Overseas community engagement
Making an impact overseas
We offer opportunities to schools and individuals wishing to volunteer overseas alongside local communities on international development projects in Africa, Asia, South America and the Caribbean. Projects vary from country to country; you might be helping to refurbish a school, working with street children or building a toilet block alongside local skilled labourers. You could help locals to improve their English, or if you have practical skills they could be used on construction or healthcare programmes in rural communities.
Other areas you could support include terrestrial conservation, marine conservation or rehabilitation of endangered wild animals. Whatever your skills and interests, you can be part of one of our project based expeditions.
There is a range of post-project travel options for those who wish to extend their trip, from sightseeing to safaris or mountain climbing. Our project based expeditions offer people a real opportunity to experience, learn and contribute in ways that holidays cannot. They are suitable for all ages, for groups or individuals; all you need is the time and willingness to help!
Example programmes
Here are a few projects we offer, as an example of some of the amazing and rewarding placements you could be a part of. We also run project work in Romania, Morocco, Uganda and Borneo to name a few!
Tackling period poverty
Having worked across the globe for many years delivering education and infrastructure programmes to schools, we could not help but notice the stigma, taboos and gender inequalities associated with menstruation.
We try to tackle some of these issues by partnering with charities to provide education, sustainable period products and financially sustainable options.
Period poverty is a global issue affecting millions of women and girls who struggle to access safe menstrual protection. The economic, social and environmental impacts of period poverty are huge, with many of those affected restricted from equal education simply due to their periods.
Adventure Lifesigns (trade name "a better flow") is helping to combat period poverty in the countries we work in through the creation of washable reusable pads and the delivery of educational programmes that works to empower, challenge and reduce stigmas.
In Africa and Asia the landscape for accessing period products is very different to the UK but the same difficulties regarding stigmatisation, misinformation and gender inequalities associated with periods still exist.
For women and girls, particularly those in rural areas, it can be difficult to obtain products. Even when they are available, they are incredibly expensive compared to the cost of living. Without suitable menstrual protection, many girls miss or even drop out of school altogether. The impact of period poverty can lead to lower educational attainment and an impact on socio-economic opportunities.
For more information about our partners in Tanzania, please visit their website www.actioninafrica.org.
Common Questions
The work that was completed by Adventure Lifesigns and The Warwick School during the month of July was unbelievable. They arrived ready and willing. The Warwick students helped in the classroom with organising, tidying and assisted teachers with lessons which the children really enjoyed and the teaching staff found such a great help. Then the students under the watchful eye of the instructors started work on building toilets, to improve health and hygiene - which were completed and work well, another great job done for the school. At the end of their time with us in Zambia the students painted a beautiful mural on the classroom wall, which depicted their time together, and bought great colour and happiness to the area. Our Zambian hosted thanked us when we left saying “We cannot praise the group too much as they worked wonders for us in a short space of time.
Zambia
Expedition leader
Nepal, Shree Mahendra Primary School: This summer I was lucky enough to lead an expedition with a lovely group of Students from Sutton, Surrey to Nepal. Whilst in Nepal we climbed to Annapurna Base Camp as part of our personal achievement phase and worked on a community project just outside Kathmandu. There was a team in the school before us and they dug the foundations and started to lay bricks of a wall to enclose the school, my team then came in a completed the project. Two weeks (between both teams) of solid hard work from young people who have never worked in this sort of environment, let alone with these materials and limited knowledge. It was evident and voiced that the school students, teachers and local people were thrilled with what we had done (the local people because it gave them somewhere to hang there washing over the weekend) they couldn’t have been more grateful or thankful. This project not only achieved its aims in terms of completing the school wall but in developing the UK school students and giving something back to a developing world country. The headmaster of the school sent us a thank you letter, was very grateful and would love to see students from the UK again soon.
Nepal
Expedition Leader
