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information about people and places

It would be irresponsible – the very thing we strive not to be! – to fail to plan for the future.

It would be irresponsible – the very thing we strive not to be! – to fail to plan for the future.

Next year we will celebrate 20 years since we placed our first volunteer. – working with them to use their skills to help communities around the world build the future they want for themselves. A heartfelt thankyou to every volunteer who has helped us achieve that goal. When Harold, Kate and Sallie started people and places they chose to make people and places a social enterprise – run for the benefit of the projects we work with not shareholders. Our…

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Siem Reap is still the same…stunning peaceful and a vibrant culture

Siem Reap is still the same…stunning peaceful and a vibrant culture

As many of you will be aware there has been unrest on the Thai Cambodian border – but Siem Reap is safe and we are confidently sending volunteers as I type this. This from our partners “We are pleased and relieved to confirm that the ceasefire agreed between Cambodia and Thailand on the 27th of December is still in place.  A key Cambodian demand was the release of 18 soldiers who’d been detained since July.  These were returned on the…

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Visiting a possible new partner in Senegal

Visiting a possible new partner in Senegal

When Sallie and I were in the Gambia is January, we took the opportunity to go with Adama, our colleague and partner in The Gambia, into the neighbouring country of Senegal to explore the possibilities for us working there too.  The Gambia and Senegal have close ties in the field of responsible tourism and Adama had identified possible new partners and projects for us to look at. We travelled south from the Gambia into the beautiful region of Casamance in…

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New faces for the people and places team

New faces for the people and places team

We are excited to introduce two additions to the people and places team. Mariana Bah works with Sallie on the business management side of people and places, including accounting, marketing, organisational best practice, and on liaison with our local partners.  She has been involved with people and places since the early days, working from 2009-2012 as volunteer coordinator in The Gambia. Some of you may spot that she has the same surname as our partner Adama in The Gambia – she is…

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Blast from the past – Smoke and Mirrors

Blast from the past – Smoke and Mirrors

This was first published nearly 15 years ago – and (sadly) much of it still holds true – so as ever caveat emptor and please do ask for our advice even if you are thinking of volunteering with someone else! And the smoke just gets thicker as more and more sending organisations use the buzzwords in their marketing! “There’s been a huge increase in the number of chat rooms about responsible travel and volunteering. Even a perfunctory trawl through the…

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“Reassuring, informative…part of a special club” – good reasons to come to our next volunteer meeting

“Reassuring, informative…part of a special club” – good reasons to come to our next volunteer meeting

Our November social is filling up – if you would like to come please let us know ASAP “I just wanted to drop you a line to thankyou for arranging the volunteer on line meetings. The first meeting I attended was before I volunteered with you and I found it so reassuring to be able to hear from previous volunteers and local partners before I travelled. A few months after my return I attended another meeting and it was great…

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Sallie volunteers for three weeks with our adult education and women’s empowerment programmes

Sallie volunteers for three weeks with our adult education and women’s empowerment programmes

I love my volunteer work for people and places – it is so rewarding to see the progress the programmes we work with make through working with our volunteers. BUT I love to volunteer directly with the projects too – time constraints mean I can’t do it as often as I’d wish but I managed to find three weeks earlier this year to work with the adult education and women’s empowerment projects we work with in The Gambia. My skills…

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Kate – mistress of identifying transferable skills – has retired

Kate – mistress of identifying transferable skills – has retired

Many of you will have worked with Kate – some of you will have heard of her and some will wonder who on earth she is! Kate and I ( Sallie ) met in a garden in The Gambia 20 years ago and that’s when we decided to create people and places together. Kate is very much a people person….not great at systems – some of you no doubt have stories that will perfectly exemplify this! Kate’s greatest skill? –…

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It’s International Women’s Day every day at people and places!

It’s International Women’s Day every day at people and places!

We are blessed to work with some amazing women – role models and leaders – in Morocco, South Africa ,Cambodia and The Gambia. International Women’s Day was last week – but we don’t apologise for being late! – because every day is women’s day here at people and places In this post we have chosen to focus on a programme we work with in The Gambia – but wherever you choose to volunteer with us – be assured the projects…

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Look at what we’ve gone and won!

Look at what we’ve gone and won!

In the last year our e-volunteer programme has been recognised as a game changer, not once but three times! “The World Responsible Tourism Awards 2020 are dedicated to acknowledging those in travel and tourism who have taken remarkable steps to address the multiple challenges brought to our industry by the COVID-19 crisis.” “We were sincerely impressed by your initiatives” (judging panel goabroad.com) “When the pandemic struck, peopleandplaces were no longer able to send volunteers to support the projects they have…

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