Raleigh International has sent over 30,000 people out on over 250 expeditions to more than 40 countries since it began as Operation Raleigh in 1984. We were formed as and remain a charity because we provide expeditions for the young people, not to make profits for shareholders or owners. We exist to help people learn more about the exciting world we live in and in the process learn more about themselves. Whatever funds we raise, we use to run the expeditions and ensure that the experience is the best it can possibly be for the participants and for the local communities in the expedition countries. Our work in each of the countries aims to support the delivery of the Millennium Development Goals, in particular Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education and Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability.
The spirit of adventure is central to what we do. This was understood by Colonel John Blashford-Snell when he first started Operation Drake and then Operation Raleigh with the support of Prince Charles in the late seventies. They wanted to give young people the chance to explore the world and in doing so discover their own strengths and potential as leaders and members of a team who can work together to make a real difference. This aim is still true today.
Raleigh was founded on four challenges:
Although selection works both ways now - we help the young person decide if we are right for them too, the other challenges still hold true.
1. One is to the young people whom we call venturers. Our aim is to help them become global citizens who can work alongside people from all backgrounds and cultures and who have the confidence and self-belief to do whatever they aspire to do in the world.
Dr Simon Beames, University of Edinburgh, did his PhD on the impact of the Raleigh expedition. He studied 14 young people on expedition in Ghana before, during and after their experience. He concluded the following:
"The findings of this case study show that participants developed a certain mental resilience, became more willing to undertake challenges, and gained a greater understanding of themselves. Interpersonally, young people developed an increased facility for working and living with people they did not know before. Finally, participants gained a greater appreciation of the modern conveniences they were accustomed to and learned about the economic and democratic differences between the UK and Ghana."
Expeditions and the social construction of the self, Simon Beames, University of Edinburgh, Scotland 2005
Dr Beames and Dr Tim Stott from Liverpool John Moores University are now putting in place an evaluation framework for all Raleigh participants who will be able to measure the extent of their own personal journey as a result of being part of the expedition.
2. The other commitment is to the communities and countries in which we work. We work in partnership with local communities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and governments in each of our expedition countries to provide long-term, worthwhile and sustainable projects that are genuinely needed, where possible within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals. We act as a catalyst for change, bringing local communities together, often for the first time as one team, and providing them with the resources and motivation to achieve sustainable development.
Bryan Michell, University of Birmingham, researched our impact in Costa Rica, showing the extensive positive impact of our work several years after the projects have been completed.
The people of Carona all saw the project as benefiting the community, "it was somewhere for all to enjoy"; they said that they now had a new facility which was comfortable and could be used for meetings, assemblies, fundraising activities, fiestas, running courses (e.g. sewing), as a medical centre (for visiting medics), a place to stage cultural events, dancing, and as a place for visitors to stay. They saw the project as being "very important" to them and something that would not have happened without RI (Raleigh International), because "the government had not helped them in any way".
Michell, B., 2007. Gap year international volunteer programmes: are they irrelevant to the effort in reducing poverty? University of Birmingham
Read the report in full.
Visit the countries on the map to find out more about our impact, our way of working and our local partners.
With Raleigh you will have an experience that will stay with you for life. Not just because you will be living in places that you couldn't get to on your own and genuinely making a difference to the lives of others, but also because you will be working alongside a diverse group of young people from different countries and backgrounds to challenge yourself to do things that you never believed you could do. Some of these people will be your friends for life.
Raleigh is not just about an expedition; it is about being part of a community of like-minded people. People like you who want to do something extraordinary with their lives and really make a difference in the world.
