INDEPENDENT TRAVEL TO LAST A LIFETIME

Leaving school is a milestone in all our lives, a time of liberation from structured days and a temporary end to intensive learning. Finally we are left to walk unsupported, bestowed with the burden of unrelenting decision making.

Travelling the world was never presented as an alternative when I left school, just before the idea of gap-years had really taken off; everything had to have structure and a clearly defined purpose whether it was university, a placement on an overseas program or a proper job. I left the UK five months after my final A-level exam bound for Australia with a working holiday visa, the sense of adventure and rebellion I felt was a real inspiration to me.

Independent travel is not something we all feel comfortable with but it was my salvation, a leap towards greater understanding of the world and the development of a healthy cynicism towards the media and politics. Often slated purely as an opportunity for hedonism and debauchery, it is not always the case and the eventual outcome is often an experience incredibly rich in life lessons, and an important period of time spent forming personal opinions and world views that can hold-fast for a lifetime. An education in the western world may provide strong academic credentials but it does not provide an alternative point of view on the world. It does not teach us the politics of Latin America from the point of view of a Guatemalan. It does not teach us about the stolen generation of Australian aborigines, and it does not teach us about the lasting impact of the Vietnam War over 30 years later. To really get away from it all and learn about history and politics from a new angle we must severe ties with all that is familiar, break new ground for ourselves and experience the world.

I spent two years travelling around Australia, South East Asia and South America, sometimes I'd be alone, sometimes I'd make friends and travel for extended periods with others, having different experiences as a result. The flexibility and freedom of being alone in foreign lands is a heady cocktail of possibility and opportunity, a fantastic asset to anyone's development. It is often a direct result of extended periods away from home that we return and decide to make changes to our lives. The recent rise in social enterprise is a likely outcome of the early 'gap-year generation' translating their travel experiences into ethical employment opportunites.

It was only after I started to travel that I began to eat better food, that I became interested in social and political affairs, and that I really learnt how best to deal with the multitude of decisions we have to make every single day. Travelling is far from an escape, and may even be the most challenging of options facing a school leaver but it is certainly jam-packed with rewards and lessons to last a lifetime. Despite the competition for employment opportunities that we all face; being able to impress on paper by qualifying all of our days with relevant experience isn't what we should be striving for. Self fulfilment and worldly wisdom will shine through on every occasion.

RELIEF FOR UK-BASED VOLUNTEER ORGANISATIONS

First posted on our Facebook discussion board by Alasdair Harris of Blue Ventures in response to a recent press release fromVSO that was commented on in our post VOLUNTEERS BEGIN TO ASK QUESTIONS

The prominent coverage of the views of Jean Brodie, director of VSO UK, puts into relief a critical need for greater transparency and accountability amongst organisations operating within the UK's largely unregulated gap year and volunteer travel industry.

The proliferation of poorly-planned, spurious and increasingly profit-oriented gap year schemes poses a growing threat to the legitimacy of reputable UK-based volunteer organisations, large and small, working throughout the sustainable development sector.

We represent two non-profit organisations, dedicated to promoting marine conservation in the world's tropical oceans. Year-round our teams work in partnership with governments and local NGOs within resource-dependent coastal communities in Africa, southeast Asia, the Caribbean and Pacific, developing research and conservation programmes to safeguard some of the world's most threatened and biodiverse marine environments.

Amongst other lasting achievements, our projects have trained and employed thousands of scientists, conservationists and volunteers worldwide; empowered local communities in over 10 countries to manage their own natural resources; and succeeded in developing some of the largest networks of community-run marine and coastal protected areas in the world. Projects initiated and led by our organisations have been recognised by the United Nations, the World Conservation Union, and governments worldwide for their efforts to conserve biodiversity and alleviate poverty.

Our work is heavily dependent on support from gap year students and volunteers of all ages from the UK, and we are proud to be associated with this important sphere of the development movement. In light of VSO's remarks, we welcome and encourage closer public scrutiny of all voluntary aid and development projects; such attention is necessary in order that the reputations of truly philanthropic organisations are no longer compromised by projects that claim to benefit communities and environments, but in fact benefit no one other than the travel companies that promote them.

