The Leap Values and Responsible Travel Policy

Over the years we have sought to find and develop fantastic partnerships between projects, placements and people; who work together to make a difference to each other's lives and their surroundings.

We have worked with some communities for many years. Our relationships continue to be successful based on the trust that you, our volunteers and us follow a basic set of guidelines and adhere to certain values (outlined below) helping us travel effectively and responsibly.

Selection and Behaviour
In order for the scheme to be a success we need to ensure:

• You are happy with your choice of placement.
• We are happy that the placement will match your expectations.
• We are happy that you have the right personality for the placement.
• We are happy that you will respect our values – for the good of the staff, communities and other leapers.

You do not need any special skills or experience for our placements. However it is essential that you be:

• A motivated, enthusiastic and determined self-starter with initiative.
• That you genuinely want to make a difference and give something back to communities from far poorer backgrounds.
• That you are prepared to commit to completing your placement in the knowledge that leaving early lets everyone down.
• That you are prepared to work hard and get stuck into whatever needs doing with a positive attitude.
• That you are not natural moaners and complainers, as that is very demoralizing on others, and appreciate that a placement can be tiring, uncomfortable and tough at times.
• That you like a physical and mental challenge and are flexible enough to deal with changes to plans.
• That you are polite, well behaved and respectful to others – our placement staff, the environment, other volunteers and communities.
• That you enjoy being with other people.
• That you will comply with any advice/local rules on safety, appearance, responsibilities etc.
• That you will not cause problems with drugs, drink, theft, antisocial behaviour etc and will be honest with us before you travel if you have had such problems.

Keeping within the above parameters will give you fulfilling and wonderful time. You'll improve your personal skills and will return home proud of your achievements, with memories to last a lifetime.

Our Responsible Travel Policy

• We consult the opinions of all the people we work with enabling us to constantly review our procedures and improve the service we offer.
• Our Project Leaders are chosen for their professionalism, compassion and ability to provide the service we require. We regularly brief our in-country project leaders and visit projects regularly.
• Pre Departure Training: We ask you to attend a Briefing and Training Course covering many topics, including how to live and respect the environments and communities we work amongst. On arrival in-country you will also receive a comprehensive induction course covering safety, religion, health, project tasks and local do’s and don’ts.
• Environmental Policy: We ensure that you are briefed on how best to protect the natural environment and wildlife. Most foodstuffs are bought locally and resources such as heating in camps where possible is done in an environmentally friendly fashion e.g. solar panels.
• Social Responsibility: We ensure that all our programmes work with the full agreement of local elders and that you work side by side amongst the community. On our team placements we pay the communities for looking after you and every volunteer has a donation to the community included in the cost. This is used to buy materials to build classrooms, pay for education fees and so on.
• Economic Sustainability: on average approx.60% of the cost of your scheme is paid to the project leader in-country to cover all your in-country costs. This includes paying local communities for food and accommodation. We employ in-country as many staff as we can – in Kenya for instance we employ 2 local managers, a project leader, a cook, 2 security guards, a cleaner and a driver, thereby doing as much as we can to provide local people with jobs, cutting down on unemployment and providing families with an income. Sometimes this income supports numerous relations.
• Carbon Offset: We believe global warming is one of the most important issues facing our planet and therefore want to do ‘our bit’ to help. We have chosen Carbon Responsible as our partner to offset the carbon emissions created by air travel.