Evaluating our work

Impact on participants
Dr Simon Beames from the 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 and 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
Read the full report

In 2007 Dr Beames and Dr Tim Stott from Liverpool John Moores University evaluated the impact of our autumn expedition in Costa Rica. They surveyed participants before and after their experience and found a significant improvement in:

Confidence in dealing with people from different cultures and countries
Mental resilience to succeed when the "chips are down"
Self awareness
Preparedness to influence group situations
Ability to plan and lead group projects

Read the full report.

Early in 2008, we commissioned ippr to evaluate the impact of our youth development programme over the past 20 years. This report will be published in 2009.

Impact of our work in communities
Bryan Michell from the University of Birmingham researched our impact in Costa Rica, showing the positive impact of our work several years after the projects have been completed. Here's what he found:

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".
Gap year international volunteer programmes: are they irrelevant to the effort in reducing poverty? Michell, B., 2007. University of Birmingham.

Read the full report.

skip back skip to top

Call us on +44 (0)20 7183 1270 or email info@raleigh.org.uk for more information