Camps International, a globally focused social enterprise, is celebrating 20 years of offering sustainable student travel and remote learning.
The group arranges “ethical journeys with impact”, via camps in rural communities and conservation areas in Kenya, Tanzania, Borneo, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru.
Thirty thousand students and teachers have worked on more than 200 projects in the last two decades, in areas hit by high levels of poverty or facing considerable environmental or wildlife conservation challenges.
Local people are employed to build, staff and supply the camps, with each one functioning as the hub from which the social enterprise can run a wide variety of sustainable projects and adventure activities.
Projects range from constructing school classrooms and supplying drinking water to terrestrial and marine wildlife conservation, as well as reforestation, environmental education and microfinance initiatives.
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Having specialised in offering first-hand educative travel for the bulk of its history, in 2020 the pandemic and consequent bans on travel led Camps International to launch its online learning programme, Real World Studies (RWS), to help maintain the connection between students and projects.
The free net-based resources are designed to be compatible with national curricula in both the UK and Australia, as well as IB and CAS. Topics covered in the programmes include sustainable development, food and water security, and health and sanitation.
Now, in a bid to further narrow the gap between educators and students through RWS, the organisation is set to introduce a series of conference-style events allowing teachers to share best practice on how to ignite passion among students on the future of sustainable educational travel.
The first Real World Studies think tank will be held in Kenya from 24-28 October.
