Company: How Many Elephants, Alresford, Hampshire, UK
Company Description: How Many Elephants is an innovative, design-led charity educating a global audience about the devastating impacts of the African elephant ivory trade and raising vital funds for front-line rangers. How Many Elephants is a UK registered charity: 1186238
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Woman of the Year - Government or Non-Profit
 Nomination Title: Holly Budge
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the achievements since July 1, 2021 of the nominated woman, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below:
- Outline the nominee's achievements since July 1 2021 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 244 words used.
Holly launched World Female Ranger Week (WFRW) on June 23-30th 2022, through her non-profit, How Many Elephants. This ground-breaking global awareness week celebrated and supported female wildlife rangers worldwide [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]. Holly has supported the work of female rangers for over a decade, earning the rare privilege of patrolling on the front line with the Black Mambas, an all-female anti-poaching team in South Africa, armed with just pepper spray and handcuffs. She has spent time with the fully-armed Akashinga Rangers in Zimbabwe and was part of an ambush team, arresting a bushmeat poacher with the Mara Elephant Project in Kenya. All of these teams are making huge strides forward for wildlife conservation and female empowerment; These women are bold. They're changing the game and paving the way for women to stand alongside men at the forefront of conservation, but they need allies.
Holly innovated WFRW, a pioneering platform for female wildlife rangers worldwide to come together, share their stories, access peer support, exchange best practices and have the technology available for them to fundraise themselves. The event has highlighted that many female rangers face similar challenges:
- A lack of access to adequate sanitary or health products
- Often a lack of security in the workplace
- Ill-fitting equipment designed for men
- Social stigma
Holly seeks to address these needs through awareness and funding. Holly's campaign, WFRW, has been created by women, about women, with the support of men and women who respect and promote gender equity.
- Briefly describe the nominated individual: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 195 words used.
Holly Budge will inspire you to think big and dream bigger.
As an adventurer, an Everest summiteer and the first woman to skydive Everest, she is described as “one of the most accomplished female adventurers” of her time.
As the founder and leader of international non-profit, How Many Elephants, she is celebrated by Sir David Attenborough, “thank you for all you are doing to protect the African elephants.”
As a keynote speaker on mindset and resilience, HRH Prince Edward describes her as “down-to-earth, funny and incredibly inspiring”.
She doesn’t stop there. Holly has raised > GBP 500,000 for environmental and social projects.
Holly’s passion and purpose are driving forward her innovative, design-led, non-profit, How Many Elephants, to educate a worldwide audience about the devastating impacts of the African Elephant ivory trade. Few people know that 96 elephants are poached every day for their ivory, and at this rate, they’ll be extinct within a decade.
Holly’s design-led approach to visualising data in a non-gory and non-political way has proved to be highly successful in engagement and impact. Her global travelling exhibition displays 35,000 elephant silhouettes to show the annual poaching rate in Africa.
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 246 words used.
Holly organised a week of online and live events for WFRW (attracting >500m views across the global media), including a launch event at Experience Africa in London, where she delivered the opening keynote talk on the importance of cross-sector collaboration between conservation NGOs and tourism companies.
PROMO VIDEOS:
World Female Ranger Week
How Many Elephants
LIVE MEDIA INTERVIEWS:
BBC Woman’s Hour - Holly Budge X Purnima Barman, founder of Hargila Army in India. Listen at 50 mins. (3.7M weekly listeners)
News Central TV - Holly Budge X Felicia Letang, a Black Mamba Ranger from South Africa.
Times Radio
BBC Radio Oxford
BBC Radio Solent
BBC Radio Surrey
What Does the Giffafe Say Media - Holly Budge X Sarah Nemigsha, a Ranger from Uganda.
Black Park Ranger Experience - Holly Budge X Melissa Horn, a Ranger from Yosemite National Park, USA.
Africa Hub - Holly Budge X Nyradzo Hoto, an Akashinga Ranger from Zimbabwe and Tsakane Nxumalo, a Black Mamba' Ranger from South Africa.
PRINT MEDIA:
BBC Wildlife Magazine (240,000 monthly readers)
Wanderlust Magazine (100,000 monthly readers)
Msafari
TESTIMONIAL:
“Gender equity in the conservation arena is such an important and prevalent topic. There is still much work to do but World Female Ranger Week plays a key role in raising awareness of the work of female rangers and women in conversation in the broader picture. Thanks to Holly Budge for bringing this to the fore.” Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka - Conservation Through Public Health.
- Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the nominee's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 246 words used.
Holly has identified >4500 female rangers in 18 African countries and >5500 internationally and has brought together >300 female rangers from 24+ countries to tell their stories on a global stage. Live media interviews took place on BBC Woman’s Hour, Times Radio and News Central to mention a few. Other impact included a new patrol vehicle being purchased for the Black Mambas, and grants were awarded to 6 direct-action female ranger organisations globally.
World Female Ranger Week is significant because COVID-19 crippled funding for conservation projects globally. The lack of tourists led to many rangers losing their jobs or having dramatic salary cuts. The knock-on effect was far-reaching, as, for example, one African ranger may support up to 16 family members. Holly recognised the work of rangers is paramount and is encouraging a global audience to help generate funding to keep the rangers operational.
Holly has seen first-hand why the female ranger movement is picking up such momentum. However, there is still a significant gender imbalance in environmental conservation, with just 11% of the global ranger workforce being female. Holly’s work is highlighting this and is encouraging conservation organisations to hire more women. As champions of wildlife, role models, educators and beacons of hope, female rangers are transforming attitudes towards the role of women.
Holly is collating gender-specific data about female rangers to identify their specific needs, find tangible solutions and help build effective policies towards positive outcomes for female rangers and conservation as a whole.
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