Where Are Volunteers Needed Most? An Honest Guide by Cause and Country

“Where am I needed?” is the right question, and it deserves a straighter answer than most websites give. Volunteers are needed where a local organisation has asked for consistent help with a task it cannot currently staff, and where the volunteer’s time, and sometimes skills, add capacity rather than replace a paid local job. That rules out more than you might think, and it makes the places that remain clearer.

What follows is based on what our partner organisations in 23 countries actually request from us, cause by cause. It ends with where volunteers are not needed, which matters just as much.

Education: the largest, steadiest need

Schools and community learning centres ask for volunteers more consistently than any other kind of organisation. Not to replace teachers, but to give a teacher with 45 pupils a second adult in the room: someone to take the reading group, run conversation practice, help the children who are behind. English-language support is the most requested skill because it is the one local teachers most often lack confidence in.

Where the requests are strongest: Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and Peru. Minimum useful stay: four weeks. Under that, the class is still getting used to you when you leave.

Healthcare: needed, with conditions

Hospitals and clinics in under-resourced systems welcome extra hands, but only within a clear scope of practice. A pre-medical student observes and assists with basic tasks; a qualified nurse can do far more. The need is real and the supervision is strict, which is exactly how it should be. Programmes: Kenya, Tanzania, Peru, the Philippines and South Africa. Medical, nursing and allied health students looking for formal electives should look at our sister organisation, Med Trips.

Childcare and special needs: needed in the right settings

Day settings, where children go home to their families each evening, ask for volunteers to support activities, play, feeding programmes and basic learning. Special schools and day centres for children and adults with disabilities are among the most under-staffed services anywhere, and consistent volunteers make a visible difference to what staff can offer each day. Every one of these placements requires a criminal background check. Programmes: Nepal, Tanzania, Vietnam, disability care in Delhi, Chiang Mai and Cusco.

Women’s empowerment: needed for specific skills

Community organisations running literacy, English, computer and vocational programmes for women ask for volunteers who can teach or mentor in those areas. Language and IT skills are the most requested; so is simply being a consistent, encouraging presence in a class of women who have rarely been in a classroom. Programmes in Delhi, Nepal, Morocco, Tanzania and Sri Lanka.

Conservation: needed for labor, and welcome at short notice

Conservation is the one field where a one- or two-week volunteer is straightforwardly useful, because the work is physical and repetitive: beach patrols, nest relocation, reef surveys, habitat clearance, feeding and enclosure work at rescue centres. More hands means more done. Marine programmes in Bali, Sri Lanka, Madagascar and Costa Rica; wildlife programmes in South Africa, Malaysia, New Zealand, Argentina and Ecuador.

Community development: needed where you bring a skill

Community centres, youth projects and social inclusion programmes ask for volunteers with something specific to offer: a trade, a sport, a craft, IT, or the willingness to do whatever needs doing that week. These placements are strongest in Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Madagascar and South Africa.

Where volunteers are not needed

Being clear about this is part of being useful.

• Residential orphanages. Most children in institutions have a living parent, and a rotation of short-term foreign carers is documented as harmful to them. We do not place volunteers in them. Day settings are different, and are where the need is.
• Anything that replaces a paid local job. If a school could hire a local teacher with the fee you paid, the volunteer is not the answer. Support roles alongside local staff are; substitute roles are not.
• Unskilled medical work. Nobody needs a volunteer without training to do clinical tasks. Observation and assistance within your scope, yes; anything beyond it, no.
• One-week placements with children. The children are still adjusting to you when you leave. Go for longer, or choose conservation or community work where a week helps.

Matching yourself to the need

Ask three questions. What can I actually do: teach, care, build, dive, count, carry? How long can I stay? And which of the needs above does that combination serve? Then choose the country. If you are stuck, our team has placed volunteers for nearly two decades and will tell you honestly where you would be most useful, including if the answer is a different programme from the one you first asked about. Start with programmes by cause.

Frequently asked questions

Which countries need volunteers the most?

Need is better measured by organisation than by country. In our experience the most consistent requests come from schools and community learning centres in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Nepal and Cambodia, from special needs day centres in Delhi, Arusha, Cusco and Chiang Mai, and from marine conservation projects in Sri Lanka, Bali and Madagascar.

What skills are most needed by volunteer projects?

English-language support for schools, IT and vocational skills for women’s programmes, clinical skills within a defined scope for healthcare placements, and physical labor for conservation. Reliability over the whole placement is asked for more than any single skill.

Are volunteers needed in orphanages?

No. Most children in residential institutions have a living parent, and short-term foreign carers are documented as harmful to children’s attachment and development. We place volunteers in day settings, where children return to their families each evening, and not in residential orphanages.

How long should I volunteer to be useful?

One to two weeks is useful in conservation and community work. For teaching and childcare, four weeks or more is the point at which you stop being a novelty and start adding real capacity.

Written by

Luni

Luni Chhochoon writes for Volunteering Solutions, a certified B Corporation, covering volunteer abroad programmes, destinations and tips for travelling with purpose.

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