Carmen Castricum is Founder of The Green Stamp, a platform dedicated to presenting ethical and donation-based wildlife tours in South America, Asia and Africa. Here she discusses jaguar conservation in Bolivia and her visit to the Jaguar Conservation Ranch. Jaguar populations are being dramatically reduced due to deforestation, cattle ranching and killings, and the ranch offers local education to combat this.
CATALYST speaks with Genevieve Huneault, Founder of Social Root Consulting and Development Coordinator of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada about the field and its relationship to child welfare.
Read MoreLauren Chu is the Communications Director at Operation Groundswell (OG), a socially conscious travel organization whose motto is “backpacking with a purpose.” Here she talks about her experience on OG’s trips to Guatemala. Indigenous Mayan peoples make up more than 50% of Guatemala’s population. OG’s trips there examine issues such as their role in the community and how they are affected by deforestation, resource extraction and other human rights issues.
Clara is an Argentinian filmmaker who visited South Sudan to work on the first movies ever made in the new country. She mentored a team of local South Sudanese filmmakers and helped make 4 films. It was a brave experience as there has been recent violence toward journalists in the country and risk of political turmoil. Learn about the culture and personalities of the team she worked with, and the history and landscape of the country.
In underserved communities in Ecuador, social challenges include malnutrition, stunting, unemployment among others. Here, Jeff Goldman, Executive Director of Manna Project International, talks about their social justice and community development programs: nutrition classes, adult programs, job training and after-school/summer programming for kids. Short and long term volunteering and service learning opportunities are available with Manna Project International.
The San peoples are Indigenous hunter-gatherer groups that are the First Nations of Southern Africa. Here Alanna Wallace speaks of her travels to Botswana to stay in a San-owned lodge and what she learned from the San while there. Alanna is Program and Communications Manager of Planeterra Foundation, which is the leading nonprofit using tourism to tackle poverty, and Alanna talks about how they support the San-run Dqae Qare lodge as well as many other sustainable travel projects worldwide.
Polly is a travel advisor, freelance writer, founder of the travel blog Pollygoes.com and Senior Content Lead at Impact Travel Alliance. She recently went gorilla trekking in the Bwindi Imprenetrable Forest in Uganda. Mountain gorillas are only found in this area of the world and are endangered due to habitat loss and poaching. Traveling to visit these gorillas contributes to providing sustainable tourism income to the region and supports conservation of the mountain gorilla population.
Lorena's conscious travel expeditions in Indigenous communities in Colombia focus on mutual understanding, humane conversations, and storytelling. Here she discusses the history of the region and the human rights of the Indigenous people there.
Caliopy Glaros is Principal Consultant of Philanthropy Without Borders, an organization that provides donor travel, ethical storytelling and virtual engagement for nonprofit projects. Here she speaks about her trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to introduce philanthropists to a water sanitation and education project, and shares her perspective on the unique history and culture of the country.
As a social entrepreneurship student, Patricia traveled to the Hill Tribe region of Thailand to work on a development project transitioning farmers from opium to sustainable crops.
KC traveled to Ghana to work on Pencils of Promise's program of improving primary school students' literacy and health in local schools. Listen and learn about Ghana and Pencils of Promise's programs in Ghana, Guatemala and Laos.
Bhutan is a unique country that has invented the innovative Global National Happiness; has policies of environmental preservation enshrined into it's constitution—it's the only carbon,negative country in the world; and is known for its strong gender equality.
Nicola traveled to Jinja, Uganda where the problem of youth homelessness and addiction led her to cofound a nonprofit (S.A.L.V.E. which stands for Support And Love Via Education) to tackle these social issues, and reunite homeless kids with their families. Here she discusses the root causes of youth homelessness in Uganda, and their 87% success rate in getting homeless kids off the streets, and back to living with their extended families.
Patrick travels to the Yamal Peninsula in the Siberian Arctic to live with the Nenet reindeer herders. Here he discusses their culture, lifestyle and the threats of mining and climate change to their traditional livelihood.
Amy Merrill cofounded a social impact travel company, Journey, and here she talks about the challenges of such a venture, as well as her last trip to Nicaragua with Journey where she accompanied a group of volunteers to rebuild and refurbish a local school.
Leigh volunteered in a Vietnamese orphanage, and it set her on a path to found Rethink Orphanages, a nonprofit dedicated to educating about the harms of orphanage tourism and advocating for children.
Rob McQueen traveled to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia by motorcycle to visit with nomadic peoples and deliver water filters. Rob works for Waves For Water, a nonprofit dedicated to solving the water scarcity problem worldwide.
Claire Bennett traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal. She is a coordinator for PEPY TOURS and cofounder of Learning Service, that promotes travel learning above short term volunteering. She discusses the pros and cons of volunteer touring and tells us of her experiences in Kathmandu.
Jessica Mayberry is Founder of Video Volunteers and travels to Jharkhand, India where she works with local video correspondents, who make videos that help solve social injustices all around India.
Erin Huber traveled to Uganda where she founded the nonprofit Drink Local Drink Tap that works on clean water projects with local communities in the Nakasongola District. Erin talks about her journey and work providing clean water.