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Daniel’s active citizenship journey: “I believe young people have the power and responsibility to make changes in their community”

“In 2015 and 2016 I took the opportunity to volunteer with Raleigh. My work as a volunteer on a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project in Hydarer Manyara and as an International Citizen Service (ICS) Team Leader at Igenge village in the Njombe region taught me much about working with local communities to bring about positive, sustainable change. I then worked for six months at Raleigh Tanzania Field Base in Morogoro as Deputy Operations Manager, coordinating many different projects across environmental impact and community resilience. These experiences have helped me enormously both in my personal and professional working life, helping me build my business.”

Daniel’s business is Rau Eco & Cultural Tourism, a social enterprise which he co-founded in 2013. The organisation’s goal is to protect the Rau Forest Reserve and serve as a role model for other eco and cultural tourism enterprises in Tanzania.

“I am an ecological entrepreneur who believes that young people have the power and the responsibility to make changes in their community by being an active citizen, so with this business we hope to inspire young people in the Kilimanjaro region and across Tanzania.

Portrait of Danny
 

“My role as Community Conservation and Public Relation Officer is also to ensure that the local community is engaged with, and benefits from, our activities. I also reach out to local people and students from primary and secondary schools in the area to involve them in our environmental conservation activities.”

Daniel has taken a lot from his Raleigh experience and applied the knowledge to his business. The organisation uses the funds raised from tourism to support and advocate for projects that pursue the UN Global Goals for sustainable development at a local level.

“Our innovative ‘One Trip – One Tree’ campaign ensures that every tourist who visits the Rau Forest Reserve gets to plant their own tree to help regenerate the forest and help in the fight against climate change. We run programs that raise awareness about resource management issues and climate change with the local community, and we also run a community replanting scheme for endangered tree species. We have planted 11,000 saplings in our tree nurseries to date. Our ambition is to plant one million trees by 2030 to help achieve the Global Goals.

“We are expanding to run our unique tours in a wider area and are also innovating by setting up a plastic recycling project to reduce the plastic pollution in both our local environment and the wider international environment. This is a big step for us but it is our role as active citizens to take action wherever we see a societal need. We will continue our existing awareness raising campaigns in local schools to preserve the trees already in the forest. I hope this will have a positive impact on future generations not just here in Tanzania but globally, as the CO2 stored in the forest here will have a positive effect in minimising climate change.”

Team debrief
Aside from his work with Raleigh and Rau Eco & Cultural Tourism, Daniel has engaged in active citizenship in other ways and is always keen to expand his knowledge and the impact of the projects he is working on.

“Last year I was selected for the Young Africa Leaders Initiative (YALI). I studied business and entrepreneurship at the YALI East Africa Leadership Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. It allowed me to learn about how businesses can have a massive impact on communities and to network with other young leaders from 14 African countries. Together we exchanged ideas on different ways our businesses and other organisations can create positive changes in our communities and transform Africa. The networks we have created will allow us to continue to share opportunities, promote active citizenship and, through collaboration, bring more benefits to our communities.

“I also work as a trustee for a UK charity, Didia Civic Pride, which was set up by former Raleigh volunteers I met on my journey. The charity provides bursaries to allow disadvantaged children access to secondary education in the community of Didia, Tanzania, and I coordinate the charities programme with the local community.

“I am dedicated to living a life of continuous learning that contributes to my community at a local, national and international level. I believe the UN Global Goals provide a roadmap of where mankind needs to go and I will continue with my journey as an active citizen in a way which keeps these principals at the heart of everything I do.”

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Our alumni constantly inspire us. Have you got an active citizenship story that you would like to share? We would love to hear it! Get in touch with us at alumni@raleighinternational.org

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