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Positive Impact

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About MAD > Positive Impact

By going Mad you are making a positive impact in 2 ways:

1. By helping on development projects that are making a long-term difference.

2. By practising responsible tourism alongside Madventurer where as far as possible money is spent locally.

Development Projects

'Positive change comes from projects which focus on long-term change, promoting culturally appropriate and environmentally sustainable interventions that are acceptable to beneficiaries’ (prof. Paul Sillitoe, anthropologist; 2003)

Madventurer supports overseas development through its project partners. These include local communities, non-governmental organisations, governmental departments and academic research groups.

Each project is researched and has to meet certain critieria such as long and short-term benefits to the host community. The project itself is led by the community, Madventurer’s role is to act as a catalyst, both financially and motivationally (with the venturers presence) to get the project up and running. This way when Madventurer leaves the project will continue to be managed and owned by the community.

"By funding the projects ourselves it gives us the control we need to ensure that they are well-organised and completed, but ownership always lies with the local community. Perhaps most important of all, however, is the increased understanding that Madventurers gain of the real issues of sustainable development."
Tim Guinan, Head of Overseas Operations

Responsible Tourism

Madventurer endeavours to reduce the negative, and increase the positive, impacts of its operational practices. How?

• Water is a limited (or scarce) resource in many countries Madventurer operates in. We encourage venturers to use minimal amounts of water on projects. We often rely on the collection of rainwater in order to wash clothes and fill the bucket shower! Drinking water is bought from local stores.

• Madventurer buys as many resources as possible locally such as food, building materials, accommodation, skilled labour, guides and transport to ensure that as much revenue as possible stays within the countries that madventurer operates in.

• Sensitising venturers to cultural differences and enforcing a particular code of conduct whilst living within a rural community is very important. We keep group sizes small to achieve this integration.

• Madventurer aids venturers’ cultural infusion through involvement in activities organised by the local community such as drumming and craft workshops, language lessons, and guided tours.

• Madventurer ensures that its venturers receive accurate pre-departure information concerning the destination countries and the regions we will be travelling to.

"I plan to work in development economics after uni, so seeing projects and how they work for ground level has made me more determined to progress with development economics as now I know that small scale projects really can contribute to the bigger picture."
Laura Andrew Uganda July 2004

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Contact Madventurer HQ for more details on: 0845 121 1996