Impact Trips
Recent Impact Trips
2025
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DISCOVER MUAYTHAI
Fighting for Futures
Meet the youth champions of Discover Muaythai, a social enterprise that empowers at-risk Malaysian youth through discipline, confidence, and purpose— all forged in the ring. After hearing their stories of resilience and transformation, participants got to try a light Muaythai session, led by the very beneficiaries who have turned their lives around through sport.
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BATIK BOUTIQUE
Paint with Purpose
Step into the world of Malaysia’s rich textile heritage with Batik Boutique, an award-winning social enterprise that empowers artisan communities through ethical fashion and design. In this session, participants learned about the cultural significance of batik and rolled up their sleeves to create their very own hand-painted batik masterpiece to take home.
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QUINTERRA
From Waste to Harvest
Participants visited Quinterra’s regenerative farm, where food waste is transformed into high-value resources through the black soldier fly (BSFL) ecosystem. They learned how larvae become feed, fish become fertilizer, and everything contributes to a thriving cycle of natural vegetable farming. It was a fascinating look at how circular systems can fight climate change and feed communities.
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SILENT TEDDIES
Where Every Voice Matters
Enter a world where communication transcends sound. At Silent Teddies Bakery, run by the deaf community, participants not only tasted their delicious pastries but also learned basic sign language and hear inspiring stories of inclusion and empowerment. It was more than a visit - it was a lesson in empathy and connection.
2024
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FLOUR POWER
Flour Power is more than a bakery. It is a socially-driven initiative that aims to create a more inclusive workplace for everyone, especially individuals with special needs.
• Empowerment: FP is dedicated to empowering individuals with special needs and marginalized communities through skills training and employment opportunities.
• Skill Development: FP provides training in baking and other occupational skills, fostering self-expression, improving motor skills, and boosting self-esteem.
• Economic Sustainability: By maintaining the excellence of our goods, FP remains sustainable, allowing their employees to continually improve and prepare for future employment opportunities.
• Inclusivity: FP is envisioned to be an inclusive hub, working with diverse groups of learners, including those with disabilities and special needs.
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): FP enables businesses to engage in purposeful endeavors that benefit society while enjoying the delightful experience of their cookies.
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NEW HOPE COMMUNITY SERVICES
New Hope Community Services (NHCS)'s mission is to restore hope to the displaced and disadvantaged in Singapore, through a range of services and programmes such as temporary shelters, casework, mentoring, job-matching, life-skills training and support with long-term housing and employment.
One of NHCS’s centres is the Kampung Siglap Lifeskills Training and Retreat Centre (KS). Converted from the old Siglap Primary School, Kampung Siglap is a community space where lifeskills training and conducted via overnight retreats to meet the needs of disadvantaged families and individuals.
During this impact trip, participants had the opportunity to observe the Retreat With Hope program, which aims to provide a holistic learning experience that enhances skills of beneficiaries of social service agencies while promoting physical, financial and mental wellness. They also learned about the other programmes that Kampung Siglap runs with social service agencies and community organisations, including the sustainability model of Kampung Siglap.
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SG ASSIST
SG Assist aims to be a comprehensive care solution, supporting seniors, individuals with disabilities, and dedicated caregivers, with CareConnect, a personalised care concierge, at its core.
The Caregiving Learning Journey offers a profound insight into the caregiving landscape and its community impact. This program showcases a network of support and resources aimed at enhancing seniors' quality of life. Participants explored the day-to-day experiences of caregivers, understanding both the psychological and practical challenges they face through reflection and discussion.
A guided walkabout in the Nee Soon South area was a key feature, allowing participants to see firsthand the various care options and services available. This immersive experience illustrates how these services can be accessed and utilized effectively, providing practical knowledge and actionable insights.
Participants gained valuable knowledge on supporting and advocating for better care within their communities.
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COMCROP
ComCrop is Singapore's pioneering commercial urban rooftop farm. An agricultural-based social enterprise that produces food for the community while creating meaningful work for the community, ComCrop goes beyond farming to offer programmes for schools, corporates, and the public.
Their services include workshops on sustainability, hydroponics growing and soil growing, as well as facilitating Values-in-Action (VIA) and environmental initiatives with schools. Through their work, ComCrop provides employment opportunities for marginalised workforces, especially persons with disabilities and the elderly.
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VIDACITY
Vidacity is a sustainability innovation hub that aims to create a sustainable future by bringing together startups, businesses and the community. Developed through the adaptive reuse of the now-defunct Loyang Primary School, Vidacity offers programs, spaces, and events to foster collaboration, innovation, and positive change in Singapore and globally, including the Agrifood Tech Incubation Program, Strategy, Scale & Impact Fellowship as well as a living lab and makerspace.
