|
Gap years and voluntary service:
- There are now a myriad of organisations
offering gap year experiences. Many charge large amounts of money
for your experience. Insist on knowing exactly what is being
offered and what they expect of you - questions you should ask
include:
- what is the cost? are there
any other costs to be met?
- is transport to the venue included?
- what accommodation is provided?
Is it shared?
- what meals are provided?
- how many hours work is required?
What type of work?
- do they pay anything?
- what facilities are there for
out-of-hours recreation?
- what is the status of the organisation
-charitable or profit-making
- what is their ethical policy?
- can they provide references?
- Once you have answers to these,
you should go and take up the references, and also search travel forums for comments by previous
volunteers.
-
- You really want the project
to be of local value, as well as giving you a valuable experience,
so do probe the organisation on ethical issues. There are good
guides to going about this at ethicalvolunteering.org
or its sister site gapyearresearch.org,
covering topics like how they present the work they do, how organisations
match volunteer skills to the project, how volunteers are selected,
what sort of pre-departure and return briefings are provided.
-
Useful organisations:
- Duke of Edinburgh Award -useful guide to thinking about a gap year including
budgeting, checklists and other useful tips.
- findagap.com -sets out to be the most comprehensive
Gap Year information source on the web.
- Gap
Activity Projects -Volunteering
experiences overseas for 17 - 25 year olds.
- Gaps for Grumpies
-adventure travel and volunteering for the over 40s.
- Gapwork -gap year information site. gapwork
gives information on jobs abroad, gap years, summer work, UK
gap years and overseas voluntary work.
- gapyear.com -a complete guide to taking time out.
- gap-year.com -resource for planning a gap year -advice,
message board, volunteering.
- Gap Year Worldwide
-a gap year guide, with ideas, volunteer placements & more...
- Global Adventures
-a division of the American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS),
one of the world's leading educational and cultural exchange
organisations. More than one million young people have participated
in AIFS programmes since the organisation was founded in 1964.
- Global
Vision International
-conservation expeditions, volunteer work, training courses and
career opportunities in Mexico, Ecuador and Costa Rica and take
part in volunteer conservation and community work in over 20
countries worldwide throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia.
- MondoChallenge
-the career break specialists -currently has projects in Chile,
Ecuador, The Gambia, India, Kenya, Nepal, Le Sénégal,
Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Romania. A not for profit organisation.
- One
World 365 -an online
directory of gap year work, volunteer and teaching opportunities.
Qest Overseas -gap
year provider specialising
in South America and Africa, and offering ethical volunteering
and expedition experiences for 17-25 year olds.
- Real
Gap -gap year provider
with an ethical bias -volunteer with wildlife conservation, work
with children or teach English abroad for just a few weeks up
to a full gap year out.
- Simply Volunteer
-overseas volunteer opportunities in their simplest form -Placements
include teaching English, conservation, community, building,
sports coaching, media and marketing.
- Volunteer Abroad -short-term volunteer development assistance around
the world.
- VSO -Voluntary Service Overseas is an international
development charity that works through volunteers and aims to
fight global poverty and disadvantage. They are one of the longest
standing volunteer organisations, and tend to look for people
with relevant skills and experience -there is a searchable databse
of opportunities on the site.
- Worldwide Volunteering -extensive database of volunteer opportunities
and advice on fundraising.
- www.do-it.org.uk -national database of volunteering opportunities
in the UK.
- Year
Out Group -information
and guidance on taking a gap year or career break for young people
and their parents and advisers.
- Gap Adventures
Search this site with Google:
|
|