Intrepid launches social enterprise tours

Global day tour brand Intrepid Urban Adventures has introduced a range of social enterprise tours that give travellers the chance to come face-to-face with important local issues.

The tour operator is working with local NGOs and non-profit organizations around the globe to develop its In Focus series of tours, with destinations including Nepal, Taiwan and Romania.

The new tour series aims to offer insight into local issues and the efforts to resolve them. Rather than simply hearing about a social project from a third-party guide, travellers have the chance to see first-hand how a particular issue is being addressed. They will also be able to meet the people who are running, and benefiting from the initiatives.

Current tours in the collection include:

• A Bangalore Solar Slum Tour, which takes travellers behind the scenes of Pollinate Energy, a social enterprise bringing solar light to India’s urban poor and reducing indoor air pollution caused by kerosene lamps and wood stoves.

• Outcast Bucharest, which runs in partnership with the Parada Foundation, a Romanian NGO, and provides employment to homeless locals while enabling travellers to understand what life is like on city streets.

• The Taipei Sweet Potato Mama Project, which introduces travellers to single mothers who earn their living selling potatoes as street snacks as part of an initiative by Taiwan’s Genesis Social Welfare Foundation.

• A Kathmandu cooking class, presented in partnership with Seven Women, a social enterprise that empowers marginalized women in Nepal through literacy classes, skills training, and income generation programs.

Travellers also have the option to remain in contact with the project after their visit and become a supporter, advocate or donor.

For more information, visit urbanadventures.com.