elevate destinations

Kenya

Gallmann Africa Conservancy
(www.gallmannkenya.org)

The programs of the conservancy are focused on wildlife protection, environmental education, community service and the preservation of traditional skills and research.

Kuki Gallmann, known to many as the author of “I Dreamed of Africa” (which inspired a movie of the same name), began the conservancy 30 years ago and settled in Ol ari Nyiro . The hundred thousand acre wildlife reserve, Ol Ari Nyiro, offers extraordinary research and educational facilities, and an opportunity to connect humankind to the place of its origins.

South Africa

South African Youth Leadership Initiative (SAYLI)

The Southern African Youth Leadership Institute (SAYLI) aims to strengthen and supplement the efforts of young social entrepreneurs who are already committed to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals in Southern Africa. SAYLI will play its part in making the passionate initiatives of youth not simply inspiring, but also measurably successful in effecting change by providing young leaders with an individually tailored program that will enhance their work.

India

Floating Desert School

The Floating School Project brings learning to a large rural area by realizing the idea of a floating school, a school that can move from place to place, a schooling philosophy that is anchored in community and local occupation strategies. The model is inherently flexible, adapting to the needs of each dynamic and particular village. The Floating Desert Schools Project came into being as a consequence of the terrible Indian Earthquake of January 26, 2001 in Gujarat India that devastated the homes of hundreds of villagers that live in the desert regions.

The Floating Desert School Project now embraces an international coalition of 3 constituencies: school children, an indigenous anthropologist and researchers from MIT Media lab (and Media Lab Asia) who believe that digital technologies can revolutionize learning.

Tsunami Relief

Elevate Destinations supports the Thoreau Group’s Tsunami relief efforts. The Thoreau Group is a non-profit organization dedicated to development and disaster relief. It is currently raising funds to help the Tsunami victims of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These islands are located off the Southern coast of India and lie in close proximity to the epicenter of the Tsunami. The tribes that live there have little contact with the outside world, and the Indian Navy reports that they may have lost 20 to 30 percent of their populations. Some of the smaller tribes may have only a few survivors or may even have been wiped out entirely.

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Honduras Ecologic (www.ecologic.org) EcoLogic advances conservation of critical natural resources in rural areas of Latin America by promoting sustainable livelihoods and by strengthening community participation in natural resource management. EcoLogic has worked in Honduras since 1996, employing a community collaboration strategy that has produced results even in these challenging conditions. Its work with the Pico Bonito National Park Foundation has transformed lives and livelihoods for thousands who live along the park's buffer areas. The skills and talents used in the successful water committees, which administer clean water to thousands, are now being deployed in other environmentally compatible enterprises. Out of this fruitful partnership, a new entity emerged: Pico Bonito Forests, a for-profit mission-driven venture that produces carbon offsets for the regulated market and provides substantial environmental and economic benefits to the local communities.

Nepal

The Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation
(www.nyof.org )

A non-profit organization bringing hope to the most destitute children in the beautiful but impoverished Hymalaya Kingdom of Nepal NYOF funds a variety of projects benefiting children and their families in Nepal. NYOF has created schools, children's homes, medical and nutritional outreach programs and has worked to free indentured girls sold into slavery servitude by destitute families. One by one, thousands of children have benefited from NYOF's touch.

Society for Nature Conservation and Rural Development

The SNCRD is a registered Nepalese NGO and was established in the year 2000 by Lieutenant Colonel Hikmat Bisht. SNCRD's primary project is to assist freed bonded labourers (slaves). In 2000, His Majesty’s Government of Nepal enacted legislation to free Kamaiyas, bonded labourers, from what was in effect slavery, but made no provision for their future. Without land to support them, and lacking the skills to obtain employment, many of these Kamaiyas have resorted to subsistence living through slash and burn agriculture and hunting and gathering within Reserves. It is estimated that 22,000 freed Kamaiyas are eking out a living in Kanchanpur district alone.