To develop leadership and personal mastery through outdoor- and wilderness-based experiential learning. Rooted in a belief in the therapeutic power of wilderness, the rich value of dialogue, deep reflection, and rites of passage methodology, Educo creates an enabling environment for people to grow, develop, heal, to enhance our relationship with self, with others and with the natural world.

Educo is a dynamic learning organisation that facilitates the healing, empowerment, training and development of people. We encourage deep personal transformation towards social change, a valuing of diversity and respect for the natural environment. Experiential learning, adventure-based activities, and developmental practice principles form the foundation of our programmes.

Educo Africa's aim has from the outset been to raise the quality of life of people and communities in post-Apartheid South Africa. Emphasis is on young people, with specialized focus on youth at risk or in need. Educo employs 22 fulltime staff from the broadest spectrum of backgrounds and ages.  The youngest is 21, the oldest 64, many from previously disadvantaged communities.

Some began their contact with Educo as participants on its youth development programmes and have worked their way through internship to programme facilitators or course leaders. The organisation’s commitment is towards assisting people to achieve wholeness, so that they may function fully in all their endeavours as creative, adaptive, innovative and solution-oriented individuals.

Over the years, some of the programmes have become specialised to meet the specific needs of partners and beneficiaries in different sectors, including children in care and/or places of safety, youth in trouble with the law or living on the streets, young people most directly impacted by HIV/AIDS, and unemployed youth. Such programme emphasis, depending on the greatest need, is on healing the pain of the past, empowering a sense of self, purpose and possibility and providing skills that will lead to greater employability and job access.

Based on further demand, Educo has also focussed on training and building the capacity of adults who work with youth at risk or in need, to be able themselves to use the outdoors as a developmental environment, and to incorporate experiential learning in the work that they do.

Educo Africa was formed in 1994, and is affiliated to the Educo International Alliance (Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, USA), which means it can draw on over 35 years of experience in the field of outdoor education and development.