I wrote this piece primarily for an Irish audience, as a means to advise potential volunteers on how to find a placement. I think international readers/my fellow TH!NKers may be interested to see what best practice is here in Ireland, and perhaps add some perspectives from your home countries.
Regular readers will know that I have some pretty serious misgivings about overseas volunteering. I think it’s an immoral deflection of limited resources away from the real need.
However, I know that volunteering overseas is always popular. It’s also a target for scam artists and rogue businesses.There are also rare cases where it’s worthwhile too, particularly skilled volunteers (provided that their expertise are needed overseas). It’s rare that Malawi needs an Irish barrister but doctors are always welcome.
In this article, I want to advise potential volunteers on how to go about finding a placement overseas.This piece is written primarily for an Irish audience so apologies to any foreign readers.
1) Firstly, log on to the Volunteering Options site which is run by Comhlamh and funded by Irish Aid. There, you can search their database for an appropriate placement. I’d also recommend that you explore the site, particularly the section on ‘Making a Decision’. This should help you confirm that volunteering is right for you.
2) Invest in a great book entitled: “Working for a Better World: A Guide to Volunteering in Global Development”, which is again produced by Comhlamh. In it, you’ll find a list of sending organisations, complete with brief details on their work and their contact details. Plus a comprehensive introduction giving a background to working in development and an excellent FAQ section. You’ll get it in Eason’s for about fifteen quid, or in your local library.
3) Attend a FREE one-to-one volunteer advisory session, which are offered by Comhlamh. This offers you the chance to discuss your options, questions and concerns with a professional development worker. See Comlamh‘s site for more info or email info AT comhlamh DOT org.
4) Drop in to the Irish Aid Volunteering and Information Centre on O’Connell St to collect a volunteer information pack.
5) Consider signing up to the weekly e-newsletters from Dochas and Activelink, for information on upcoming events and volunteering oppurtunities.
6) Check that the sending organisation has signed up to the Volunteer Charter (PDF) and make sure you read it. This is the industry standard to ensure that you’re safe when overseas and that the organisation is legit. If the organisation hasn’t signed the Charter, approach with caution.
7) Comhlamh also run a range of pre- and post-departure workshops on development issues. Check out their website. Suas also run a Global Issues course which is worth attending. DTalk offer more in depth workshops on specific aspects of development.
Volunteering is not free. Unskilled volunteers generally pay the costs incurred with their placement. The minimum fee is about E1,000 costs, even if you’re only overseas for a short placement. Don’t be surprised if you’ve to fork out for vaccinations, pre-departure training etc too. The cost for skilled volunteers is often covered by organisation.
Volunteering takes time. It takes upwards of 6 months to organize an overseas placement, so plan in plenty of time. If you require vaccinations for going overseas, it usually takes them about 6 months to kick in too.
Groups. Generally, volunteering in a group can be tricker than going individually. Again, Comhlamh or your sending organisations can advise.
If you’re going overseas, be cautious. Be careful. Get consular advice through the Department of Foreign Affairs. Don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions of your sending organisation.
If you’re not sure about going overseas, I’d encourage you to read this: Should I Volunteer Overseas? I wasn’t aware of the wider debate when I signed up to be a volunteer, but I think every potential volunteer should be. There are lots of positives and negatives to the experience, and ultimately, you want to be able to stand over your choice. Educating yourself is the only way to guarantee that.
Good luck!!
If you’ve anything to add or any questions to ask, please feel free to comment below.
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there are of course different kind of volunteering - for example EVS (European Volunteer Service) is designed for not very experienced people so it is more about gaining skills through helping others, and there is UNV (United Nation Volunteers) which is for very experienced people. So I don’t agree that you have to be skilled… I will say that you need to be ready to learn.
Yes, these guidelines are for both skilled and unskilled volunteers. EVS is a great organization for all my European readers.
I am sure these guidlines are useful for the intended audience. I sued to be an EVS volunteer, and I must say it was an experience I would want everyone to have. But it is important to understand that you don’t go abroad to help someone, but to get to know them, and better understand your own place in the world. I don’t think volunteering produces very much concrete ‘development’, but for thousands of people it helps come to terms with the differences between countries.
I guess there is also a big differnce if you go to another continent, or within Europe… here we are all kind of cousins in cultural terms, and it is all much easier I think.
Yeah, I also have some friends that did an experience with EVS and they strongly encourage it
Clare, your post on voluntourism was one of my personal favourites on this platform. As far as I understand, you wrote this one acknowledging that many people still volunteer overseas, so they’d better do it right, is that correct?
Would you agree that it’s much better to start local, meaning volunteer in one’s own city at first, and then after getting an idea of what it is to be a volunteer, maybe move on further?
Daniel, I agree with you that volunteering abroad is probably more to do with one’s own development than actual help for those in need. And if you don’t mind sharing, what was your EVS?
In Polish Aid programme of Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Polish Aid Volunteer is a programme under global development, not under development aid… I agree that volunteering is more about learning.
I was in a project animating elderly people in a village outside Chisinau, Moldova. The project itself was very amateurish… but the experience of going there gave me a lot of insights.
my EVS, which was in Irkutsk, Siberia opened my profesional career in NGOs. Before that I didn’t really have a lot in common with this sector.
@Daniel: Sounds like a great experience. I think people often learn more from the experience of living abroad, rather than the actually project they are working on. Law of unintended consequences, I guess.
@Giedre: Exactly. If people still want to volunteer overseas, I don’t want them to get scammed or God forbid, something awful happen to them. So, I wrote about the things to do when you’re trying to find a proper placement. I definitely advocate volunteering at home before going overseas, both to show your commitment to serving others and to prepare yourself for a similar experience overseas. Have you volunteered overseas yourself?
@Iwona: Do the polish government run overseas volunteer programs? We don’t do that here in Ireland.
yes, we have now the 3th edition: http://www.polishaid.gov.pl/Volunteering,810.html
It’s a very nice programme for people as they provide you with quite a lot of money - they cover everything in 100% and your pocket money (per diam) is like the avarage salary in Poland… the problem is the duration of the stay… it’s usually half a year because in Poland we still do not have a development agency with the independent budget funding so the funding for all activities in frame of Polish Aid are funded annually… hopefully it will change soon.
Clare, no I haven’t volunteered overseas, I did it in my city - Vilnius, Lithuania. It was a human rights NGO working with young people, based on peer-to-peer education. We had many problems with money and ignorance from the authorities’ side, but nevertheless it was a great experience and it taught me a lot. That is why I also advocate volunteering, exactly for the same reasons you mention in your last comment.