Travel has the power to transform not only the traveler, but also our world. This belief forms the foundation of our business. We have a deep commitment to protecting and preserving the destinations we visit, and building a better world through sustainable travel.

OUR COMMITMENT

We start by focusing our tours during the off season, which creates economic stability in the tourism sector. We operate on a completely paperless basis when communicating with clients and our contacts on the ground. We promote conservation of local forests and recycle all plastic bottles from the tours.

We reserve 5% of our clients’ total package cost to invest in the communities and wildlife. These community and environmental investments are tangible projects which our clients can see during their trip. All projects are determined by the communities and dependent on their most direct needs, however, we are focusing on projects that support water management solutions.

Our goal is to become a sustainable, net-positive travel company by replacing and building up all resources used by our clients during their tours.

TRANSPARENCY IN IMPACT

We believe in integrating sustainability into all components of our business. We are committed to providing experiences that have a positive impact on the environment, community, and economy of each destination visited. We work closely with our local partners to ensure that travelers are respectfully visiting in a way that showcases authentic experiences.

ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR DESTINATIONS

Each The Youth Cafe Trip takes place in a community where our charity partner, The Youth Cafe, puts its 8-year history of holistic sustainable development to work. The Youth Cafe Villages model, which has been praised by eminent experts like the Skoll Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative and Mission Measurement, consists of five core pillars: education, water, food, health and economic opportunity.

COMMUNITY & YOUTH EMPOWERMENT

Tourism is critical to that fifth pillar, delivering income and revenue that makes the other four pillars sustainable. The United Nations recognizes travel and tourism as one of the most effective sources of jobs in developing countries, and it’s a key component of three of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

That work would not be possible without The Youth Cafe Trips. Over the years, the contributions of The Youth Cafe travelers have directly supported Youth Empowerment in establishing a full-service medical clinic serving 10 communities in Kenya, two full-service clinics and one hospital in the Narok region of Kenya, the construction of three high schools and one college, with accompanying scholarships, providing education in 24 Maasai Mara communities and 11,500 Kenyan students, and many more projects creating impacts in countries around the world.

The Youth Cafe Trips have also created jobs. Community members have frequently acted as trip facilitators, especially those leading development projects in their communities such as teachers, or heads of local women’s groups. While travelers on volunteer trips perform basic manual labor like hauling bricks, local workers gain higher-level employment and skills training as supervisors and project managers. To support trip operations, The Youth Cafe employed over 350 local staff annually as drivers, cooks, guides and administration staff. Food and other materials are locally sourced to boost the community’s economy. Through those jobs, The Youth Cafe helps communities build their own capacity to support sustainable tourism. We took that a step further by helping to build a College of Hospitality and Tourism in Kenya.