Alasdair Harris, Founder and Research Director, Blue Ventures Conservation

Pete Raines MBE, Founder and CEO, Coral Cay Conservation

INSPIRING SOCIAL CHANGE INTERNATIONALLY

If you have an idea or a passion that you hope will be of benefit to others and the world we live in then i-genius can help. Through their online social network i-genius seek to stimulate partnerships between members and support them by developing relationships with established organisations.

What is i-genius all about?

"In our community we seek to stimulate fresh thinking and bright ideas, and inspire a new generation to become 'social entrepreneurs'. Social entrepreneurs are individuals who create or develop businesses (whether commercial or not for profit) where the primary focus is on social change."

-Tommy Hutchinson, i-genius Founder & CEO

The i-genius team and members have been a huge source of help, inspiration, publicity and partnerships for Make Travel Fair since we setup, and we are now helping them with planning their first ethical event - A world summit for a new generation of social entrepreneurs. In March 2008 i-genius are holding their first world summit in Thailand.



Why is i-genius having a world summit?

"The core purpose of the summit is to enable people to share great ideas and find exciting ways in which they can work together. The more people who work together from from different locations and cultures, the better the world will be."

-Tommy Hutchinson, i-genius Founder & CEO

Environmental sensitivity, the social and economical inclusion of local communties and businesses in the event are all of great importance to i-genius. The planning has been lengthy and is far from over, but with the right concerns in mind we hope that the event will be a great success.

Why has Phuket, Thailand been chosen as the location?

"After considering a variety of options we chose Thailand. Why? Because Thailand has a wonderful deep culture and history. It is perfectly placed economically and geographically to both benefit from and feel the affects of a rapidly changing world. Thai people have a wonderful sense of art and design which can be truly inspiring. And for practical purposes, it is pretty accessible and cost effective for most to attend. The summit will be held at the Indigo Pearl resort which is an amazing location nestled on a national park along the shores of one of Phuket's most beautiful beaches."

-Tommy Hutchinson, i-genius Founder & CEO

Conservelopment

Conservation and development have long been seen as arch rivals, neither accommodating the other in a bid for the upper hand. In order to conserve barriers must be erected and access controlled to the resources that are to be preserved. To develop, areas are bulldozed to make way for the infrastructure that accommodates growing populations. It is clear that you can’t have one with the other, or can you?

Is there a way to enhance the social situation while conserving the natural environment? Can people find a way to co-exist with nature and still increase standards of living? Since the Industrial Revolution it has been accepted that where there is development there is environmental degradation. Take China’s massive growth phase – it is already the second most energy consuming nation on earth and looks set to increase these demands by 5% each year (http://www.eia.doe.gov/).

We cannot feasibly ask these developing mega-nations to forsake the short-term benefits of rapid growth to ensure we minimise environmental damage. Afterall, a report in publication from the IPCC shows those forecast to be worst effected by the effects of climate change will be developing nations anyway, so a little unfair perhaps to start blaming them for the damage underway. Developed nations were not called to account during their era of major industrial expansion so neither can we impose sanctions on others. It does mean, however, we should lead by example.

Money does make the world go round and to ensure the environment has a chance of fighting back against the insult of industrial development we need to show that environmental protection itself enhances economic benefits. It takes a lot of lateral thinking to work out how this can be done and even more consumer power. As soon as consumers start seriously demanding more environmental responsibility from their producers, multi-national corporations will start to listen. But the words have to be translated into money talk or no one will care.

Tourism is the largest industry in the world, bar the arms trade, and doesn’t look to be subsiding any time soon. Even with the recent publication of the IPCC’s report about climate change, human behaviour will not be immediately influenced and people will continue to fly for business and leisure, perhaps though with more guilt.

So what is ‘responsible travel’ (RT) and what does the term even mean? RT is basically a way of travelling that is both socially and environmentally respectful. An oxymoron I hear you say! Travel and tourism is all about flying and flopping, buying fake DVDs and generally making a nuisance of yourself in another country, isn’t it? I agree; until recently the travel industry has been held to relatively little account for the impacts it has on destinations, however sweeping generalisations are also too common.

