How Expedition is helping one employee-owned company develop its staff
How Expedition is Helping One Employee-Owned Company Develop Its Staff
Joe began his Expedition programme in June and has taken on the role of Volunteer Manager in Tanzania. The programme was open to employees from all GLIDE companies. To ensure their commitment to the programme and the aims of Raleigh Tanzania, candidates submitted applications and took part in a rigorous two stage interview process conducted by members of the GLIDE board and Raleigh. This is the second year of Raleigh’s partnership with GLIDE and alongside Joe, we will also have employees volunteering in Nepal and Costa Rica over the coming months.
During his 10 weeks in Tanzania Joe will help lead work on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) projects in rural communities and help his team of volunteers complete a 19-day youth leadership trek. We caught up with Joe this week in the village of Matanga, where he and his team have been helping deliver a WASH project with the community. The group worked on construction of toilet blocks for Mtunguchole Primary School and delivering important WASH lessons across all standards.
Joe’s experience in Matanga
Speaking about arriving in the project community, Joe said: “The welcome that the people in the community gave us made me feel like I was at home.”
Initially nervous about coming to Tanzania, and about his role on project, Joe feels he has really come into his own here; “My confidence has grown a huge amount. I have more belief in myself and my abilities. I was very nervous about the experience before I got here and now I don’t want to leave.”
Joe has not only developed his own confidence but helped do the same with his group of volunteers too. During the project work in Matanga, one young volunteer took on the role of “day leader” each day. This has had a visible impact on the confidence of individual team members and on their ability to lead their peers. “From seeing how nervous my group was at the start, to seeing how confident they are now, has been the most fulfilling thing for me.”
Life on Raleigh Expedition is underpinned by teamwork. Joe’s group in Matanga have been working closely with one another, project partners and the community to keep the project moving forward.
“In my job at Gripple, it’s not all about getting the job done but it’s about the wider picture too. That’s been so important here – not just focusing on individual jobs but on the team as a whole, from morale, to planning. The team has had to be a collective and work together to achieve the aims of the project. I think my teamwork and management skills are improving massively here.”
Through the intense and exciting training delivered upon arrival in Tanzania, Joe is extremely committed to Raleigh’s work and to contributing to sustainable development. His preferred way of doing this so far has been raising awareness of handwashing practices with schoolchildren:
“I’ve learned about the SDGs and the importance of what Raleigh are aiming to achieve through their WASH work here. The volunteers planned and delivered lessons but I joined in and always made sure we sang “Do like I do” because I think it’s so engaging for the children and powerful for everyone.”
What’s next for Joe?
“Having this opportunity of immersing myself in a culturally-new environment is allowing me to gain lots of new skills. These include planning and problem solving, leading diverse groups of young people, cultural awareness, communication and management skills plus many more that just wouldn’t be possible back home in the UK.”
As a result of his experience working on WASH projects and on Youth leadership Trek, Joe will return to his position with Gripple as a confident leader with an abundance of both new and refined life skills. We look forward to seeing Joe develop further personally and professionally over the coming weeks on Expedition. We’re certain that he will continue to make a positive contribution to the development of Raleigh Tanzania’s young volunteers.
