In life there is always someone better off than you and lots of people worse off! And we work with this by graciously accepting from those who have and giving to those who don’t. The igoMANGO project network runs on the same principle. NGOs learn and educate, seek support and provide support. Our role in igoMANGO is to put people in touch with one another and also provide resources, advice and funds to the more needy when we can.

Here is news from some of the people we are working with in this network of friends.

Lupton Trust Community Vegetable Garden

The Lupton Trust is based in Brixham, Torbay and an igoMANGO team of volunteers have been helping to create a community vegetable garden in a space that was so overgrown with brambles that you could hardly see the soil beneath.  We have already created and planted up three beds and there’s still a lot more to do.  We have been kindly donated woodchip and logs to create borders by a local tree surgeon, which has been a great help. We are looking for anyone who would like to help the continuing growth and maintenance of this garden to get in touch.

Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust - Paignton Zoo

The Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust (WWCT) is a registered conservation, education and scientific charity and owns Paignton Zoo Environmental Park, together with two adjacent urban wildlife site, Primley Park and Clennon Valley in Paignton, Living Coasts on Torquay’s Harbourside, Newquay Zoo in Cornwall and the site of the National Nature Reserve at Slapton Ley.

igoMANGO volunteers have been working alongside WWCT ranger Dave Ellacot to conserve and manage the habitat at Primley Park. They have been busily clearing laurel , which has opened up a large area and improved the access enormously, along with tree planting and helping to manage the habitat by introducing Yellow rattle, which is a semi-parasitic grassland annual.

One of the volunteers, Lucy Wenger says of her volunteering experience at Primley “I gained practical experience and found that what I had learned in lectures at University was now being put into practice and I have a better understanding of the reasoning behind some of the habitat management techniques I had heard about”. Following on from her volunteering experience, Lucy has now gained a 1 year Horticultural traineeship with Kew Gardens and starts in August and has completed her vimpact award for 100 hours volunteering – well done! Good luck to Lucy and thank you to all the volunteers who helped over the past few months – we hope to some of you again next year and of course some new faces.

Visit the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust web site.

The Barn Owl Foundation, Hungary

BOF is a small non-governmental organisation dedicated to the sensitive management of the countryside and long-term survival of barn owls and other raptors in Hungary and all over Europe. The foundation works closely with other conservation organisations in the local area including National Parks and nature reserves.

Project activities include:

• Radio tracking barn owls
• Maintaining aviaries for rescued barn owls
• Installation of nest boxes
• Contributing to educational talks on owl conservation (in English)
• Dormouse monitoring
• Invertebrate monitoring
• Bat surveys
• Botanical surveys and practical habitat management.

The igoMANGO project has provided accommodation adjacent to the Barn Owl Trust centre in south west Hungary, to facilitate volunteer involvement in the Trusts activities. We have also secured European LEONARDO funding to provide fully financed training opportunities for volunteers.  Currently, igoMANGO have organised a link with the UK Barn Owl Trust to undertake simultaneous barn owl radio tracking to allow comparison of how the UK and Hungarian species utilise their very different habitats for feeding. The study takes the teams out 2 full nights a week searching the respective countryside for a (very) mobile bird,  looking at home range.

Visit the The Barn Owl Foundation web site.

The Cork Initiative

Matt and Anna are now in the throes of their study looking at how buying behaviour changes when all the facts are known. They have collected their data with the help of loads of volunteers and they now have to look through their findings and see what it all means – can we change people’s buying behaviour and in turn help to save ancient Mediterranean forests and traditional livelihoods?

Visit the Cork Initiative web site.

ARCAS, Central America

ARCAS is local Guatemalan NGO involved in wildlife conservation and community support. They have the responsibility of rehabilitating all animals seized by the police from the wildlife trafficking trade in Guatemala.igoMANGO has been working with Colum Muccio, their director, since 2002 in sea turtle conservation projects. Significant numbers of UK volunteers have spend up to 8 months volunteering on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, living in local communities, though the funding provided by the European Voluntary Service, secured by the igoMANGO team, and overseen by ARCAS. This yearigoMANGO has financially supported the NGOs activities, and we are jointly seeking funding for future projects.

Visit the ARCAS web site.

The Youth Action Network

igoMANGO has achieved the quality assurance framework designed by the YAN which we have incorporated into our own guidance principles, which address ‘good volunteering’ for people of all ages.

 

Visit the Youth Action Network web site.