Overseas volunteering on a budget

Travel question of the week

Dear Rolf,

I'm planning on departing on a long-term round-the-world journey sometime in the next few years, and I was interested in volunteering throughout the journey. To learn more about this possibility, I checked out the Cross Cultural Solutions site and was excited to see the many different opportunities. However, I soon discovered it wasn't free. It was, actually, very expensive!

My question is, are there any solid, reputable, good volunteer programs that don't have high "program fees"? I know those programs are probably well worth the money, but I just don't have the budget to spend $2,000 every time I want to volunteer for a couple weeks. Are there cheaper alternatives that still offer the same rewarding and memorable experience?

Thanks,

— Ian

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Dear Ian,

You bring up a good point. Volunteering is indeed a great way to experience the world, and it can be discouraging to discover that many volunteering opportunities are expensive enough to deplete your long-term travel budget.

With this in mind, I recommend that vagabonders look for informal volunteer opportunities on the road. That is, instead of applying in advance through a volunteering agency, just keep your eyes open as you travel, and donate your skills as you see a need. As a former teacher, I often drop by neighborhood schools in various countries to volunteer to offer informal English lessons to local students and classes. Not only does this help kids practice their English and interact with someone from a different country — it also deepens my experience of travel, and it allows me to meet local people who aren't tied to the tourism trade.

Similarly, if you have expertise in, say, computers, you might volunteer your time helping to improve online access at village Internet cafes. If you've been trained in law or health, you can probably find ways to help with refugee communities near international borders. Even simple willingness to lend a hand in extraordinary conditions can be a great way to reach out to your host community — after the Asian tsunami of 2004, scores of independent travelers in Thailand and Sri Lanka spontaneously pitched in to assist rescue, recovery, relocation and fund-raising efforts.

So as you travel, definitely keep an eye out for these types of spontaneous volunteer opportunities. Just remember to be sensitive to local concerns as you offer your time and labor. Volunteering expert Doug Cutchins (whose book Volunteer Vacations is in its 9th edition) tells me that "the concept of 'volunteering' isn't universally held. There are some cultures and countries around the world where what you want to do won't be familiar, or where your help — as an outsider from a country with perceived power — won't be welcomed."

Moreover, even as you plan to volunteer informally as you travel, I recommend that you be aware of the formal volunteer opportunities that are out there, even if they require a fee. Transitions Abroad magazine, for example, maintains great online resources for volunteering, and I recommend a subscription to anyone who is considering a long-term journey that combines travel with volunteering, work or study.

This in mind, I contacted Transitions Abroad editor Gregory Hubbs to sound off on a few of your volunteering concerns, and here are some highlights from our Q&A:

Why does it typically cost so much to volunteer through an agency?

Gregory Hubbs: Primarily because most volunteers are more of a liability until they are trained to help the local community. Often the money spent volunteering is best spent on the local volunteers/people, particularly if the outside volunteer does not have medical, teaching, technical or other useful skills which would allow them to "hit the ground running." In addition, it is usually very important for there to be continuity in a volunteer project for it to truly succeed in helping those who need it. Several online resources address this issue, including articles in Transitions Abroad, Verge Magazine and the Cross-Cultural Solutions website itself.

How does one prepare for a volunteering experience?

GH: You must decide the type of volunteer work for which you are best suited. It is very important that to make sure that you have both the interest and the physical ability to volunteer for a particular project, and this requires some self-analysis beforehand. You must also take into account many of the practical issues you will encounter abroad as a volunteer and plan how to handle them. Who pays for meals? Who pays for the room? Do you have health insurance while you travel, along with all required immunizations? Have you taken into account all transportation costs to and from the location(s) you choose to volunteer? A good article on preparatory issues which could apply to short-term volunteer work can be found here.

Where in the world can one volunteer?

GH: This can depend on whether your itinerary will be spontaneous or highly planned. If you tend to prefer some spontaneity, as do I, then doing research on a variety of programs up front is even more important in order to avoid losing any up-front registration money. Around-the-world trips rarely go as planned, nor should they. But to get to the meat of the issue: There are a couple of excellent "umbrella" organizations with volunteer programs that go on year-round:

• The primary resource and database is IVPA, where worldwide programs can be found in a database in the context of other helpful resources and advice, much of it pulled from Zahara Heckscher's classic book: How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas.
  
  
• Volunteers for Peace has a searchable database of workcamps which cost in the hundreds, not thousands.
  
  
• The International Workcamp Directory lists a variety of workcamps.
  
  
• Workcamps really are the best bet, as they are low-cost and do not generally require any specific skill-set. Workcamps exist in locations around the world and allow people to live and volunteer together for a few weeks on grassroots projects often organized by local sponsors. Such volunteer projects are often most beneficial for the community, since income remains local and the cost of training volunteers is very low. A good participant report on the subject can be found here.

Volunteer Vacations author Cutchins suggests a few more options for less-expensive international volunteer placement agencies (most of them in Western Europe), including:

• The BTCV (used to be the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers; now just uses its initials), which offers a huge number of conservation-related volunteer trips. Most of their opportunities are in the UK, with more expensive ones in other countries.
  
  
• Vitalise, also in the UK, which accepts volunteers for a minimum of a week at a time.
  
  
• Rempart, which operates many archeological and historic renovation programs in France.
  
  
• WWOOF (World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), which may be your best bet. You join, and then are given a guide to organic farms around the world.  The details are up to you and the farmer, but usually you exchange your labor for room and board.
  
  
• Sunseed Desert Technology in Spain, which works on ways to "develop, demonstrate, and communicate accessible low-tech methods of living sustainably in a semi-arid environment."

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