Best International Volunteer opportunities, Vacations and Projects Abroad for 2023

Last Updated: January 01, 2023

Best  International Volunteer opportunities, Vacations and Projects Abroad for  2023

Year 2020 - 2021 – When volunteering will be needed more than ever.

Volunteering will be needed to restore hope, humour and humanity among everyone affected by this pandemic and its consequences. Asia, Africa and Latin America that has been providing international volunteer opportunities needs voluntourism more than ever.The world’s economy has been affected by this crisis and as we all know crisis hits the poor hardest. There are enough opportunities to volunteer in projects abroad working on areas of education, poverty, environment, health, agriculture, technology, community building and many more which you can be part of according to your interest and expertise.

What are the Best Destinations to Internationally Volunteer in 2023

If you want to volunteer abroad and bring about a change in yourself and in the community, you can choose from among a handful of destinations. Each destination can provide you with amazing touristic places as well as volunteering opportunities as per the interest.

Ghana, Kenya and Uganda from Africa, Nepal, India, Thailand, Sri-Lanka, Vietnam, Combodia from South Asia, Peru, Costa Rica, Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina from Latin America are some of the best destinations for volunteer Vacations. You’ll get to spend your time teaching different things to underprivileged children, creating health awareness among mother’s group, psychology volunteering and on different other fields that too while enjoying beaches, learning new cultures, visiting world heritage sites and many more.

Volunteer in Asia

Best  International Volunteer opportunities, Vacations and Projects in Asia

Asia , the largest continent with the highest population best known for it’s diversity is popular among teenager volunteering abroad. The reason is countries in Asia are beautiful and most importantly affordable for volunteers and tourists.

Asian countries offers multi-faceted programs that goes from waste management to wild life; mental health to malnutrition; heritage site cleanliness to disaster management and road safety to human trafficking.

Volunteers looking forward for adventure, experience and making an impact should go for voluntourism in Asia. Asia being a diverse continent also deals with diverse problems and volunteers will feel satisfied to see their efforts bringing an impact on lives of people.

International Volunteer and Travel Abroad Programs in Asia

Here are some the highly recommended volunteer abroad destinations in Asia.

International volunteer in Nepal

Nepal is a beautiful country of southeast Asia. Lying beneath the shadows of the Himalayas, Nepal possesses all the natural beauties that the travelers around the world are looking for. A country I don’t want to buy unique Eastern culture and very welcoming lovely people, Nepal is an ultimate destination for anyone looking for experience of lifetime. Joining an international volunteer program in Nepal can and reach you with all meaningful experiences. From teaching in local schools to helping in the hospitals there are myriads of opportunities for internationally volunteering in Nepal.

International Volunteer in India

The biggest democracy in the world, this colorful country of Asia is full of places and people that can be every traveler's dream. Joining a project as an international volunteer in India can provide you the opportunity to make a difference. Embark into a colorful journey of this beautiful country of Asia and make the difference while participating in volunteer overseas programs.

International Volunteer Program Sri Lanka

A pristine island country of South Asia, Sri Lanka is the ultimate destination of Indian subcontinent for the travelers who are looking for a meaningful journey. Enrolling in international volunteer projects in Sri Lanka can be the experience of a lifetime for every enthusiast. 

Internationally Volunteering In Cambodia

A Southeast Asian nation of historical and archaeological value, Cambodia can offer you all the moments of exploration and contribution while participating in internationally volunteering abroad programs.

International volunteer and travel abroad Program in Thailand

A Southeast Asian country, known for the tropical beaches, artistic palaces and temples, Thailand is an emerald of Asia. Joining international volunteer projects in Thailand can provide you all the opportunities to enjoy the trip abroad moment meanwhile making significant help to the communities.

Volunteer in Africa

International Volunteer in Africa

Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent rich in natural resources. Animal lovers out there, who wants to invest their efforts and time working for the protection of endangered animals, Africa is the perfect international volunteering destination for you.

Though being rich in natural resources Africa still is one of the poorest and less developed continents facing problems of unemployment, corruption, illiteracy, poverty, hunger. Being the hottest continent droughts and famines is another recurrent problem. Volunteers can get their hands dirty by teaching scientific way of agriculture, teaching African kids English, sports, arts and crafts and make life time memories.

Internationally Volunteering In Africa

There are myriads of opportunities to internationally volunteering in Africa, here we have enlisted some of the destinations to volunteer in Africa

Kenya International volunteer and travel abroad Programs

An East African country encompassing savannah, lake lands, dramatic rift valley and mountain highlands, Kenya is a country known for the wild lives and natural vistas. Signing up for international volunteer and travel abroad programs in Kenya can be a rewarding and fulfilling experience.

Ghana International volunteer and travel abroad Programs

Adorned by dramatic national parks and artistic castles, Ghana is hailed as West Africa's golden child. Traveling and volunteering in Ghana will provide you all the beautiful and remarkable moments.

