BTG - Raleigh Asia Conference 2013 – Head Office Presentation

Editor's Notes

1. Introduction Aims of session: To help you understand more about how the team at Raleigh International are talking about the work that we do, what exactly an international expedition involves. After break, interactive session in which we will explore how we can link our new messaging with what you as societies are doing.
2. In the past, Raleigh has not been very good at talking about why we do what we do. Until now, we have had very product-led communications – we start any conversation with what we do e.g ‘Raleigh do expeditions’ rather than why we do it. We also only had one programme so that’s all we talked about. The result is that the message we are giving is a very expedition-focused, individual view of Raleigh, rather than celebrating our wider achievements and the impact our programmes have. So, with our new strategy we want to be clearer about the way we talk about ourselves and we want everyone at Raleigh to be able to talk more consistently about what we do and why we do it. Talking about why we exist as an organisation will help us to diversify our funding by attracting funding based on thematic areas. We have so many internal and external stakeholders that have differing views about us and what we do. We are not going to achieve any sort of transition unless we take all of them on the journey with us.
3. This is a visual representation of our current communications. In the past have started with ‘what’ – starting with expeditions, different phases, trek etc. No emotional connection. Flip this on it’s head and start at the middle with ‘why’ – ‘we want to make the world a better place’ – to get buy in on an emotional level. Then move on to ‘how’ (through young people) and ‘what’ – expeditions.
4. As part of the new strategy, we’ve outlined our core beliefs as an organisation. These beliefs are key to explaining why we do what we do and the unique way we do it – through young people.
5. Our vision as an organisation – what we want to achieve.
6. Our Mission – how we are going to achieve this. Working through young people – this is what makes Raleigh unique.
7. Familiar with the term ‘elevator pitch’? This describes Raleigh as an organisation - is not programme focused. Key point – we haven’t dropped youth, just moved it into the second sentence. We exist because we are a sustainable development charity, how we do it is through young people.
8. These are our top line messages – once you’ve given the elevator pitch, these are the messages that we want to give to any audience. We have many different audiences therefore have put together tailored messages for different groups of stakeholders (see sheet). May chose different ones depending on who you are talking to – pick the 3 most important for your audience.
9. We do things our way. We are not losing any of the essence of Raleigh. The way we run our programmes is unique, it’s what makes us Raleigh!
10. We are a sustainable development charity because we have bases in countries that work alongside local communities supporting them to build long lasting infrastructures Since then over 37,000 people have taken part from over 98 countries around the world Field bases in countries Commitment to improving the lives of others through our projects
11. Which meets our charity’s overall objectives (with both core and ICS) to ‘drive sustainable development through inspiring young people.’
12. The three main pillars of sustainable development include economic growth, environmental protection and social equality. Economic Growth is the pillar that is most often focused on when generating development. Raleigh’s belief is that the world is living beyond its means and as such the focus cannot simply remain on economic growth and omit the ever growing problem of environmental sustainability. We must therefore find ways to generate economic growth without hurting the environment. The Social Equality pillar of sustainable development focuses on the social well-being of people. Global inequality has been declining, but the world is still extremely unequal, with the richest 1% of the world’s population owning 40% of the world’s wealth and the poorest 50% owning around 1%. We believe that everyone has the right to develop to have a better quality of life Environmental - Pollution prevention, sustainable use of natural resources, protection of endangered species Economic – Poverty, wealth distribution, access to basic needs, water, sanitation etc Social – Standard of living, healthcare, education, opportunities Raleigh’s programmes focus on developing communities and bring about behavioural change that will have a long lasting impact and take into account environmental and social factors as well as economic. Fundamentally unique to Raleigh, we believe young people can make this change by working in partnership with communities.
13. We also want to make young people aware of the wider context of Raleigh’s work and how it is driven by the Millennium Development Goals.   At the turn of the century, around 200 nations came together to set and adopt eight goals for development, known as the Millennium Development Goals. This represented an historic global commitment as it was the first time that so many governments and global institutions came together to pledge their commitment to tackling poverty. The target date for these goals was 2015. By taking part in a Raleigh expedition, young people will be contributing in particular to no. 7 ensuring environmental sustainability and no. 8 a global partnership for development – but our work with water and sanitation underpins and contributes to many of these goals (3, 4, 5, 6) and some of infrastructure projects in Borneo in particular are working towards no. 2.
14. The message we want to get across is that a Raleigh expedition is a challenging programme that empowers diverse groups of young people to contribute to sustainable development projects. In the UK, there are three programmes they can take part in. Raleigh Expeditions: Running since 1984 36,000 volunteers been on an expedition programme Venturers 17 – 24 years old Volunteer managers 25 – 75 years old Raleigh ICS: Funded by the Department for International Development Run as art of a consortium of respected development organisations Volunteers 18-25 years old Team Leaders 23 + years old Bespoke Expeditions – Google, Newcastle University
15. Our message around diversity is still extremely important to Raleigh! Nationalities – In 2012 were made up from venturers from 32 nations. Lifestages - Venturers are aged 17-24 and volunteer managers 25+ - can be a wide range of lifestages. For example venturers could have just left school, might have just graduated from uni, could be working, unemployed or in training. Volunteer managers might be taking a career break, could have been given a sabbatical from work, could be retired or have a flexible working schedule. Backgrounds – We want to make our expeditions available to all backgrounds and provide support mechanisms to enable this. Raleigh Bursary Award – Offered to young people from lower income households who apply directly to us. Partnership Programme – Young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds who are referred to Raleigh from youth agencies who support them to take part in an expedition. HCVs – a particularly important aspect of a Raleigh expedition and again, unique to us, is our HCV programme. Volunteers will work alongside HCVs in each project team. 32% of venturers on expedition in 2012 were helped to access our programmes with a Raleigh Bursary of some kind.. Skills – An important message to Raleigh volunteers is that everyone can take part, regardless of their skills, as long as they are open-minded, up for a challenge and want to change their world for the better. For VMs, we are looking for these qualities alongside additional skills such as medical, mountain leadership, logistics.