2023
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KOPERNIK
Kopernik works with women weavers in Eastern Indonesia to make the cloth weaving process more comfortable for them. Before this, women would have to sit on the floor - it was literally back-breaking work to produce this extremely, culturally rich, and important cloth for their communities. Kopernik has been working with the wood craftsmen and the weaving community to improve the tools to make it more comfortable and encourage the younger generation to continue this tradition.
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EARTH COMPANY
Based in Japan and Indonesia, Earth Company is an impact-driven social enterprise that offers transformational support to change-makers, delivers inspiring educational programs, provides professional consulting services, and manages a next generation eco hotel in Ubud, Bali called Mana Earthly Paradise. Earth Company aims to create a world that can be passed on to future generations.
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GERASA
Generasi Bisa (Gerasa) is an Indonesian Non-profit organization that helps victims of drug abuse, sexual abuse, to recover and return as a productive member of the community. Gerasa's main programs are: Prevention Programs (Counseling, Campaign, Communication, Education and Information / KIE) Gerasa House Countermeasures program (After Care, Community Development) Completion Program (Skills Training and Social Enterprise)
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MUNTIGUNUNG
In 2006, in an effort to provide a more sustainable and brighter future for the Muntigunung community, Future for Children – a Swiss backed NGO, together with Yayasan Dian Desa, initiated the Muntigunung Community Development Program. Three social enterprises were established to develop the area's economy: Muntigunung Community Social Enterprise (Food), Muntigunung Community Social Handicrafts Enterprise and Muntigunung Trekking.
Past Impact Trips
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Bali Honey is natural raw honey (Pure Raw Honey) without pasteurization process, microfiltration, and dehumidifying so that the freshness of enzymes, vitamins, and all the beneficial minerals contained in it are maintained. Bali Honey also consistently maintains the purity of its products because it does not experience the addition of any substances so it benefits the health of the body.
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Bye Bye Plastic Bags as a youth organization focuses primarily on education - trying to change the mindset of their community and those around them. They have an educational booklet in the local language that shares a little bit about the problems but also about the solutions: how young people can take action. They have distributed over 11,000 booklets all around Indonesia to students in schools.
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SOCIAL EDUCATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR CHILDREN
Dignity for Children Foundation is a one-stop holistic, community learning centre for the underprivileged urban poor, addressing the needs of children from pre-school level to IGCSE ‘O’ level and vocational skills.
Dignity has been recognised for its work in the world, hosting a visit by the President of the United States, Mr. Barack Obama in 2016 and being awarded the Sharjah International Award 2018.
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ADEQUATE HOUSING FOR THE ORANG ASLI
Owning a home is complicated for most, and is a critical issue for those who live in poverty where access to adequate housing becomes even harder. EPIC Homes believes that the answer to solving this issue comes from collaboration, working together to uncover new solutions and opportunities. The EPIC Homes program is designed to develop support networks by bringing together rural and urban folk through the act of building homes, leading to the development of cooperative, resilient and sustainable communities.
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EMPLOYMENT FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
The concept of Dialogue in the Dark is simple, visitors are led by blind guides in groups through specially constructed dark rooms in which scent, sound, wind, temperature, and texture convey the characteristics of daily environments – for example, a park, a city or having a drink in a local stall. It becomes a new experience.
Blind people provide them with security and a sense of orientation by transmitting to them a world without pictures.
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EDUCATION FOR THE UNDERPRIVILEGED – THE REFUGEES
IDEAS Academy believes in education for all. Education holds the key to global citizenship, which is something that no one regardless of background, race or economic situation should be denied. Their primary aim is for every child between 12 and 18 years old to gain a strong secondary educational foundation to become responsible, confident and compassionate citizens of tomorrow. They rely on the generosity of donors for support.
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EMPOWERING WOMEN THROUGH CRAFT
EARTH HEIR® works with over 100 artisans from women’s cooperatives, indigenous tribes, and refugee groups, across six states of Malaysia. By combining traditional artisanal skills with modern, contemporary design, Earth Heir is a true celebration of Malaysia’s varied heritage art forms and unique cultural narratives. They believe in human connections and environmental stewardship, and seek to keep heritage skills alive.
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REBUILDING REFUGEE LIVES WITH CATERING
Pichaeats identifies families who can cook and trains them to become professional chefs, design menu and packaging, run branding and marketing, and arrange logistics to deliver food cooked by the chefs to clients.
