drugs, guns, human trafficking, and counterfeiting. You're talking a multi-billion dollar industry that's responsible for the destruction of forests and the decimation of species.” -Damien

“Over time with growth and maturity, we've we've acknowledged that it is not just species that need protecting, it's the areas that they live in.” -Damien

“We were just fortunate enough to to be able to refine a model that seems to become the intersection for women's empowerment, conservation, community development, healthcare, education, water, roads, and rural development.” -Damien

“Looking internally at at our own in the industry, where women are outnumbered in frontline roles at a ratio of about 100 to 1. So that reduces the opportunity for women to gain the experience they need to become leaders to move into management, because you need field based experience to be able to make tough decisions when things go south.” -Damien

“These women were given nothing but you know, the slightest of opportunities, and they're the ones that have done the work, we had to make the selection standards harder, because in the eyes of everyone that had more to prove, these women were given no concessions. So they, they are the genuine heroes in this story.” -Damien

“Most of our women within 18 months of coming through the program have bought their own land and build their own house. And for many of them, that means getting their families back together, getting their kids back in school, getting driver's licenses, things we take for granted.” -Damien

Meet Akashinga: The Brave Ones 👇

Connect with Damien

Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn

Connect with iapf

Website / LinkedIn / Instagram / Twitter

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Watch the full Family Reach story mentioned in the midroll below! 🎉