There can be little doubt, that with WHO declaring the ongoing spread of the Coronavirus being a global pandemic, that the affected countries are in somewhat of a crisis situation. If this situation teaches us anything, it is that we have to be more prepared to acknowledge the fact that crisis management is a fundamental skill in the world today. Apart from Coronavirus, there is still the ongoing threats of climate change, which has devastating consequences for communities, and in the wake of the current outbreak, a new global financial crisis is unfolding in front of our eyes. We may not be able to avert these crises, nor even predict everything that is going to happen in the future, but what we can do is to stick together collectively and find new solutions to the challenges we face, instead of giving in to panic. It is important to show solidarity. Solidarity with the weak, the poor, the sick, the have-nots and all the ones affected by the circumstances. We know, that it is these people, who always pay the highest price to overcome the challenges put in their path by unfortunate circumstances and the consequences of our globalized, capitalistic mode of production, where profit often take precedence over people’s lives and welfare. This always has been the main message of our programs, where we advocate not only for volunteering, but doing so...

“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Promoting Food and Water Security - Richmond Vale Academy We are living in a time when food security is more important than anything else. All of us have probably seen pictures of empty shops, short supplies, and overwhelming reactions in the wake of the world coronavirus panic followed by ricing food prices. We realize just how fragile and dependent we are.  As Esther Duflo and A.V. Banerjee pointed out “The biggest problem is not the calorie-based poverty trap, it is not about quantity it is about quality - Micro- and macronutrients, enough iron and iodine”.  Of course, there are sensitive groups like pregnant women and children to even focus more on, but this is a worldwide problem, malnutrition and obesity becomes a global issue, your problem is my problem … “Experts warn of a double burden of malnutrition, with underweight and obese children living in the same communities and even within the same family. One in three low and middle-income countries are now affected”, according to experts within WHO. We hear this over and over again. In the middle of a world crisis like right now where all-economy will change, what can...

“Being a volunteer is not about being a super hero, claiming to know everything, solving all problems as a Westerner might see it, instead it’s about giving the best of oneself, even when you can’t see the results, hoping that the people will, in turn, give the best of themselves, defying the odds which seem to destine them for hell.  I learned the importance of teamwork and living in a community with other volunteers, I got to meet extraordinary people, with huge hearts who astonished me with their caring, their generosity, their passion and their love for others.  When you go on a mission you are agreeing to let yourself be transformed, touched by the mission, by a country’s culture, by the contact with others and above all,  You will learn to open yourself to others” I think we can all agree that the world is a place full of inequality where mostly the blinded luck will put you on a map; and if you are lucky you will have toys during your childhood, many years in different schools, college, holidays, workplaces, a decent salary, health care, pension and all benefits which you feel are fundamental. If you are not one of the lucky ones you will see the dark side of life. Do we need to accept this phenomenon or can we do something? It...

It is always very challenging to start something new! After 3 months of preparation, 8 Development Instructors from Richmond Vale Academy started the project period in Belize and Ecuador. Carlos is writing: "During the 3 months, we studied about the political situation in the world, the inequality, poverty trap, social injustice, and the different solutions were part of the program but the reality is always a little bit different. The most important is to earn the trust in the community and there is no better way to do it than work with them every single day, understand them, know their names, understand the social structure of the community, the social connections, the problems, and the things they can be proud of and then try to give some extra booze with passion and share the knowledge that we have and learn from them". This is a very intensive connection between the locals and the Dis, they are living at the same place, eating the same type of food, they celebrate together what they used to celebrate, and with time the community will accept they presence and they will be a reliable part of the everyday life.   The very active community life at the school is the best preparation, here you earn very fast that everyone has something that you don’t know and vice versa. The attitude...

  Why join the 10 Months program? Because you have the chance to find answers for many questions, let’s stop the ignorance and look at the world from a different angle. Put the problems on the table, let’s talk about inconvenient topics, let’s figure out together what we can do, make actions because we have enough armchair activists and philosophers around us but these issues need actions, we need to understand and work shoulder to shoulder with the poor and stand up for someone else’s rights. Some facts that might disturb you: Climate change is still one of the main global issues after all these years. Have you ever heard about the 50-10 rule? The fact is that the climate change is massively inequitable. The lion’s share of CO2 emissions is being generated in rich countries producing what people consume there. But the greatest share of the cost is, and will always be, experienced in poor countries. If we talk about economic growth and we do that year in and year out - we need to know something else too; the average estimate implies that when your income increases by 10 percent, your CO2 emissions increase by 9 percent. Obviously you don’t need to think that if someone’s income will raise 10 percent under the poverty line the same thing will happen, but it implies that,...

