BEEP has been operating for nearly two decades and is an established initiative. The organisation’s primary aim is to transform lives through nature. This transformation is achieved by exposing youth to national parks and conservation areas places historically inaccessible to black South Africans due to colonial and apartheid-era exclusions. By facilitating excursions to Table Mountain and other natural sites, BEEP nurtures a sense of belonging, identity, and responsibility in participants. These experiences are more than recreational; they are healing encounters that foster environmental consciousness and inspire lifelong learning.

The goals of the project are multifaceted. One key goal is to reduce the vulnerability of informal settlement communities to climate change. BEEP equips youth with practical adaptation skills such as reflective painting to cool homes, data collection for risk mapping, and waste management through upcycling and environmental education. Another goal is to build capacity for higher education and employment. BEEP has supported over 600 youth in accessing tertiary education and vocational opportunities in environmental fields. It also promotes green entrepreneurship, offering pathways out of poverty through socially and ecologically sustainable livelihoods.

Conventional mountain-based conservation and recreation often exclude people from informal settlements and low-income communities, not by intention but by design through financial, cultural, and systemic barriers. BEEP’s approach is to reverse that dynamic by bringing marginalized youth into mountain landscapes not as visitors, but as learners, storytellers, and future stewards. Youth from communities like Khayelitsha, who may have lived in the shadow of Table Mountain all their lives without ever setting foot on it, are invited to ascend, hike, reflect, and ultimately reclaim a connection to these protected areas.

Crucially, the organisation’s model is youth-led and replicable. It cultivates leadership by empowering young participants to become mentors, guides, and educators in their own communities. Through storytelling, data activism, and public engagement, these young leaders become powerful advocates for a just and sustainable future.  The implementation of this project revolves around structured excursions to Table Mountain National Park and surrounding biodiversity hotspots, combined with an experiential learning curriculum and youth leadership development. The program is already being scaled in partnership with universities, local municipalities, and grassroots organizations, with ambitions to expand nationally.

BEEP is more than an environmental initiative. It is a holistic movement that uses nature as a platform for healing, learning, and transformation. Its vision of environmental justice is grounded in lived experience, cultural reclamation, and intergenerational solidarity, making it a powerful force for change in South Africa’s most vulnerable communities.