Best Volunteer Abroad Programs

Volunteer Organisation in Costa Rica, Ghana, China, India, Kenya, Bolivia, Kenya and More

uVolunteer is a Volunteer Service Organization that operates at a local level in the countries where we place volunteers. Our small organization was founded in 2006 by Nathaniel Manu after he volunteered in Thailand. While researching his volunteer abroad program, Nathaniel was shocked by the high prices that companies and non-profit organizations (NGOs) were charging to people who wanted to volunteer abroad.

During his placement and subsequent employment in the volunteer abroad industry, he envisaged the idea of affordable, yet great value volunteer working holidays abroad. The basic concept was that if you have to pay to volunteer abroad then it should not cost a fortune; and it was from this basic idea that uVolunteer was born.

Great Value Volunteer Abroad Programs

We offer comprehensive volunteer abroad projects that do not compromise on the quality of service, whilst offering unparalleled and affordable prices! We can do this because we are specifically set-up to offer great value. We achieve this by operating exclusively online and running a nearly paperless and environmentally friendly office. This means you will not see our booths at graduate, student, or travel fairs, nor on TV. Plus we will not post you shinny colorful printed brochures as we do not believe in spending your hard earned money on this type of administrative cost. All of our documentation and administrative duties are produced in electronic format.

Contribute to International Development and Cross Culture Exchange

In addition to our great prices we also understand that a 4 week volunteer vacation will not change the world. Even a one year volunteer placement if not implemented correctly can do little to change and influence the lives of communities worldwide. But we also understand that every little bit helps towards the larger picture of development and cultural exchange.

We know that our programs are part volunteer service and part holiday. So our programs are evenly balanced with time set aside for work and to play. Most of our projects are based on a four day working week to allow time for work yet to also allow sufficient time for true cultural exploration and adventure.

Thus our motto: You volunteer, You play your part!

The work that you do as a volunteer, however small it may seem, is part of a large effort of travelling and whilst giving something back to the counties that we visit. This type of responsible travelling also has the additional advantage of bringing you closer to the people of the country, and as a result enabling better cultural understanding and exchange.

Our International Programs and Projects

We originally stated operations in Costa Rica and our focus was on placing volunteers only within Latin America. However, over the years we have been approached by many local projects worldwide that are in need of assistance; so we now offer programs in Asia as well as in Africa. We have voluntary working opportunities in Argentina, Bolivia, China, Costa Rica, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Nicaragua, Peru, Thailand. Projects range from teaching English, teaching sports, construction, animal and wildlife conservation, environmental conservation, media and journalism, work in orphanages and childcare, special needs education and teaching computing and IT.

Our Low Cost Volunteer Abroad Program Fees

Our program fees can be as low as $765 for a 2-week placement and up to $2000 for 12 weeks. The average cost of our 12-week program is comparable to what some organisations charge for just 4 weeks. And in many cases you will end up in the same project as other organisations who charge much more will send you.

But this does not mean we compromise on quality of our service to you.

All Our Programs Include:

• Airport pick-up service
• 24 hour host country coordination
• Dormitory accommodation, Home Stay or a combination of both.
  (Home stays depend on program and availability)
• 2-3 meals a day (depending on program choice)
• Skilled and knowledgeable in country staff
• Host country orientation including city tour, health and safety briefing
• 24/7 Emergency International Hotline
• Certification of Participation
• T-Shirt
• Volunteer donation

What is not included in our program fees: Flight, insurance, visa costs and in-country transportation. The prices quoted on our website are what you pay, we do not have any hidden costs such as additional application fees or costs for airport pick-up.

We are often asked how we can offer so much and yet keep our prices so low? We can do so because, we are Committed to being a low cost volunteer abroad program. We employ several cost reducing methods such as situating our offices and administrative duties in the regions where we place our volunteers. This gives us the benefit of being able to closely monitor our volunteers and projects, whilst providing employment for the local community and savings on western office overheads. We employing our staff locally and also from our great pool of alumni volunteers, this gives us the additional advantage of having team that is very knowledgeable at the local level yet internationally trained.

See: How your Program Fees are Spent

Local Partner Network

At uVolunteer we do not create our own projects but instead place volunteers in local projects that are in need of help and assistance. We work for the benefit of the local community, however small it may seem from the outside. Projects are selected with criteria that provides; the most assistance to its local community, safe environments for our volunteers and great experiences of international learning and cross cultural exchange.

We also working very closely with our local partners to ensure that they provide the uVolunteer 'Volunteer Management Service' that we know ensures great volunteer abroad experiences for you. We are in constant communication with our volunteers throughout their placements and welcome feedback. This regular contact with our volunteers, through our weekly reporting system, enables us to closely monitor the usefulness of all projects from the perspective of our volunteers, the project and our local teams.

Social Media

Become a part of our uVolunteer family and join our social life! Meet future and former volunteers, on Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter and other online networks.

uVolunteer Group

uVolunteer is a social enterprise registered in England with our main offices in sunny Costa Rica. Our organization shares its different administrative duties with our network of local teams. So our marketing is done in the USA, with design commissioned in England and accountancy in Ghana.

uVolunteer LLC (USA), uVolunteer Ltd (UK), uVolunteer Service Agency SA (Costa Rica) are all members of the uVolunteer group and are all registered in their respectively countries.

uVolunteer is a Volunteer Programs company. Our main offerings include: Volunteer in Argentina, Volunteer in Ghana, Volunteer in Thailand, Volunteer in Malawi and in other countries throughout the world.