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Overseas > Employing volunteers

Information for prospective hosts

FOR THOSE WISHING TO EMPLOY A PROJECT TRUST VOLUNTEER

Skills and Expectations:

All Project Trust volunteers are boys or girls who have left school after the sixth form with qualifications that would get them into a British university. They are aged between seventeen and eighteen when they go overseas and each of them holds an EU passport.
All are carefully selected not only for what they have to offer but for their personality and usefulness to their hosting organisation.
They are highly motivated and have spent the previous year getting funding for going overseas, which needs dedication, initiative and determination.
They attend a week's training and briefing course before departure based on the country and work to which they are going.
They wish to do a good job for their hosts and be considered to be a success.

Type of skills they can offer:

TEACHING; All are well-educated to a standard which would enable them to teach up to sixteen year olds.
TEACHING ENGLISH; All are native English speakers but not necessarily with knowledge of grammar.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR SKILLS; They usually have skills at teaching such activities as art, crafts, sports and drama, some to an exceptional standard.
PRIMARY TEACHING;Many have experience of working with primary and younger children.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SKILLS; Most have computer skills, some to a very high standard.
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES; Many are very fit and active, and wish to help with development-type projects.
SOCIAL SERVICE SKILLS; Some are highly motivated to help in social service situations such as with the disabled.
MEDICAL INTERESTS; Some are potential medical students with an interest in medicine and primary health care.
LANGUAGE SKILLS; Most have knowledge of foreign languages, some fluently.

The costs:

Project Trust pays for the volunteers' airfares and insurance; the host is expected to fund pocket money to a level recommended by Project Trust's local representative, plus free board and lodging.
If the volunteer has to pay for his food extra money should be provided for this.
Transport to work, gas, water, electricity, rent of an apartment etc. should be funded by the host, but not necessarily a telephone and definitely not telephone calls.
In exceptional circumstances, Project Trust can help with the costs of pocket money.

Accommodation:

This should be of a type that a local person doing the same job might expect. This is usually a small apartment or house, shared with his/her partner only, in the proximity of the project.

Hours of work and time off:

Hours of work should normally be the same as a local person doing the same job. In addition volunteers are encouraged to spend part of their spare time finding and doing voluntary work such as in a local orphanage or clinic.
Getting the right balance of work and play is crucial to a volunteer's happiness and consultation with the local representative is strongly recommended.
If the volunteer is at a project with fixed holidays he should get these on full pay: at one without fixed holidays he should get a minimum of six weeks paid holiday.

Local support:

There is always a Project Trust representative in the country, usually resident in the capital city.
In addition there is back-up in emergency situations from Project Trust headquarters in the UK.
A member of the UK-based Project Trust staff will normally come and meet the host once a year.
Volunteers are usually placed in pairs of the same sex. Single placements cannot be considered.
A senior person at the requesting organisation is designated to be their 'host'. He is responsible to Project Trust for their work and their well-being.

Timing:

The next step:

Please feel free to fill in our online enquiry form. This represents the first stage of contact.
Project Trust issues a short questionnaire to all organisations who wish to make a commitment to employ some of its volunteers. When it receives a completed questionnaire, a member of staff or its local representative will visit the host organisation to discuss the placement.
Project Trust needs to know by April if volunteers are required: they then arrive the same year in August. Late requests can sometimes be considered.
It should be noted that these are brief notes only and a fuller booklet entitled Hosts' Guidelines is available to supplement them. You can see a fuller copy of the Hosts' Guidelines by downloading an MS Word document here.