Volunteering abroad as a Community Worker
The needs of communities and individuals around the world are varied and diverse. As a Community Outreach Worker you will work within communities to provide assistance in meaningful ways, often to disadvantaged groups. This may involve working with children in orphanages, young people with special needs, or elderly people in community centres. Alternatively you might work with a youth organisation or undertake education and awareness programmes through partner organisations to highlight issues such as HIV and AIDS. The work can be challenging but is truly rewarding and will give you a unique insight into the life of your new community.
Available in:
Argentina
Community Worker - Home / Orphanage
The community placements Lattitude volunteers work in within Argentina centre around homes for children who have either lost or been taken away from their families. The age ranges at these placements vary from very young children to young adults up to the age of 25 and who are still very vulnerable.
These placements offer volunteers the chance to get really stuck in with the running of these fantastic institutions.
Duties are very varied and give enthusiastic volunteers the chance to get really stuck in and bring their own interests to the children. Particularly in free time where volunteers will play and entertain the residents. Other duties will include helping with maintenance, school work and other small jobs.
Very little if any English is spoken in these placements so it is a great opportunity for those looking to practice and improve upon Spanish language skills (if you are concerned about speaking Spanish, please call or email us and we can advise you accordingly)
Overview
Placement duration:
Departure months:
Minimum age:
Food included:
Accommodation:
Pocket money:
4 months
March or Aug
18
Yes
Yes
No
Ecuador
Community Outreach with Teaching
Lattitude Global Volunteering works with a number of NGOs in Ecuador. These non-profit organisations are devoted to helping children girls and their families overcome grinding poverty and improve their quality of life through education, job training, nutrition programmes, health and social services, psychological help and recreation. These organisations originated to help deal with the many children working and sleeping on the streets of Ecuador’s major cities and suffering as a consequence.
Volunteer duties tend to be as varied as the organisations and children themselves so there is plenty to get involved with. For example volunteers in the past been involved in outreach work with street children, literacy classes, teaching English, jewellery and leathercraft classes, helping at a clinic and at the dentists.
These placements are usually undertaken in conjunction with a Teaching or English Teaching placement either the same institution or at a separate placement. The time usually being split between a morning Teaching / English Teaching with the afternoons dedicated to the Community Outreach work.
In Ecuador there is also the opportunity to work in centres for children with disabilities, aiding in therapies and general care. See our Caring placements for more details
Overview
Placement duration:
Departure months:
Minimum age:
Food included:
Accommodation:
Pocket money:
5 months
Feb or Aug
17
Yes
Yes
No
Fiji
Community Worker with Teaching
Placements in Fiji are primarily Teaching placements, but due to the nature of some placements, combined with the welcoming nature of Fijians there is in many aspects a community aspect too.
In these placements volunteers live and work on a daily basis with the village community and will soon find themselves part of everything the community does. From playing games and sports to festivals and celebrations. Working with children in the evening - helping with English as well as arts and crafts etc.
Volunteers will be given a lot of leeway and there is plenty of room for them to use their own initiative to get involved in the community as much as possible. Past volunteers have set up workshops and fundraisers, for example.
Overview
Placement duration:
Departure months:
Minimum age:
Food included:
Accommodation:
Pocket money:
3,7 & 11 months
Jan, May or Aug
17
Yes
Yes
No
Japan
Community Worker
Community placements in Japan are exciting and varied. They offer volunteers the chance to work for an organisation providing homes and activity centres for children, young adults and the elderly.
The volunteer’s responsibilities centre entirely around the home’s and activity centre’s residents and members - ensuring they are happy and entertained. This may involve spending time playing and looking after groups of children, helping in a nursery, organising games of baseball and other sports, arts and crafts and putting on special events such as fates and bazaars. Volunteers also help with a lunch service for the elderly members. There is plenty to keep volunteers busy.
There are similar placements Japan centered around care homes for the elderly and the disabled. If you are interested in these you can find out more information in our caring placements category.
Overview
Placement duration:
Departure months:
Minimum age:
Food included:
Accommodation:
Pocket money:
6 months
Mar or Sept
18
Yes
Yes
Yes
Malawi
Community Worker with Teaching
Placements in Malawi are based around schools and as such teaching at the community’s school will be the first priority. However the job role at some schools can be very flexible and so there are also plenty of opportunities for volunteers to get involved with community projects within the local area.
Some of these projects include a Womans Development Centre, Health Centre and IT Centre where volunteers teach local people about computer literacy.
These placements will be organised in conjunction with your Country Manager and as part of the matching process Lattitude undertakes for every volunteer. If there is a particular area you are interested in then let us know!
Overview
Placement duration:
Departure months:
Minimum age:
Food included:
Accommodation:
Pocket money:
3,6 & 9 months
Jan or Aug
18
Yes (see costs)
Yes
No
Vanuatu
Community with Teaching
Volunteers in Vanuatu will primarily work within schools as Teachers, within this role volunteers may teach a variety of subjects (and you will be matched according to your strengths).
Yet due to the culture, geography and hosting structure of placements within Vanuatu, volunteers will find themselves working (and enjoying themselves) a lot within the community, in fact it is an integral part of the whole placement. In this sense volunteers will be involved in a whole myriad of activities. They will work with the youth of their community, they may be involved with music, drama and sports as well as generally helping out with village life in any way deemed best.
Overview
Placement duration:
Departure months:
Minimum age:
Food included:
Accommodation:
Pocket money:
6 months
Jan, June
17
Yes
Yes
No
