Volunteer Abroad: How to Choose a Volunteer Programme

When I think back on it, my first experience volunteering overseas kind of sucked. It's a long story, but the short version is that I showed up in Nepal thinking that I was going to save the world and found out that really I was on an adventure tour posing as a volunteer programme.

Let's just say, I was a little disappointed and eventually left the group with two other 'volunteers' to find out if there were ways that we could help in the local communities. Since that day eight years ago, the three of us have being trying to help volunteers lend a hand overseas.

Having learned a few things along the way, I now realize that most of my disappointment could have been avoided by being careful to choose a programme that matched my own goals and expectations. The following guidelines are some of the things that I wished someone had told me before I had started wading through the hundreds of options out there.

Step 1 - Define your Goals and Expectations for Volunteering Abroad

The first thing that you need to do is figure out exactly what your goals and expectations are. Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

How long can I go? Do I want to go on my own or with an organization? Do I want to be in a group or working independently? What are my goals? What do I hope to get out of this experience? How immersed in the culture do I want to be? What type of work do I want to do? How important is volunteering as a part of my trip? Do I need to fundraise to pay for it?