Raleigh International

Raleigh International is a UK-originated youth and sustainable development not-for-profit organisation that aims to develop young people who understand about sustainable development and have the skills, knowledge and passion to make change happen. People volunteer with Raleigh programmes around the world, coming from different backgrounds and nationalities to discover their full potential through their work to improve communities and protect the environment.

Raleigh's programmes are challenging. Expeditions to Malaysian Borneo, Costa Rica & Nicaragua and India. UK Government funded International Citizen Service (ICS) programmes to Tanzania, India and Nicaragua. Past countries have included Chile, Ghana, Namibia, Malaysia, Mongolia and Fiji. The expeditions comprise three parts (Adventure, Environment and Community), each lasting about three weeks. The ICS programme is ten weeks of community service with a team of half UK and half national volunteers.

Projects are planned with local partners allowing participants to work alongside local people in rural communities and habitats to improve the local living conditions and reduce the impact of poverty. Most work involves using low cost sustainable technologies such as biogas ovens, rain water harvesting, gravity feed water systems as well as building schools and community centres which the community needs. Work in partnership with governments and national parks over many years has supported their conservation efforts by improving the infrastructure of national parks or reducing human-animal conflict.

People can apply for our expeditions from around the world either as venturers (17-24 year olds) or as volunteer managers (25–75 years) who undertake a variety of roles including project manager, expedition photographer, medic, communication officer and logistics manager. Raleigh is a member of The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS), Bond (for international development) and Civicus.

Raleigh also works with companies such as Green & Black's, supporting their efforts to develop sustainable Fairtrade cocoa communities, and the Airbus Corporate Foundation, taking their staff into India to build biogas plants for tribal families in order to reduce their need to take wood from the forests for cooking fuel.