Those of us who work primarily in the UK have decades of experience in volunteering, travel and tourism, and business. Our own skills and experience are complemented by those of our  partners overseas, without whom we would not be able to offer such truly responsible, ethical and sustainable volunteering opportunities.

Harold Goodwin 
Professor Harold Goodwin is a world expert in responsible and sustainable tourism. He works with communities, governments, international funding agencies, and within the tourism industry to further the development of responsible tourism. Harold is Professor of Responsible Tourism Management, at the International Centre for Responsible Tourism, at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Harold is committed to enabling local communities and economically poor people to conserve their natural and cultural heritage through careful linking with responsible travellers. He firmly believes that economically poor communities and volunteers should be better served than is the case with the majority of existing volunteer recruitment organisations.

Harold is Chair of our non-executive Advisory Committee, the Committee designed to keep us responsible and answerable in all that we do.

To see a recent speech by Harold on Responsible Tourism please click here

Sallie Grayson
Sallie‘s most recent volunteer experience was in The Gambia, coincidentally at the same time as Harold was working there on national tourism guidelines. Their fortunate meeting and subsequent discussions led them to pursue a very different and better way to serve local communities and volunteers.

Sallie ran a niche marketing company for 20 years, and has served as a non-executive director and consultant in industries as varied as retail, finance, health and tourism. She has a proven record in direct marketing and business development. She has worked with communities in Africa to improve their economic welfare.

Sallie’s volunteer experience, as well as the shared experiences of other volunteers and the communities in which they worked, left her frustrated and cynical about the volunteer industry, but also inspired by the potential benefits for volunteers and local communities … and determined to do something!

Sallie is programme director, liaising with local people to identify appropriate volunteer programmes, and is responsible for the sustainability of these programmes.

Kate Stefanko
Kate has over 15 years’ experience in the travel industry, particularly in the development of cultural immersion tours for specialist UK travel companies. Kate has always placed particular emphasis on matching travellers' cultural experience to the need for sustainable and empowering experiences for their hosts.

Kate holds a firm belief in people and their inherent ability to achieve great things. She is repeatedly humbled and inspired by what individual volunteers achieve, and gains great rewards through past, present and future volunteers sharing their experiences and knowledge.

Kate is placement director, matching the skills and abilities of individual volunteers to the specific needs of projects.

                                                                                         
To our combined academic, strategic, commercial and people skills, we bring a grounded passion for the importance of travelling to make a difference.

        

Harold                       Sallie              Kate