​ Three students from the Richmond Vale Academy( RVA) who recently returned from Belize after a 6-month stint in that Central American/Caricom country, have all said they will cherish that experience for a very long time. The students, Justyna Gudra from Poland, Mami Tsuboya of Japan and Whitney Samuel from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, were part...

"if we move one gram of sand the Earth is no longer the same" …if you follow the Leeward Highway in St Vincent (fancy name for the only main road) you will soon or later reach Wallilabou where normally the people stop and visit a very well-known place because a few years ago that was the locale where a big crew made the movie called The pirate of t...

Richmond Vale Academy (RVA) is on-board with a new ERASMUS project offering an opportunity to youth connected to the institution to travel to Fiji, Thailand and Italy to represent St. Vincent and the Grenadines in efforts to protect the ocean and stop pollution. STOP (Save The Ocean Project) will be implemented through 31 December 2021, and, in add...

Dear Friends, From Richmond Vale Academy at the beginning of the road on the small beautiful island of St. Vincent in the Eastern Caribbean we wish you a very Happy New Year! The year has been remarkable in so many ways at our small so very active academy in the Richmond Valley: the teachers council has grown considerably, the number of students is...

Students at the Richmond Vale Academy are encouraging Vincentians to sign up for courses that will teach them how to live sustainable lives and create forms of employment. Three students from abroad visited SEARCHLIGHT recently to speak about their experience from being a part of the one-month version of the Climate Compliance course. Nicola Wynne,...

The St. Vincent Climate Compliance Conference program was started in 2012 and is a 10 years standing action conference to make the citadel, here a small island, around DRH Richmond Vale Academy ready for climate change. Students from 74 countries joined with thousands of islanders and removed tons of trash from rivers, streets, communities and beac...

Part of the FWP program before going to the project is to learn how to do an investigation and then take action following what we discovered. Here is what we do for the investigation part. We chose to investigate about recycling in zero waste in Saint Vincent. To do so, we asked people around about what is happening in Saint Vincent concerning thes...

Garifuna drums are echoing through many communities in Central America, singing ballads of their ancestral land of Yurumein, today renamed by the British to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. But their drums seldom beat on the land which Garifuna ancestors protected through generations. Labelled as cannibals by mercenary Christopher Columbus to justif...

  It has taken four months longer than anticipated, but they have done it. Richmond Vale Academy (RVA), which focuses heavily on sustainable living, is now on 100 per cent renewable electricity. The school's off-grid system now consists of an additional 48 new solar modules (panels), bringing the total photovoltaic array to an output of 32 kil...

Why did you choose this program? ​ When I started to look for volunteering opportunities, I was mainly interested in projects focused on environmental actions and climate change. Apart from the actual work done within the project, it was important to me to choose an organization that was well established and transparent. RVA's Climate Compliance Co...

They say that time goes by fast when you are having fun. I have to both agree and disagree. I have enjoyed my time at the Fighting Shoulder to Shoulder with the Poor program of course, and I can't even remember all the happy moments I have shared with my teammate and other students and teachers from our little school community. But it's not all abo...

Service Period Red Bank / Belize My name is Lina, I am a fine and visual artist and this story begins in Bogotá – Colombia. Going from home to work and from work to home, I accumulated hours and hours of daily thoughts and worries for several years. What I had not noticed was that they related not only to my life, but also to other beings, and I sa...

Young people from different parts of the world are taking the initiative to fight against climate change; we can see an example in the "Fridays for Future movement". Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is no exception. Richmond Vale Academy had the great opportunity to share 2 weeks with a group of teenagers from different villages of Saint Vincent an...

Richmond Vale Academy wins the Tourism Social Enterprise, a special award recognising an initiative by an individual or group/association which addresses social problems by applying innovative tourism development ideas. The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has recognised eight tourism entities from CTO-member countries with its top awards for e...

  Stina Herberg will speak at The annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development is part of the information dissemination and regional awareness component of CTO's Strategy for Sustainable Tourism. It looks at how member states can design and implement sustainable tourism policies and programmes offering a regional forum for in...