The history of Raleigh

Operation Raleigh became Raleigh International, the global organisation we are today. Raleigh worked with thousands more young people across the world to create sustainable change on a wide range of projects around climate change, water and sanitation, sustainable enterprise and social accountability. Through Raleigh International’s Expedition, ICS and national youth programmes over the years, young people have stepped up as young leaders making a significant contribution towards the achievement of the UN’s Global Goals for Sustainable Development.

Raleigh International’s global community of volunteers and alumni grew to over 50,000 people across more than 100 countries. Former volunteers set up projects engaging other young people in 14 active national alumni societies; went on to form charities of their own; take action in politics; fight for the planet and take on the world’s biggest problems.  Stacey Adams, Raleigh CEO from 2007 to 2019 stepped down and handed over the reins to Julian Olivier.  

2020 was a challenging year for Raleigh, as it was for many charities. We sadly had to cancel all our international volunteering programmes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and return volunteers safely home. This is the first time we have ever had to close our international programmes on such a scale.  

However, we continued our vital work with young people and also ran an ambitious global consultation with over 100 young people to understand their views and concerns. The findings, published in the report, Tomorrow is too Late, provide a unique insight into the hopes and fears of young people, and their experiences of the pandemic. To help us respond to these findings we create a new rapid strategy, Now is the Moment. In 2020 Raleigh International officially became a global youth action organisation 

The pandemic continued to have an impact on young people and Raleigh International’s work. But despite being another year of uncertainty, in 2021 Raleigh proudly launched its first youth-led global environmental campaign, Action Not Excuses. Through Action Not Excuses young people led environmental campaigns in their home countries in Malaysia, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Tanzania, Nepal and the United Kingdom. 

Raleigh International also launched Re:Green, its first UK programme based in Scotland, providing volunteering opportunities for young people in the UK. The organisation was also able to put young people back in the driving seat of development and relaunch Expedition in Costa Rica after an 18-month break due to the pandemic.