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Aims ITC Giving was established in 2011 to offer existing and prospect ITC clients the opportunity to engage in and understand in much more depth the destinations they visit. ITC Giving’s parent company International Travel Connections (ITC), is a family-owned, independent luxury tour operator, has been arranging luxury, bespoke holidays for its clients since 1974. Over the years, many clients have expressed an interest in learning more about the exceptional destinations to which they travel and engaging with the host communities. Through ITC Giving, tourists have an opportunity to engage with local people and spend time in well-structured, community projects for a relatively short period (of one week or more). We ensure that the needs of the projects and the skills, experience and objectives of the client are as closely matched as possible. This requires a robust preparation process and effective sharing of information for the benefit of the project and of the traveller. It is imperative that the short-term volunteer experience is educational, interesting, inspiring, but most importantly mutually beneficial. We are confident of placing the right clients in the right volunteer experiences as we work very closely in partnership with the award-winning organisation people and places – an organisation which is highly-respected for its effectiveness in the responsible volunteering sector. Economic Responsibility ITC Giving has committed its staff to raising fund to support all of the programmes we offer, and will donate £100 to the project for every client who engages in an ITC Giving programme. All ITC Giving clients will make a donation prior to departure directly to the project management team in the country which they are volunteering to ensure that the project’s funds are not in any way diminished as a result of the volunteer’s involvement. We ensure that administration is kept to a minimum and is transparent. We encourage further financial support of the projects through our donations facilitator, LCVS. All ITC Staff are aligned to an ITC Giving destination and are committed to keeping in touch with developments at the ITC Giving project. In 2011 staff have actively engaged in a number of fundraising activities to support ITC Giving projects, including a sponsored climb of Mount Snowdon, an ITC Showcase event and Aromatherapy massages in exchange for donations to ITC Giving. A senior member of the management team also offered yoga classes in exchange for donations to ITC Giving. Environmental ITC Giving offers travellers a range of carefully-selected, unique volunteer experiences in exceptional destinations. Clients can engage with local organisations who work with their communities to build a range of effective projects – projects that provide support and development for education, health and social care, conservation, wealth creation and much more. Knowing and caring for the wildlife is a focal point of our volunteer experience in Peru where, working closely alongside the CREES foundation, our clients are able to learn more about the rainforests of Eastern Peru and gain a real insight into the collaborative work being done by the CREES Foundation, Academics and The National Park to enable local communities to build a better future for themselves whilst protecting one of the world’s true bio-diversity hot spots. By studying Amazon rainforest animals such as the endangered Blue Headed Macaw, volunteers will explore how humans impact biodiversity and crucial conservation issues and contribute to data that helps ensure these species remain protected and informing government decisions. In St. Lucia, we work closely with the National Trust of St. Lucia. The Trust is not only the longest serving environmental and heritage membership organisation on the island, but also the only membership organisation with a legal mandate to conserve both the natural and cultural heritage of Saint Lucia. In the ITC Giving office we are reducing our impact on the environment. We originally had one general waste skip but we now have a second skip for all our recycling waste paper/cardboard which we now separate out. We have reduced the amount of paper we use and printing we do to which is reducing costs to the business and reducing our impact on the environment. A ream of paper uses 6% of a tree. When calculating how many reams of paper an office uses in a year it is clear extra steps need to be made to conserve our woodlands. We return our print cartridges to a company which works with many UK charities, schools, hospices, fundraisers and Not For Profit organisations to generate much needed funds and help them continue their work. By undertaking the work, the company is helping to: reduce the amount of waste consigned to landfill sites around the country, generate funds for good causes throughout the UK, based on the value of empty printer cartridges, and increase supply of raw materials to recycling companies, generating thousands of jobs throughout the industry We now have all our old and expired brochures collected and recycled which were previously just placed in a rubbish skip and sent to landfill. Social Responsibility ITC has been creating bespoke holidays for its clients for almost forty years. In recent times, many of our clients have expressed an interest in engaging in the communities of the destinations they visit, and learning more about the local environment and the challenges faced by the host country. We have tailor-made a number of volunteer experiences which involve clients participating in the projects we support throughout the world. All of our projects are locally managed and have been created by local communities, for the benefit of the local community. Any support given by ITC Giving volunteers will compliment local labour and resources and not compromise them. The objective of this volunteer travel initiative is to offer an experience which will be mutually beneficial for both host and visitor. For example, our project in Port Elizabeth, South Africa gives clients the opportunity to support a number of schools which work with disadvantaged children. Working closely with our partners people and places we ensure that our clients are well-prepared and have a clear understanding of the project they are about to engage in. We aim to match the skills and experiences of the volunteers with the needs of the various projects we offer to ensure that a meaningful experience is enjoyed by all involved. It is important that our preparation process is mutually beneficial, insofar as both the volunteer and the project are furnished with useful information on the other party. We have an in-depth conversation with the volunteer to understand as much about their professional skills and personal experiences as is relevant. All clients must undertake a Criminal Records Bureau check as many of our projects involve working within a childcare initiative. We furnish all of our volunteers with information about the local culture and the local community, including basic language skills. We set the client’s expectations regarding his or her engagement in the project and tell them about the project’s history, its objectives and how it operates. We share information about the traveller with our local project managers so that each party is able to make the most of the volunteer experience. Due diligence is undertaken on each of our projects to ensure financial accountability and transparent, effective governance. |
| South Africa - morocco - india - thailand - peru - the caribbean |
