Joel Verde is Executive Director of the Sarteneja Alliance for Conservation and Development (SACD), an effective alliance of organizations focused on community development and the sustainable use of the Corozal Bay Wildlife Sanctuary’s resources for the benefit of the present and future generations. He is also a very active MAR Leadership Fellow from the 2012 cohort. We invite you to meet him and learn about his experiences and lessons learned along the way.

Son of a fisherman, Joel grew up along with his 9 siblings along the shores of the Corozal Bay in the fishing village of Sarteneja.

After finishing High School he became a fisherman, like his dad, but later stopped as he believed that things could be done differently. He then began to work as a tour guide and he saw the great potential of tourism as a source for opportunities for the community where he grew up. Joel soon coordinated the Sarteneja Tour Guide Association (STGA) to help bringing this potential to the community. He became a natural leader in his community which led him to be chosen as the Executive Director of the Sarteneja Alliance for Conservation and Development. He is passionate about helping to secure his community’s welfare through the conservation of its natural resources and the development of alternative livelihoods.

During his first year on the job, new in the area of natural resources management, Joel heard about MAR Leadership Program. As he felt he lacked tools due to his limited experience, he decided to apply to gain knowledge in order to improve his skills at the beginning of his career.

“My primary interest was getting exposure, learning from other people doing the same kind of work, and the leadership skills, which I felt I really required as part of my role in the organization. The MAR-L program, including project development and implementation, was a great deal of importance to me, learning processes from technical people of something that I was already doing intuitively. “

Joel during one of MAR Leadership’s intensive workshops.

The Corozal Bay Wildlife Sanctuary (CBWS) is a major component of the largest estuarine system that flows into the Belize Barrier Reef System. Corozal Bay has been identified as a national and ecoregional conservation priority: it is one of four priority protected areas of the Belizean Mesoamerican Reef.

Joel’s MAR-L project was looking to create a framework for strengthening management efforts aimed at all conservation targets of not only the CBWS but also the related NPAs. Instead of looking at NPA as individual sites, Joel wanted to find how to best collaborate and communicate at system level for best management practices. 2012 MAR Leadership Program’s Theme “Marine Reserves Network” was hence fitting perfectly for Joel. The cohort’s mentors Luis Bourillón from COBI and Paquita Bath from Aligning Visions helped him design his project and find appropriate solutions to his challenges.

To implement his project, Joel had to collaborate with institutions from Belize but also from Mexico such as the Environmental Secretary SEMA, the Natural Protected Areas Commission CONANP and researchers from the University of Ecosur.

The 2012 MAR Leadership cohort, the mentors and the staff in Placencia, Belize.

He also has created strong links with Belizean MAR-L Fellows from other cohorts, Kirah Foreman (2011) from Bacalar Chico, Adriel Castañeda (2012) from Belize Fisheries Department and of course, Leonel Requena (2012) from PNUD as it supports the conservation action plan of his project through COMPACT (small grant from PNUD and GEF). Joel still engages a lot with MAR-L Fellows, as he finds it a good source of connection to engage government and other NGOs at a regional level.

Getting the exposure, through the MAR-L program, in that point of his life resulted crucial in his professional and personal development process. At the initiation of his exciting career project, Joel had strong challenges to face such as NPA management or dealing with different sectors with limitations of financing.

For Joel, conflict resolution and leadership skills training were essentials, “fantastic” as he says, and greatly contributed to his development as a conservation professional.

He continues to use the learnings on a day to day basis as decision making, working with stakeholders and communities are always a challenge.

A very attentive and dedicated student…

In addition, with support from the MAR-L program, he has been able to continue his education, completed his studies, and learned about economics, business management and ethics.

“The program gave me skills that I can still relate to now on a day to day basis with my staff: communication, presentation, how to avoid conflict and make decisions, those sessions were fantastic! I remember the different professors that gave us the sessions, they gave us a lot of tools to address different kind of situations, how to communicate with the different type of people.”

Those skills, combined with the support to pursue his education and his great dedication, have made him grow in his profession and gain a well deserved respect. Thanks to his leadership, SACD has achieved a very high level of reputation nationally and internationally which give it access to different sources of fundings. Despite limitations, Joel’s great motivation has consolidated and expanded the organization which has nowadays accomplished numerous successes. His personal development has occurred alongside the continuous growth of the organization. Sarteneja’s younger generation is gradually changing its behavior and is getting more and more involved.

Joel, a community leader with a bright vision for the future.

When asked what he wished for the future of Sarteneja, Joel, proud father of a 3 years old little girl, shared that (his) “vision is to create an environment where communities become appreciative of their natural resources, a place where communities finally benefit from nature”.

We sincerely wish him all the success for his vision to become true in Sarteneja and the whole Mesoamerican Reef!