Volunteer Abroad
Women's Security Pressure Group
Volunteer Abroad is owned by the Canadian Federation of Students (a not-for-profit student organization founded in 1981 that currently unites more than 450, 000 colleges and students across Canada).
As part of this student movement, Volunteer Abroad connects motivated people with not-for-profit organizations, communities and government agencies in need of assistance around the world. We believe international volunteering promotes cross-cultural learning that helps create global awareness, understanding between cultures and provides the platform for positive change. Our volunteers have taught in schools, provided disaster relief support for the International Red Cross, conducted essential research to improve the management strategies of threatened environments, built homes for impoverished people, provided vocational training and programs for street kids and have worked in co-operation with hundreds of local organizations to distribute aid and improve the quality of life for people throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Participants come from all types of backgrounds. Students have integrated their volunteering efforts into their curriculum earning credits at their university, college or high school, while others have been professionals, gap year students or recent retirees looking to take some time off and offer their skills and knowledge to those who need it. We provide real programs for real volunteers.
How Volunteering Works
The Volunteer Abroad program is based on the foundation that in order to truly make a positive difference with a short term placement, we need make certain that work is done in advance to ensure the placement is a good fit for the volunteer, and that the volunteer is adequately prepared for their placement.
One of the first steps in accomplishing this is our placement assessment process. Prior to placing a volunteer with any placement, our staff visits with the organization to fully understand the work being done, and conduct a placement assessment. Basically we are looking at two critical factors when beginning a new organizational partnership:
- Is the organization addressing a real need in the community?
- Could the contributions of a volunteer help the organization achieve their short and long term goals?
Once it has been determined that an organization is providing for a genuine need in the community, and that volunteer labour could be of assistance, we begin the next phase of the placement assessment process, which is the needs assessment.
The needs assessment really starts with spending some time with the organization and getting a solid understanding of the work they are doing and the issues they are addressing. We look at their current projects and learn from them what needs they have that could be met with volunteer assistance. We gather information regarding any specific skills or experience that the organization would be looking for to assist them with any current or future projects they may have.
Once we have a good understanding of the organizational needs, and the roles to be filled by volunteers; and have made accommodation arrangements for this placement, we create a placement profile and enter it into our placement database. It now becomes an option made available to potential volunteers whose skills and experience match the needs of the organization and placement.
Volunteers have the option to review the placement options available to them and select their top three preferences. The final placement confirmation will come from your country coordinator, and ultimately your acceptance to a specific placement is approved by the placement organization in country.