Welcome to Connecting Communities Worldwide the not for profit company established to help you change lives both at home and overseas!

Following an award winning and critically acclaimed decade of connecting communities in Yorkshire and in Africa, we are now seeking to add eight schools to our programme as part of our national roll-out through 2010/11.

Our job is to take you, step by step, through a process which will not only link your school community with another community in the developing world, but will prepare you to visit and work alongside that community with breathtaking results.

‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ Join us and let us take that exciting first step together! What you will embark upon will indeed be challenging but its rewards will be immense.

Developing Your Community Partnership

We support any school or educational provider working with young learners between the ages of 11 and 19 who want to develop an overseas partnership with a community in the developing world. Our work will be tailored to your individual needs and will include:

Project Analysis
Advice and practical support on establishing a partnership which has the capacity to sustain a long term relationship
Project Development
Step by step support through every aspect of the planning process
Risk Assessment Process
Best practice risk assessment procedure involving staff, students and medics. Specialist doctor and nursing support provided

Logistics and travel
Organisation of all partnership travel and logistics by fully bonded specialist operator - see Face Africa website
Fund Raising
Support to develop fundraising campaigns including access to ethically sourced goods from your partnership community
Sustainability Planning
Ongoing support to ensure that your partnership remains sustainable beyond its early years

The benefits of working with connecting communities worldwide

Uniting Communities in the North / Empowering Communities in the South!

The main benefit is being able to rely upon an organisation that is led by education professionals who have emerged from an award winning and critically acclaimed pilot. Headed by a teacher with 25 years of experience; the last six in school leadership, Connecting Communities Worldwide is well placed to help you maximise this work in terms of national priorities.

Every Child Matters
Global Citizenship
Literacy & Numeracy
Community Cohesion
Enterprise Entitlement
Economic Well-being
Learning Outside the Classroom...

All of these and more but this work doesn't just fill the SEF it changes lives!

Our work is very carefully tailored to maximise the impact in both communities. We work with families of schools and their external partners to expand the footprint of this work into the community. We support in an extremely sensitive manner the sustainable development of our community partners who are crucially assisted by local development trusts. Our field projects are thoroughly researched and involve us in meaningful work or as one of our partner organisations Groundwork puts it – Changing Places / Changing Lives!

Case Studies

2003 Expedition

As a geography teacher I have taught all about eco-tourism - the idea that tourist money helps local people and environments.

On a visit to southern Africa in 2000 I encountered what must be one of the best examples of eco- tourism anywhere in the world. Nestling within the tiny community of Malealea in "The Kingdom in The Sky", which is Lesotho, is Malealea Lodge. Run by Lesotho nationals, Di and Mick Jones, Malealea Lodge offers homely cooking, comfortable accommodation and guided excursions into the environs of the area.
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2005 Expedition

It's great to back home with everyone reunited with their loved ones. The expedition has been a tremendous success and it is hugely satisfying for me to listen to the staff and pupils recounting their experiences as they view the many photographs taken. There are many outcomes from such an undertaking:

Forty people from our region have experienced life in Southern Africa - up close and personal - and that must surely stay in their consciousness for many years to come.
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2007 Expedition

An environmental and developmental project by The City School, Sheffield working in partnership with Royston High School, Barnsley. In March/April 2007, 33 students from The City School and Royston High School, accompanied by teachers, engineers and a doctor.

These projects united communities from South Yorkshire and Southern Africa and showed the true strength of Pupil Power!
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Awards

Ordnance Survey Award for excellence in teaching geography awarded by The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
Social Enterprise of the year from the National Enterprise Network

Timberland Environmental Scholarship
Social Enterprise Yorkshire & Humber Award for excellence in Education

Comments

I have seen the impact of the engagement of young people with Malealea. Students who have visited have been deeply affected; they understand different aspects of their own life, while at the same time, recognise the need to build relationships with people in different circumstances. The link with the settlement in Lesotho, though, is not about visiting, it is about supporting a community as it builds its own strength.
The eductional value of this work is profound and will influence many lives.
Mick Waters, Professor of Education and President of the Curriculum Foundation

Ken Dunn's vision for Connecting Communities Worldwide is an inspiration.Through intense hard work and commitment he has developed a truly valuable schools programme which has multiple and long lasting benefits. The involvement of young people and their communities in the UK to develop links in the southern hemisphere is not new but the ethical principles which underpin these powerful and sustainable partnerships ensure the benefits experienced are truly reciprocal in nature. Adge Last Outdoor Education Strategy Advisor Sheffield City Council