overseas volunteer question?

Question

i am looking to go overseas (more specifically in africa) to volunteer my time and skills. i have researched many programs all asking for a program fee to be paid and unfortunately i do not have the money to do so. does anyone know of any programs that allow you to volunteer overseas for free?

Answer 1

Maybe the peace corps doesn't require a program fee.

Answer 2

Unless you can work in French and Portugeuse or an African language, have highly advanced skills in sanitation, children's education, engineering, or another area that is desperately needed in Africa, or directed the set up a school, a clinic, or a government office, etc., you aren't going to be able to find a volunteering assignment that isn't going to charge you for your feel good experience. Organizations that don't charge fees for volunteering, such as VSO Canada, UN Volunteers and the PeaceCorps are looking for people who can work in a language other than English, who have skills and experience that can lead to local people generating income, better feeding their families, improving children's health, etc., or that can lead to the transformation of key institutions, such as government, universities/schools or NGOs. They are looking for people who can commit to a two-year assignment, who have experience working with under-served communities, or who have a lot of experience in very diverse or religiously-conservative communities.

Here is a web site that can help you learn more about the skills and experience desired by long-term placement organizations, and how you can gain that experience locally. It also lists the various organizations that don't charge for volunteer placement (but require a great deal of experience -- the average age of a UN Volunteer is 38).
http://www.coyotecommunications.com/volunteer/international.html

There is a listing of the more-than-30 member organizations of the International Volunteers Program Association (IVPA) that is a good place to find reputable volunteer-for-a-fee programs.
http://www.volunteerinternational.org/

The cheapest overseas volunteer-sending organization in the USA that will send unskilled volunteers for short-term assignments (six months or less) that I've found is SCI - Service Civil International (http://www.sci-ivs.org/). I know *nothing* about them other than what's on their web site, so please don't consider the listing of this organization in my answer as an endorsement.