The concept of RT revolves around ensuring you maximise social benefits via travel and minimise the environmental damage. For example, money spent by travellers goes straight to the local people providing the services travellers demand, anything from accommodation and meals to excursions and treks. Money spent locally, brings social benefits that lead to development. What about the conservation aspect?

The term ‘ecotourism’ has lost much of its meaning as it is now used to communicate a host of different travel-related ideas. But taking it now as meaning travel that involves an appreciation of nature, perhaps in visiting reserves, ecolodges, conservation projects, working sustainable farmsand similar ‘ and it begins to offer the conservation element of RT. Suddenly the natural environment becomes a valuable commodity as travellers will pay big money to have the ecotourism experience. Whether it’s silverback gorillas or a rare orchid species, someone will pay money to see what that destination has to offer. It it is in the interests of the community to preserve their most treasured natural possession and ensure it is available for the next group of travellers.

If you can plant the seeds of environmental responsibility in the thoughts of the traveller you can open their minds to the challenges faced by the countries they visit, even encourage them to take an interest in community projects. An ancient Chinese proverb gets this point across much better than I can:

“Tell me, I will forget;
Show me, I may remember;
Involve me, I will understand.”

Until you experience first hand the catalytic effect of introducing a visitor to a local person who wants to share their knowledge and thoughts can you appreciate how much there is to gain from cross-cultural interaction - and responsible travel. Travel is all about seeing new places and cultures, and how better to do that than through local eyes. When you stand in someone else’s shoes you can’t help but gain empathy for their situation. This is why when travellers meet and interact with local people they gain such a different experience and always a more rewarding one if that person is reliable and hospitable. This is the foundation of responsible travel – equality, awareness and participation: involving travellers in local efforts that enhance their social and environmental awareness and involving local communities in the benefits of global tourism. You remove the middleman and suddenly many more benefits – social, environmental and even economic – are yielded.

Exciting? It is, and the fact it actually makes good economic sense to support these efforts makes it even more interesting. The smart money for those in travel is to join these efforts now and be a leader. It offers a way to differentiate within the biggest industry in the world and gain access to a larger, more sustainable customer base. But this is not something the huge industry leaders can do easily, It’s an opportunity for those at grass roots level to implement projects and initiatives that offer travellers new experiences, communities sustainable futures, and the environment the protection it deserves. It also stimulates equality in an industry controlled by global corporations and across cultures.

So yes, there are ways to stimulate development with conservation and they are practical solutions that are being put in place all over the world in small settings. 2007 sees the first World Responsible Tourism Day on November 14th and promises to be revolutionary year for travel and RT in particular. But the smart ones already know that and are leading conservelopment to new heights.

VOLUNTEERS BEGIN TO ASK QUESTIONS

International development charity VSO recently cautioned young people taking a gap year abroad that it may be better to travel rather than to take up spurious voluntary work in developing countries.

The escape from structure and routine that travelling provides is such an important breath of fresh air for young people who have just left the education system. There are so many life skills to be developed and experiences to be had from the independence that travelling provides. We all need time to develop ourselves and our skills before we attempt to help others develop, so is volunteering really the best option for school leavers? Is it perhaps better suited to a more mature demographic with more skills to share?

Has volunteering become a means for young people to spend time away from education and work, without the feeling of compromising their employability? Every job is so competitive these days that many would class a year spent travelling as a literal gap in their CV or resume. In an effort to maintain their 'edge', a period of time spent 'doing the right thing' has become more favourable for young people than simply travelling and seeing the world for what it is. As a result, volunteering has risen in popularity and led to an explosion of companies looking to capitalise on the consumer, tainting the sector with some poorly established programs, and requiring the more responsible organisations to draw up guidelines to assist people with choosing a worthy company.

Perhaps volunteering has come to be seen too much as a rite of passage, and not enough for what it actually is. Similar neglect on utilising the skills of volunteers effectively has contributed to the almost devaluing of volunteer placements.