With this simple idea, they experimented with the business model with their first chef - Picha’s mother.
As they are putting food on your table, you are putting food on theirs.
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Having volunteers who are a part of the community is extremely valuable in effecting impact. This is a housing project sustained by volunteers who were themselves beneficiaries of the home improvement work that changed their own quality of life.
Houses with inadequate space for large households and vulnerability to flooding inside houses, are key indicators the volunteers look out for when highlighting houses for re-development. The houses are privately-owned by residents.
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Jatinegara, located in East Jakarta which consists of 28% of Jakarta’s population, is one of the most crowded areas in city. Typically a crowded settlement, this results in a variety of environmental and health issues due to overcrowding and unhygienic living conditions. Due to it’s location, Jatinegara is also vulnerable to natural disasters, most particularly, flooding. Such as the one happening in 2007, which affected many lives. Wahana Visi’s work currently impacts 4 out of 7 villages in the sub-district. Their programs focus on child, youth, and economic development.
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Yayasan Prima Unggul (YPU) is a children’s home that promotes the arts and entrepreneurship. Most of the children and youth come from Flores Island and Papua, which are parts of Indonesia with the highest level of poverty. Yet, the children at the organisation are extremely confident, vocal, and entrepreneurial.
The Foundation provides opportunities for talent development of students through learning opportunities to produce different types of food, and learning a variety of business skills.
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The people of Angke River used to live in unlicensed buildings, which were very disordered and caused negative health impacts on the people. However, there was an enormous improvement in their comfort and living conditions after they moved into the 1st Tzu Chi Great Love Village in Cengkareng.
In the Great Love Village, there is a free health clinic, schools, and occupational training center to help the residents raise the economic status for their family.
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUSTAINING EDUCATION
The mission of Al-Ashriyyah Nurul Iman Islamic Boarding School is to instil in its students love, virtue, character, and a capacity to care about others—in other words, to make them exemplary Muslims. With this mission, it is no surprise that ‘Nurul Iman’ means radiant faith, dazzling belief, or bright light of conviction.
When the Buddha’s compassion is combined with such “radiant faith,” the School is immersed in Great Love, the universal expression of love that is shared among all religions.
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RURAL WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP MADE POSSIBLE
Paloma Shopway is a consumer goods distribution that provides opportunities for women in rural communities to become entrepreneurs through catalogue sales. Paloma also seeks to improve the lives of members through providing new experiences like overseas trips and members are welcomed to join family camps and marriage counselling courses. Paloma’s distribution network covers most of Indonesia.
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YCAB has evolved from a non-profit supported by donations, into a sustainable social enterprise throughout the years. Under the YCAB arm are 5 enterprises that fund their work.
On this trip, visit the vocational center that conducts workshops and classes for the youth, and later get to know their micro finance arm “YCAB Ventures” which supports over 40,000 female entrepreneurs in low income families. You’ll meet the female entrepreneurs of YCAB in an intimate sharing session.
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More than just housing people, a good rusunawa (low-cost rental apartment complex) should provide adequate social and economic support for residents, many of whom have never lived in apartments, and are also now located further away from their places of employment.
Rusunawa Marunda is a good case study of how public-private partnerships are necessary to meet the needs of residents in education, skills training, and job-creation.
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In 2016, 3 new towers were completed and Tambora now houses over 500 families within its compounds. Indonesian Care has been conducting its programs at Tambora, with 3 areas of focus: Education, health, and livelihood. This Impact Trip took participants throughout the housing estate of Tambora, of which they were able to interact and engage with community members as well as Indonesian Care staff on various programs.
TBN delegates also visited and held discussions with the ladies of the in-house sewing social enterprise.
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PUBLIC COLLABORATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The focus of Habitat for Humanity’s work is on providing decent housing and settlements for marginalised communities. Habitat’s ability to mobilise volunteers from all over the world to work together for the greater good has brought homes to numerous communities over the years. In addition to good housing, Habitat provides community facilities such as schools, libraries, community centers, and playgrounds as well.
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Participants headed to Tzu Chi Centre Jakarta to learn about the amazing work they have done all around Indonesia. They went on an intimate guided tour of the compound to visit the school, exhibition centre, and auditorium, and speak to the volunteers who are the hands and legs of the projects all around Jakarta.
Travel for Change
Hosted in conjunction with our partner, Actxplorer, impact trips create opportunities for meaningful and fun interactions, as well as allow travellers to contribute to projects that benefit the local communities. We accomplish this by collaborating with local groups, social enterprises, and non-governmental organisations to participate in projects for community development and economic empowerment.