Youth unemployment. Brain drain. Skills gaps. 

 

Much of the world faces these challenges. Young people dedicated to careers in sustainability with advanced degrees, aptitude, and passion are often forced to work in unpaid internships, move abroad, or take unrelated work sometimes for years before they can start being paid for their passion.

 

Green New Deal. Build Back Better. Nature Based Solutions. 

 

Therein lies an opportunity to couple an improvement in youth outcomes and opportunities while reshaping our society for the better. 

 

To seize this opportunity, Otter Strategies introduces The Raft. Through The Raft, we seek out, vet, and elevate the brightest young conservation minds, and connect them with paid work. But we go further. The Raft is a cooperative concept grounded in equal opportunity and professional development. While individual members are assigned to projects based on their expertise, everyone in the Raft benefits from continued investment in skills training, professional development, shared software expenses, and more.

 

Moreover, by focusing on talent from developing countries and underserved geographies, we shake up the status quo that concentrates wealth, skills, and "experience" in parts of the world that need them the least.

 

Conservation projects are tackled. Young professionals jumpstart their careers. More money goes directly to protecting our planet. 

 

 

Fun fact: sea otters often rest in groups called “rafts” to prevent themselves from drifting away!