Project Trust has been sending volunteers overseas since 1967 and is the oldest educational charity that concentrates on overseas placements for school leavers aged 17-19. They organise placements in a wide range of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America covering social care, outward bound and teaching English, maths, science and art.
From their base on the Hebridean Isle of Coll, 280-300 young people from across the UK and Europe are selected annually for year-long voluntary teaching and social care projects. These projects are carefully selected to ensure the volunteers’ existing skills can be put to good use in their host communities and do not take work from local people.
The week-long selection process allows Project Trust to make well-informed decisions on whether they have a suitable project for each candidate, and allows candidates to decide whether Project Trust is the right organisation for them to volunteer with.
Volunteers are provided all with extensive training and support before, during and after their time overseas, to maximise both the educational value of their experience and the positive impact they have in their projects. Volunteers return from their projects overseas with greatly broadened horizons, increased maturity and an impressive range of transferable skills, as well as an in-depth understanding of their host culture.
Only 300 school-leavers are sent overseas each year, allowing the volunteers to get to know the staff team on a personal level. Through the staff’s knowledge of each individual volunteer, the intensive pre-departure training course and three-tier support system, our volunteers head overseas with the confidence that they are embarking on the adventure of a lifetime, with any assistance they need easily available. When volunteers return from their year overseas they attend a debriefing course and join Project Trust’s network of almost 7,000 Returned Volunteers.
All the placements are long-term, with volunteers staying in project for 12 or 8 months. Staff members visit each project every year to ensure they are delivering a benefit to the host communities, and that volunteers aren’t taking work from the local populace. But it’s not all work: volunteers are entitled to the same holidays as someone working the same job in the same country, giving them plenty of time to explore Asia, Africa or the Americas.
All Project Trust volunteers have the opportunity to receive a Level Three Foundation Year in Global Volunteering and Citizenship, accredited by the Open College Network, for completing the programme. This gives them something concrete to put on their CV at the end of their volunteering year, in addition to their personal development and the skills they’ll learn.
To volunteer with Project Trust volunteers are asked to fundraise before they fly overseas. Fundraising is the first step in developing time-management abilities, confidence and independence, and can also be a lot of fun. Over the years volunteers have found some incredibly innovative ways to fundraise, from to auctioning 100 sheep to be sheared, to visiting all the embassies in The Hague to completing the world’s first tri-llama-thon.
Throughout your fundraising volunteers receive support from a dedicated member of staff, who can provide them with ideas and advice. Project Trust’s fundraising target includes major costs like flights and insurance, as well as other expenses like a living allowance and accommodation.
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