Phillipine Makhubela started as an intern with VulPro in South Africa early in 2025. She is based in Blouberg Nature Reserve, in the north of the country, a protected area and site of key vulture breeding colonies that VulPro is fighting, against the clock, to protect.
We were able to cover some of the costs of Phillipine’s internship this year, provide some training, and materials for her to use in schools and communities. These included the PACE vulture booklet, that we co-produced with VulPro in 2022. It was one of our first education resources on endangered species, 12,000 copies have been printed, it’s in a 2nd edition and is being used by conservation educators in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana, as well as South Africa. But particularly warming, is that it’s making a difference to those critical vulture colonies at home in South Africa.
Phillipine recently shared a report, on her first 10 months in post. There are some extracts below, have a read and you’ll realise why we are looking for means to keep her on for longer!
In Phillipine’s own words …
One of the biggest impacts of implementing PACE was the increase in learner engagement. Instead of relying on traditional lecture methods, PACE encouraged active involvement. During the awareness lessons, learners participated in brainstorming activities, question and answer sessions and collaborative problem-solving tasks. This active learning environment kept learners interested, made lessons lively, and encouraged them to think critically about vulture conservation. PACE helped me break down complex environmental issues into simple, relatable concepts. Using PACE principles, I was able to connect lessons to real-life examples from the community. Show how vultures help control diseases and clean the environment. As a result, learners understood not just the facts but also why vultures are important to their daily lives.
This approach helped me design practical demonstrations that made the lessons more memorable. For example : demonstrating the vulture rehabilitation, food chain and the role of scavengers etc. Many learners began expressing their own ideas on how to protect vultures such as, educating their peers, sharing what they learned with their families and reporting poisoning incidents and rescuing grounded vultures.
Learners have become more curious, more open-minded and more willing to participate in conservation-related discussions. The learners below are from Boikhutso primary school, they found a grounded vulture in the bush, and they took it to Mr. Mafala, who then contacted us to collect the bird for rehabilitation. In the past this was an area where vultures were being collected for sale at a frightening rate so it’s fantastic that kids now help to save birds, of their own volition.
The implementation of PACE also contributes to my personal and professional growth. It helped me communicate clearly with diverse groups, adapt lessons to different age groups and manage classroom interactions confidently. This year has improved my confidence and public speaking in front of learners, teachers and the community and has helped me build strong public speaking skills. It has grown a passion for conservation – working closely with vultures and learning about their challenges has deepened my passion for protecting them. This program has shaped me into someone who believes strongly in the power of education to create change.