Explorer Belt: Projects

Major projects

Each team should choose a major project. The assessment team should approve the project before departure. A good major project is one that:

• Focuses on something unique to the country or area being visited
• Provides opportunities for meeting local people
• Is not focused on a single place, day or thing
• Will result in a better understanding of the country, its people and way of life

Some examples would be finding out about facilities for young people, especially scouting in the area being visited or finding out everything you can about, and try, food and drink that is traditional to the area. The major project should take between ten and fifteen hours to complete.

Sample major projects

• Survey of the leisure and recreation interests of young people and the facilities available to them in urban, sub-urban and rural areas
• Investigate typical rural industries and crafts
• Make a comparison of lifestyles in the villages and uplands
• Follow the course of a river and investigate the different communities it serves, their industry, agriculture and lifestyles
• Comparison of an aspect of the country you are in with that aspect in the UK, for example:  Scouting, education, places of worship, agriculture, environment, architecture, culture, life of a young person, health facilities
• Investigate the history of a specific area or period in the country
• Explore the impact of climate change on the local environment
• Explore the Impact of tourism of tourism and lifestyle on the area you travel in
• Investigate how locals make use of the landscape around them
• Investigate how the EU (or other political considerations) has affected the country and smaller communities
• Explore and collect myths and folk stories

Smaller projects

Each team should also complete ten smaller projects. Five of these should be surprise projects set by the other members of the Network or Unit. These projects should be given to the team 24 hours before departure. Teams should be able to choose projects from a longer list of around 20 projects, in order to provide flexibility and choice based on local circumstances.

A good project is one that:

• Needs help or information from local people
• Will prompt the team to try or do something that they might otherwise have missed
• Takes an hour or so to complete
• Is based around something unique or special about the area being visited

Some examples could be chatting to the oldest person you can find in a village about the changes they have seen in the area during their lifetime or 'in the UK, many people use the internet every day; how important is the Internet to people in the area you're visiting?'

Under no circumstances should a project be a 'dare'.

Both the major and smaller projects are a way of encouraging teams to meet and talk to local people. Teams should be encouraged to keep some record of these contacts in the diary to help them during the debriefing, but there is no requirement to write a report for each project.

Sample smaller projects

•    Milk a local cow/goat
•    Sleep within site of a specific landmark
•    Cook a national dish from your home country for a family
•    Cook a local meal
•    Teach or learn a local/national dance
•    Appear on local tv/radio/newspaper
•    Get your picture taken with a local dignitary
•    Spend a night in a police station (legally)
•    Visit a particular museum, cultural site or tourist attraction
•    Teach English at a local school
•    Visit a local Scout/youth group
•    Taste as many local chocolates as you can
•    Dress in national costume
•    Visit/take part in a local ceremony
•    Visit a local craftsman
•    Go shopping with a local family
•    Visit a local market and buy a selection of local products to use in your cooking
•    Visit a local place of worship, or take part in an act of worship
•    Work for a family for a day
•    Help out on a local farm
•    Visit a local leisure facility
•    Buy a selection of postcards and send them to your section leader/DC/etc
•    Ride a horse/camel/etc
•    Sleep somewhere strange or unusual for a night
•    Travel on a train/stand on the footplate of a train
•    Find out from local people their views on the effectiveness of the public transport system
•    Describe how local family life differs from your own