our aims
Our project partner has been sending students to projects in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe since 2009. Each project has been personally visited and vetted to ensure they meet our high standards, meaning they are reputable, worthwhile and offer an exceptional experience to our participants.
Economic Responsibility:
We work with select NGOs and charities from around the world at no charge to them. We add zero commission to any of the project fees paid directly to the project themselves. In addition, we often contribute to any fundraising campaigns they run on crowd-funding sites, and offer a free fundraising service to our participants, helping them raise any necessary funds to enable them to participate.
All of our projects are run either by locals or ex-patriots living in the country, who employ local staff and contribute to the local economy. We do not work with any middle men, foreign owned companies or disreputable organizations. Each organization has been carefully and personally chosen, visited and vetted.
The fees paid by our volunteers and interns often contribute directly to the continuing functioning of the projects themselves and the impact they are having on their local communities and eco systems.
Environmental Responsibility:
We are very environmentally conscious and aware of our footprint. As a predominantly online company, all of our literature, correspondence, marketing etc. is done electronically. Very little is ever printed, except perhaps posters and leaflets when we attend career fairs and student talks.
Whenever we travel to visit partners abroad, we offset our carbon footprint using various schemes – such as to plant trees or as a donation to an environmental charity.
Environmental protection is one of our core activities, as reflected by the projects which we have chosen to work with.
Respecting the environment (i.e. not wasting water, littering or destruction of the environment etc.) is considered standard practice, and anyone who does not follow these basic rules would not be welcome on any of our projects. We offer full advice and guidance specific to each project, to each and every one of our participants.
Social Responsibility:
We only work with local partners in the field. We have personally been to visit each of these projects to ensure that they are run well, achieve what they set out to and employ local staff. We would be very happy to discuss the details of any of the project that we work with if you’d like further information.
All of our participants are provided with detailed pre-departure support, codes of conduct and in-country information, and strongly encouraged to get involved in the local culture and society. The type of student interested in traveling with us is usually very enthusiastic about experiencing their destination country from the inside out, and not as a tourist passing through.
We expect a high standard from both our participants and our project partners.