South Africa International volunteer and travel abroad Programs

The southernmost nation of African continent, South Africa is popular for amazing wildlife, vibrant cities and picturesque subtropical coastal beaches. Internationally volunteering in South Africa can be both a lifetime experience for every travel enthusiast across the world.

Tanzania International volunteer and travel abroad Programs

The country known for Serengeti and Kilimanjaro; Tanzania is the true gem of Africa. From helping disadvantaged children to working in health projects, Tanzania has a wide range of opportunities to offer international volunteers from across the world.

Uganda International volunteer and travel abroad Programs

Amazing wildlife view, welcoming locals, the source of the Nile river, Uganda is one of the most iconic countries of Africa. Joining international volunteer and travel abroad programs in Uganda can provide all the experience to create beautiful memories for lifetime.

Volunteer in Latin America

Best  International Volunteer opportunities Latin America

Anyone interested to volunteer internationally while enjoying beaches, islands, rainforests then Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica are the countries you can go to. Volunteers passionate about environment conservation and promoting sustainability have many volunteering opportunities as Latin America faces the problems of pollution, safe drinking water and deforestation.

Latin America also provides other various volunteering opportunities and one can take away lots of learnings and experiences if one can be flexible towards opportunity that comes their way. However, one should do proper research and choose countries that are affordable and secure in order to have the best volunteering vacations

International volunteer and travel abroad Programs in Latin America

There are plenty of opportunities to join as international volunteer in some of the beautiful Latin American countries

International Volunteer in Costa Rica

The beautiful Central American country with the coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific, Costa Rica is an incredible destination for the travel lovers. From saving sea turtles to teaching English in local schools, Costa Rica has it all to offer all the international volunteers abroad.

International Volunteer in Peru

A home to famous Machu Picchu, Peru is popular for Incan city and it is one of the most liked South American countries by the travelers around the world. From orphanage volunteer work to helping in teenage mother projects, international volunteers will have lots of opportunities to contribute to the Peruvian communities.

International Volunteer in Ecuador

A country located in western corner of South America. Country is divided in the southern and northern hemisphere by equatorial lines hence named as Ecuador. From helping the street children to work for Galapagos conservation program, Ecuador offers the myriads of projects for international volunteers abroad.

International Volunteer in Brazil

The sixth most populous and fifth largest country of the world, Brazil is a country of scenic and cultural variety. From helping in sports and athletic programs to serving in handicraft volunteer projects, Brazil has a multitude of opportunities to offer international volunteers abroad.

International Volunteer in Argentina

A true wonder of nature, Argentina is the ultimate destination for every nature and culture lover. From community development projects to dentistry volunteer programs, Argentina has it all to offer the international volunteers abroad.

How Can You Say You Have Picked The Best International volunteer and travel abroad Project?

Most of the volunteers find it difficult to choose international volunteer project as the options and needs are overwhelming around the world. The most important thing one should take into consideration while planning for volunteering abroad is whether you really want to volunteer or not?

Volunteering is a calling and one should have clarity in their head that they really want to work for the greater goods otherwise they can just go for a vacation.

To make sure that you pick the destination that suits you best, you must first be clear about the areas you want to work for, the kind of locations you want to work in, the season and the duration you’ll go for voluntourism, the money you are planning to spend and if you are doing it for your academics then the requirements you must meet. After you are sorted about these things you’ll surely pick the best international volunteer and travel abroad project.

Post-Arrival Response:

To make sure that your volunteering experience is good, the post-arrival response of the organization that you’ll be volunteering will also play an important role. Most of the organizations organize an orientation for you where you’ll get to know about the organizations’s history and vision. You’ll be informed about the basic things you should know about the place, people, culture and practices and also the reponsibilities you’ll have during your volunteering.

Volunteers should try to engage in as many activities as possible and make the most out of your time and touch the lives of as many people as you can while they are in project abroad.

24/7 Support Abroad:

Whenever you are in a different country with unknown people, you want to feel secured and want to have some reliable people around you. While you are volunteering abroad, you need assistance to make the best out of your time by enjoying your vacation and engage in voluntary activities.

You should therefore choose a reliable organization that will provide you 24/7 support via phone, messages or in person so that your stay becomes hassle free and you make a life time memory out of it. Organizations should pay special attention to make the volunteers feel welcomed, valued and comfortables in all sense.

Impact of The Projects Abroad:

Before choosing the volunteering project, you should always think what impact your efforts will have on the project. What the project is about and what are its goals and is the project really addressing the problems present in the host country?

Volunteers get to travel, meet people, witness problems that they never knew even existed and get to self reflect and get to have a new perspective towards their own life, all this while helping others. Every volunteer should choose the project where they can give all they’ve got and see how their efforts transform into impacts which they can take back with them and cherish for life.

