clouddog

About the charity

clouddog is an international charity registered in the UK and South Africa.

We believe that the right to care about the planet is a universal one, regardless of socio-economic background. One of the biggest challenges for young people is poverty of aspiration. What greater aspiration could you give someone than a belief that they can positively change the future of the world?

Our aim is to help students from inner city backgrounds to develop self-esteem, focus and direction through targeted exposure to multicultural, environmental, conservation and community-based experiences. We work with students between 16 and 18 years of age, on the brink of adulthood and educational and career choices. This is where we believe the greatest impact can me made.

clouddog builds their knowledge, their skills and their self beliefs through a hands-on structured twelve month programme that assists them in finding meaningful ways of contributing not only to their local community environment, but to communities and environments in other parts of the world. Working within other cultures, the students also learn about themselves.

clouddog is focused on educating the youth of today on how to be the “planet managers” of tomorrow through a structured series of components. During the twelve-month programme beneficiaries see through individual environmental projects from inception to finish, participate in team based community acts, receive mentoring from leading City institutions and complete an environmental immersion component in Africa.  A broad range of Alumni activities enable students to remain involved in volunteering through our community acts and in the selection of future beneficiaries. The alumni also contribute to programme development and train to be leaders of our future programmes.

We are into our fifth successful year of programmes and consistently see the long-term effects through our alumni.

• Over 60% of our participants have changed their University course after completing our programme to one of social, environmental or conservation based content.
• Many students that weren't planning on attending University change their aspirations and decide to enrol.
• Teachers note a domino effect on returning students who are more committed to working towards their educational goals; become role models to younger pupils; and have improved behavioural responses on a lasting level.

We wish to see the number of students touched by our programme increase exponentially, not only to change the lives of those students involved but to create a growing nucleus of incredibly motivated young people with a real passion for engaging in environmental change and conservation projects.

clouddog is an example of the passion that is now required for environmental change at a grass roots level, for making a sustained difference to our planet and for nurturing the aspirations of our youth.