We’re changing the rules across the globe from a profit-centered global economy to thriving people-centered local economies; from the politics of greed to a living democracy that respects the rights of workers and nature; and from currency to community.
Our holistic approach reaches thousands of members and supporters, through educating the U.S. public about root causes of injustice and the impacts of U.S. government policies and corporate practices. We inspire change by building people-to-people ties, engaging grassroots education for action and linking social and environmental movements.
Global Exchange was founded 29 years ago to promote human rights, justice and sustainability around the world. We envisioned building a robust U.S. movement capable of creating change from the grassroots, powered by people-to-people ties. To change the world, we started making change at home.
Travel With Us
The idea that travel can be educational and positively influence international affairs motivated the first Reality Tour in 1988. Global Exchange’s Reality Tours are not designed to provide immediate solutions or remedies to the world’s most intractable problems, nor are they simply a kind of voyeurism. Rather, Reality Tours are meant to educate people about how we, individually and collectively, contribute to global problems, and, then, to suggest ways in which we can contribute to positive change locally and internationally. We offer participants an opportunity to journey to other countries to examine a situation first-hand, to see beyond what is communicated by the mass media.
As a human rights organization dedicated to promoting global justice, we know that travel can be used as an educational tool to build understanding across cultures and borders and can inspire you to challenge and change policies. Reality Tours is founded on the ethical principles of socially responsible travel. Our tour groups stay in locally-owned lodgings, employ local program officers and guides, and always support the local host economies.
For decades Reality Tours has promoted experiential education and alternative, sustainable and socially responsible travel as a way to empower our participants while promoting the local economy and wellbeing of our hosts. Relationship building is essential to this transformation. Each trip seeks to establish people-to-people ties through introducing participants to local individuals that most travelers would never meet on their own. These ties, we hope, will also prompt participants to examine their own societies and inspire learning, sharing, advocacy and engagement after the trip is over.
We coordinate dozens of trips per year that examine contemporary political, social, economic, environmental, and cultural issues around the world. You can begin your search for an open public tour here. We also offer customized trips for a wide range of groups including universities, schools, organizations, professional associations, companies, or any group of friends and family.
