Workplace

Ever wanted to use your engineering and construction skills to help remote communities in South America, Asia or Africa? Raleigh International, a charity that runs youth development programmes, is looking for engineers and construction workers to act as project mangers in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Malaysia or Namibia. The job is likely to involve working in a remote area with a team of young people from all over the world on vital infrastructure for a community that would otherwise miss out.

According to the charity, the challenge for a project manager is to take personal responsibility for a site. Raleigh expects the project staff to act as the charity’s representatives within the community and must integrate with the local people.

Katie Murray, 26, was working as a management consultant when she decided to participate in the programme as a project manger in Chile. She says her planning skills were useful in setting the project scope, while her people management skills were useful in helping participants meet personal development goals. “The experience made me much more self aware and taught me that to successfully work as a team it is not possible to dictate how to do things because sometimes people have to figure it out for themselves.”

If the option of project manager does not appeal, the charity says it can provide construction workers with the opportunity to travel, either as a young volunteer or through a sabbatical whereby skilled construction workers can pass on their wisdom. From this summer, Raleigh International will operate two shorter programmes – a 10-week programme and a five-week programme.

The 10-week programme consists of three phases: sustainable community, environmental and adventure projects. Under the community phase, individuals will live and work alongside the community; the environmental phase will make a difference to the ecology of the country; while in the adventure section participants face the challenge of extreme environments such as deserts, mountains or oceans.

For the five-week programme, the activities are similar except that participants have to choose between spending three weeks on a community project or environmental project before doing the adventure challenge.

The charity has been in existence for almost 30 years. Originally called ‘Operation Drake’, the scheme was launched in 1978 by Prince Charles and Colonel John Bashford-Snell with the purpose running youth projects from ships circumnavigating the globe. The aim was to develop self confidence and leadership in young people.

Operation Drake was so successful that the larger and more ambitious Operation Raleigh was born. Initially Raleigh was intended to be a four-year project but its success ensured that it should continue on a permanent basis. Its name was changed to Raleigh International in 1992 to reflect the increasing number of volunteers from all over the world.