And the project goes to...

The projects have now been finalised and allocated to the project managers. All the staff are now heading out to plan the projects which are... drum roll...

Charlie 1- Multimoola community project

This project will construct a 765 sq ft primary school which will serve the children of Muttilmoola village families, alongside a wider education development plan which includes the training and education of teachers and educational materials for the school and scholarships for the students. In addition a number of additional infrastructure facilities will be constructed for the tribal village people.

Charlie 2 – Halsur and Charlie 3 – Hosaheggudilu community projects

These projects are part of a six-year intervention, which started in June 2009, to develop an innovative and replicable model for improving the livelihood opportunities of vulnerable scheduled tribal communities in nine villages in HD Kote Taluk, Mysore District, through sustainable and equitable use of resources. Families from nine communities will benefit from the project and each family will be assisted to develop one acre of horticulture plantation. Raleigh volunteers will provide support to establish the horticultural infrastructure by planting cash crops of mango and amla fruit, creating contour bunding to retain monsoon rains; creating agricultural water storage tanks and constructing vermi-composting units.

Echo 4 – Ranger station environmental project

Raleigh, in partnership with Karnataka Forest Department, will refurbish a 100 year-old guest house deep inside Bandipur National Park. The guest house was constructed in 1908 by the Maharaja and has laid empty, falling into disrepair. The group will completely renovate the guest house adding sanitation and water services in order for it to be utilised by the Forestry Department as a permanently manned ranger station serving the Chowdhalli Range – an important habitat for tigers, elephant and many other key species.

Echo 5 – APC and fire lines environmental project

The group will construct additional facilities and provide clearance of nearby fire lines at an anti-poaching camp in Bandipur National Park. Bandipur is designated by the Government of India as a tiger sanctuary. The project will enable the Karnataka Forest Department to better protect the wildlife and ecosystems of the National Park from the threat of fire destroying the natural habitats.

Tango 6 & 7 - Adventure

The group will conduct an 18-day adventure phase in Kerala, guided by Kalypso Adventures, Raleigh’s adventure partner. The first stage will incorporate 14 days of arduous trekking at altitudes of up to 2,500m. The route will begin in Kerala, just inside the border with Karnataka at Marayoor in the Erivikulam National Park. The trekkers will head up into the Western Ghats and on day 16 will reach the Periyar River where they will construct two eight-man bamboo rafts and paddle west downstream for two days.

The staff going on phase one of each project will be: Charlie and David on the Multimoola project; Davina, Lewis, Leti, Miriam, Helen and Jeff all take on the treks between them; Vijay, Amy and Katie head off to the ranger station; Frankie, Neil and Kate are to tackle the fire breaks and Mili is to be the first fieldbased medic. Everyone is very happy with their allocations and just for good measure, here's some silly celebrations...

Frankie

Davina

Lewis

Charlie