Relationship With Community:

While working for people, the most important thing is you should try to look at life from their eyes. Only then you’ll know their problems, their needs, their strengths and the resilience they have. While helping you not just change the life of people but you change as a person yourself. You’ll be inspired from the people, get to learn from them, their suffering.

Building a relationship with the community is very important to understand them and provide them with the help they need and make your volunteer vacation productive and unforgettable.

Various Forms Of International Volunteer Opportunities, Vacations and Projects Abroad  

There are different ways you can join a volunteer and travel abroad program. It can be a proper utilization of your vacation or a meaningful trip with your college and university friends, it can be a research work or more deeply it can be a need-based humanitarian work abroad as well.

Voluntourism and volunteer vacations

Volunteering and tourism coming together is one of the best things that happened for people who knows how travelling, listening to people, losing yourself in the service of others is important to understand and live life.

Volunteer vacations are vacations that not just help you to relax but helps you to come back stronger as a grateful and humble person. To add value in your life you should first add value to other’s lives and voluntourism is the perfect way to do it. You can go on a vacation while working for sustainable community building, childcare, environment conservation, human rights and many other such topics.

Volunteer programs for high school students

High school is a time where most of the people are trying to find answers about their career, about who they really are and who they want to be and taking a volunteer vacation at this phase will really help a high school student to shape themselves ina a beautiful way.

There are many volunteer programs for high school students designed to meet the academic requirements as well as personal requirements. The students will get to learn through practices by working in actual field making them more competent.volunteering experience at this age might turn out to be a turning point for them.

Volunteer abroad programs for college students

College students are in search of affordable and adventurous volunteering opportunities to test their limits, gain experiences, learning by doing and step out of their comfort zone.

Volunteering is inevitable for some of them as they have to fulfill the academic requirements, enhance their resume and most importantly take time to see whether they actually are following their passion before entering their professional life.

College students will have a renewed energy and determination to do something remarkable after they’ll experience life from a new perspective which will help them in all areas of life.

Teenagers volunteering abroad

There are specially designed abroad volunteering projects for teenagers to prepare them for the next phase of their life. Teenagers can work on different Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs while they are abroad and be a part of the big picture. They can explore different fields like wildlife conservation, volunteering in Orphanages, working with street children and recognize their passion while trying out different adventerous activities, learning new language and culture.

Selflessly doing something for others at this young age will surely make a person more open-minded and empathetic which will indeed develop a positive attitude that is sure to take a person ahead in life.

Peace corps alternatives

Peace Corps serve the same thing as other volunteering projects that is experienceing a whole new culture, new people, new country and new communities while helping others and developing youself as a global citizen.

However, everyone donot meet the requirements and cannot commit themselves to the demanding projects of Peace Corps and there comes in Peace corps alternatives. There are volunteering organizations that have special projects that are not so demanding in terms of qualifications but demands only good intentions. If you are willing to serve communities in their authentic setting and bring back the memories, there are many opportunities waiting for you.

Short-Term and Long-Term Volunteer Trips

Nothing should ever stop anyone from fulfilling the essence of humanity and that is to help and support eachother. Therefore, for people who want to give back to thieir society but are time-bound, there are short-term volunteering trips for them. They might invest less time working in the field but they can come up with ideas that may accelerate the progress of any projects. They might give meaninful inputs even in short period of time.

For people who want to work for months and want to see the change they are capable of bringing, there are long-term volunteer trips for them. They can choose to go and teach in a rural village school, work for reduction of pollution, use their expertise to teach dancing, singing, acting, games and many other such skills.

Volunteer assignment for research

Curious people who want to find causes of problems, establish relationship between different factors that might suggests some solution, in short who loves to do research also have volunteer opportunities where they can polish their research skills and work on new topics.

Many academic fields require research paper to be submitted by the students. Students can go for volunteer vacations and do research in a completely new setting that will broaden their horizons and give them new insights on the topics they are passionate to work on. Online volunteering opportunities for online research are also available for the volunteers.

Internationally volunteering for cross cultural experience

Cross cultural experiences make a person more flexible, helps them to come out of their comfort zone, bring a change in their paradigm, give them opportunities to observe people, their culture and way of life.

There are many international volunteering opportunities for cross cultural experiences that help volunteers to sharpen their communication skills, their leadership, have a different outlook towards the world and problems. Volunteers get to work in teams and learn from one another, can have fruitfull discussion and gain more clarity about different thoughts and issues. Cross-cultural experiences make people more accepting of one another and different cultures.

Conclusion: Best International Volunteer opportunities, Vacations and Projects Abroad

2020-2021 is not less that any war. We all are fighting with something so strong yet invisible. Like the Corona virus we all have something inside of us that is invisible but so strong that it always push us to strive for more, to do something extraordinary, to change the world and to make this magical life more meaningful.

Voluntourism provides an individual with the opportunity to discover that invisible strength within oneself. By volunteering one will not just touch the lives of others but will be in touch with their own emotions and feelings.

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