The Diploma of Global Citizenship – Dolphin & Marine Conservation is an immersive 6 or 12-week Academy experience based in Zanzibar, Tanzania, combining meaningful international volunteering, practical marine conservation experience, Global Citizenship learning, personal development, cultural immersion and travel.
Think of it as travel, volunteering and learning all rolled into one.
For 6 or 12 weeks, Zanzibar becomes home. You'll live alongside an international Academy cohort, spend your weekdays working consistently within our own Dolphin Conservation Project, take part in practical workshops and cultural experiences, explore your own personal development and work towards a meaningful Legacy Project.
Around all of that, you'll experience what makes Zanzibar such an incredible place to spend part of your gap year. Think white-sand beaches, the Indian Ocean, Swahili culture, tropical island life, local food, snorkelling, Stone Town, weekend adventures and social life with your Academy cohort.
And your experience doesn't stop at the island. You'll also journey across to mainland Tanzania, travelling through the Usambara Mountains and northern Tanzania before experiencing one of the country's greatest adventures — safari.
The experience is designed to be fun, social, adventurous and genuinely meaningful, while giving you something substantial to carry forward when you return home.
Alongside the Academy, you'll complete the academic requirements of the relevant Level 3 Diploma in Global Citizenship, giving you an accredited outcome alongside your international practical experience.
Inspired by the Folk School Experience:
The Academy takes inspiration from the Scandinavian folk school concept: bringing young people together to live, learn, travel and grow through shared real-world experiences rather than making education something that only happens inside a classroom.
We've adapted that philosophy to something we know extremely well — international volunteering and community development in Tanzania.
After years of working with international volunteers, we've learned that ethical volunteering is a collaborative effort. Choosing an ethical, locally grounded organisation is incredibly important, but the volunteer themselves also plays a major role in whether their contribution is genuinely positive.
That's why the Academy doesn't simply send you to a placement each morning.
We provide structured guidance and Global Citizenship education alongside your practical experience, helping you understand cultural context, question assumptions, explore root causes, build meaningful relationships and think critically about what responsible and sustainable contribution actually looks like.
Your Dolphin & Marine Conservation Placement:
At the heart of your Academy experience is the Boresha Maisha Dolphin Conservation Project — our own conservation initiative based in Zanzibar.
The project focuses on the relationship between dolphins, marine tourism, conservation and the coastal communities whose livelihoods depend on the ocean.
Following orientation and appropriate field training, you'll support supervised conservation activities in and around Kizimkazi and the wider Menai Bay environment.
Depending on conditions and current project priorities, this can include dolphin observations, monitoring dolphin behaviour and group composition, recording boat activity and tourism encounters, marine-litter monitoring, responsible-tourism initiatives, ocean education and community engagement.
Rather than simply taking volunteers out to see dolphins, the project explores a much bigger question: how can Zanzibar continue benefiting from dolphin tourism while protecting the animals and marine environment that make that tourism possible?
Become Part of the Project, Rather Than Passing Through It:
One of the biggest advantages of the Academy is consistency.
You're not spending a few days observing dolphins before moving on.
During your first weeks, your priority is to learn. You'll understand monitoring methods, marine conservation challenges, responsible dolphin tourism and the perspectives of local people whose lives and livelihoods are connected to the ocean.
As the weeks progress, you'll become increasingly involved in field observations, conservation activities, monitoring information, community engagement and ocean education.
Participants joining the 12-week Academy naturally have even more time to develop their understanding and contribute to longer-term project activities.
That consistency allows you to move beyond surface-level wildlife volunteering and become a genuinely useful participant in an ongoing conservation initiative.
Global Citizenship in the Real World:
Your placement is only one part of what you're learning.
Throughout the Academy, you'll participate in practical Global Citizenship sessions exploring some of the bigger questions surrounding international volunteering, conservation and development.
You'll explore ethical volunteering, sustainability, capacity building, cultural perspectives, responsible international engagement and how conservation can work alongside the needs of local communities.
These aren't traditional classroom lectures. Sessions are interactive and closely connected to what you're actually experiencing in Zanzibar.
