Spring cycle expedition volunteer managers have been allocated phase one placements

What projects will the expedition volunteer managers be working on this spring cycle?

The volunteer managers will be working in communities on the following project areas:

SWASH (schools, water, sanitation and hygiene)
Raleigh ICS and expedition teams will be working in selected villages in Tanzania’s Morogoro and Dodoma regions to improve the health and learning performance of school aged children – and, by extension, that of their families – by reducing the incidence of water and sanitation related diseases. (Source: What is SWASH? A definition: UNICEF; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools).

Over the next three months Raleigh SWASH programme volunteers will be constructing and maintaining much needed sanitation facilities whilst at the same time raising awareness of good hygiene practices amongst students and community members to ensure lasting behavioural change, in turn leading to improved SWASH outcomes.

NRM (natural resource management)
Based in the Mufindi District of Iringa Region in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, volunteers will work with TFCG (Tanzania Forest Conservation Group) to establish tree nurseries in the villages they are based in. Use of the forests (and other resources) and rural livelihoods are inextricably linked: Forest and woodland occupy more than 40% of the total land area of the mainland (NEAP, 2012) in Tanzania and 90% of Tanzania’s energy consumption is from wood and charcoal (NEAP, 2012). Most of Tanzania’s montane forests possess high water catchment value which makes them a main source of major rivers and vital to the country’s water supply system (Convention on Biological Biodiversity, 2015).

Volunteers will be busy throughout their project running awareness raising sessions, planting seeds and then transplant seedlings and working alongside a TFCG field officer as well as community members to establish a long-term care plan for the seedlings and tree nurseries.

The allocations: How do the volunteer managers feel about their allocations and what are they looking forward to?

“I am here to explore the world and the adventure so as to push myself to my maximum limits, and moreover to provide an extra hand and help the community in need when we are not on trek.” Peter Joseph. Expedition WASH – on the first phase Peter will be going on trek.

“I am looking forward to helping the community especially on how to protect the environment through the natural resources management project. I am excited also about this project as I will learn so many new things.” – Judith Komba, Expedition NRM.

What’s next for our spring expedition team?

The team have spent today preparing all the kits for the upcoming project planning visit which they depart for tomorrow to their respective communities. This also includes the volunteer managers who will be trekking in the first phase. Soon after the project planning visits to the communities the teams will be working in, volunteer managers will be getting out of fieldbase once more to go out on a practice trek.

Our volunteers work in international teams at the heart of meaningful community and environmental projects and take part in a challenging trek in the Iringa region. You will be challenged, have an adventure and create lasting change.

Expeditions include different people, projects, locations and challenges. By putting inspired, passionate, and creative young people within communities and on trek for weeks at a time, they are able to engage with the local community and put in place programs that can raise awareness of the importance of each programme to the community each team leader/ volunteer manager and their counterpart are based in with their team.

We hope these comments by the volunteer managers themselves reflect how engaged all participants are in the programme and how much energy the young people are going to bring to their projects this cycle.

Words by Rebbie, spring cycle communications officer and photos by Hilary, spring cycle photographer.

Keep up to date with our progress on our blog and social media channels for spring cycle expedition programme progress.