16. Raleigh’s expeditions take place three times a year – Feb/March, June/July and October/Nov. Our 10 week expedition is still the most popular and venturers take part in 3 different projects, each lasting 3 weeks. You can also choose 2 project phases for 7 weeks. 5-week expedition - run in summer only - you’ll choose either a 3-week community or environmental project plus a shorter team-based adventure challenge.
17. This is the timeline for a 10 week expedition, if you are interested in a shorter expedition just take off the relevant number of black boxes. Project managers arrive early to prepare for the arrival of the venturers and to get all the training they need from our permanent country staff. The Venturers arrive in week four and immediately commence their training. Venturers organise their own flight so can already be in the country, but we will give a time you have to be at the airport to meet the volunteer managers. Our projects are designed around the need in-country, which can change very quickly, so it is not until training that venturers are briefed about the projects they could be doing and will have the opportunity to express their preference. Projects groups are assigned on an allocation basis, but we do our best to take preference into account. Once in your project groups you will deploy to the project sites for 19 days.
18. Fieldbase Country Director and Country Programme Manager Understand the important of our permanent in country staff – they take time to build relationships with the project partners to ensure the project will be mutually beneficial to the communities and Raleigh volunteers and that thorough risk assessments are carried out. Contributes to the sustainability and long lasting impact of our projects.
19. All will do training on health and safety, jungle camp etc. VMs 2 weeks of training which includes all of above plus project planning visits and soft skills training
20. Basic living conditions. We want to take you out of your comfort zone, experience new things and really challenge yourself. Living outside – camping/sleeping in a basha bed. Sitting around camp fires in the evening. We don’t have a campfire every night, but when we do we play some games/do some personal development activities. Bucket showers At least 2 VMs on each site Responsibility for 12–14 Venturers Facilitator role Daily communications with fieldbase 24/7 support and medical advice available from fieldbase Working in partnership with communities & project partners Raleigh rations- tuna, crackers, local food – test of your cooking skills. Cross cultural cooking!
21. The community project is a fantastic way for you to interact with local people, exchange cultures and learn about sustainable development. The villagers will welcome you into the community and you’ll be working on the projects together. Usually the community have formed their own committee to manage the project with you. You’ll be living either in the village, either in homestays or in a community centre or on the outskirts of the village in tents or hammocks. You usually work 6 days a week and will have free time at lunchtime and in the evenings to interact with the locals eg. playing football, cricket, teaching english, parties to share dancing, and cuisine. You can get involved as much as you want – you’ll come away with a real sense of achievement and understanding of a new culture.
22. You’ll be able to access protected areas and reserves that tourists don’t get to see. Learn about conservation issues from partner organisations. Opportunity to see wildlife and rare plants. Learn about basic living in the jungle. Understand how wider environmental issues fit into the sustainable development picture.
23. Personal development – push yourself to your limits. Amazing opportunity to pass through remote areas and communities. Social light bulb - put the development work you are doing into context. Visit areas that are untouched by development projects – provides point of comparison. Rocket Stove example.
24. Remembering part of our new strategy being able to measure the impact of our work and be able to demonstrate and talk confidently and consistently about what we do, we use this infographic from our recent Impact Report as it nicely summarises some of Raleigh’s achievements in visual form.
25. Raleigh is a personal experience – we know that some of the most memorable aspects of a Raleigh expedition are the small details – Raleigh rations, the trekking – and the impact it has on the individual. Some of the words in this word cloud might be some of the ways in which people will currently describe their Raleigh experience. We don’t want to take away from the importance of this, but we also need to get across the bigger message about our purpose and the wider impact of our programmes.
26. We want people to want to be a part of something special – not just take part in Raleigh solely for their own personal journey but to be part of something bigger. This word cloud has some of the words we want to be using to talk about Raleigh so that volunteers are inspired to be part of something bigger right from the start rather than just when they get back.
27. Don’t be afraid to say that we are in transition. Even if meet our objectives, if we do not talk about it no one will know
28. These are our top line messages – once you’ve given the elevator pitch, these are the messages that we want to give to any audience. We have many different audiences therefore have put together tailored messages for different groups of stakeholders (see sheet). May chose different ones depending on who you are talking to – pick the 3 most important for your audience.
29. We don’t expect you to reel off the messages in full all of the time Appreciate these will need to be tailored to different audiences You will all have your own experience that you will want to share Try to use some key words and phrases in conversation
30. All new staff will have messaging training as part of their induction The programmes team will be arranging additional training on the following as they are developed: Programmatic themes Programme manual Key messages documents Raleigh messages Expedition messages (to follow) Cheat sheet Tone and style guides FAQs
31. One of the programme consultants we are working with at the moment sent us back the following message this week which really gets across the essence of what we are trying to achieve in her own way.
32. Act and encourage others to act too
33. Do RVs feel that ICS has increase their active global citizenship?