That's where the real learning happens: learning something, experiencing it, questioning it and taking that new understanding back into the real world.
Work Towards a Meaningful Legacy Project:
As your understanding of the project grows, you'll begin working collaboratively towards one of the most important components of the Academy: your Legacy Project.
Rather than arriving with assumptions about what Zanzibar's dolphins, communities or marine environment need, you'll spend time understanding current conservation priorities and speaking with the people involved.
Your Legacy Project could contribute to conservation monitoring, responsible-tourism education, marine-litter initiatives, community awareness, school-based ocean education, Ocean & Environment Clubs or another priority identified through the project.
You'll have time to develop your idea, receive feedback, adapt it and create a proper handover.
The purpose isn't to produce something that simply looks impressive.
It's to contribute something realistic, locally relevant, sustainable and genuinely useful after your cohort leaves.
Personal Growth Is Part of the Journey:
The Academy isn't only about what you can contribute.
It's also about what happens to you when you move to a tropical island off the coast of East Africa and build a life somewhere completely different from home.
Weekly personal growth, self-awareness and reflection sessions give you space to process that journey.
Through workshops, group discussions and your Global Impact Journal, you'll explore confidence, independence, identity, values, resilience, communication, leadership, relationships, cultural adjustment and future direction.
You won't simply finish the program having experienced a lot.
You'll have been encouraged to think about what those experiences actually taught you.
Learn From Zanzibar:
Living in Zanzibar gives you an opportunity to experience the island far beyond the perspective of a typical holiday.
You'll learn practical Swahili, experience local food and traditions, participate in cultural workshops and learn from Tanzanian community partners and guest speakers.
Some of the most important cultural learning will happen naturally — when you begin using Swahili words, know your way around Paje, understand the local context more deeply and develop relationships with the people around you.
Over time, Zanzibar starts feeling less like somewhere you're visiting and more like somewhere you're actually living.
Experience Island Life — And Mainland Tanzania:
And while the Academy has genuine educational and conservation foundations, we haven't forgotten one important thing:
You're spending your gap year in Zanzibar.
Your Academy home base places you on Zanzibar's beautiful east coast, with the Indian Ocean, beaches and island life becoming part of everyday life.
Across your program, Adventure Days may include Stone Town, snorkelling and ocean adventures, Jozani, beaches, local food, cultural experiences and island exploration.
Your Academy also includes a major journey to mainland Tanzania, combining overland travel with mountains, northern Tanzania and an unforgettable safari experience.
You won't have to choose between doing something meaningful and having the adventure you dreamed about when you decided to take a gap year.
The two are intentionally built together.
Live the Experience Together:
A huge part of the Academy is the people you'll share it with.
Academy participants join on set intake dates, meaning you'll arrive and progress through the experience alongside your cohort.
You'll live together at our Academy home base in Paje, Zanzibar, close to the beach, while participants complete different internship pathways across conservation, community development and health.
You'll come together throughout the week for workshops, cultural activities, adventures and social events, with shared meals, beach afternoons, games, movie nights, social nights and plenty of spontaneous plans.
And you'll still have independence, with downtime built into the program to explore Zanzibar, relax or organise your own adventures.
Finish With Experience You Can Carry Forward:
Alongside everything you're experiencing in Zanzibar, you'll complete the academic components of your Level 3 Diploma in Global Citizenship.
You'll also develop practical skills in conservation monitoring, environmental education, community engagement, cross-cultural communication, teamwork, adaptability, leadership, critical thinking and responsible international practice.
For participants considering future study or careers in marine biology, wildlife conservation, environmental science, ecology, sustainable tourism, international development, environmental education or related fields, the internship provides particularly relevant practical exposure.
But you don't need to arrive as a marine scientist.
You can arrive as someone who wants to learn, contribute and understand the ocean from a completely different perspective.
It's not just a volunteer placement. It's not just a course. And it's definitely not just a holiday.
It's a travel, volunteering and learning experience all in one — giving you the adventure of a gap year, the depth of living abroad, the purpose of meaningful conservation and the future value of an accredited Global Citizenship qualification.
