Comhlámh > Volunteering Opportunities Overseas

So…you are looking for a volunteering placement.  We can help.

 

#VolOps is the section of Comhlámh that can help you find the overseas volunteering placement you are looking for.  We have been providing advice and support for people interested in overseas development work since 1975.

 

Check our directory of the volunteering sending agencies that have signed up to our code of good practice, we have VolOps Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts completely dedicated to posting information about new placements.

 

We also attend multiple outreach events throughout the year, where you can come and meet staff from Comhlámh, or you can make an appointment to come into the office, for one of our face-to-face information sessions. .

 

Let us know how we can help: info@comhlamh.org/ 01 478 3490

Get smart: Tools, tips and developing critical thinking. 

Our searchable database of agencies.

 

Essential reading for those thinking about volunteering overseas.

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OUR VOLUNTEER CHARTER

The Charter is a guide for people who are going to volunteer overseas in developing countries. It sets out seven principles that aim to encourage responsible, responsive international volunteering. Each of these principles contains a list of questions to help you make sure that you have thought about the issues raised, and to ensure that you know why they are important.

 

By agreeing to sign the Charter volunteers, will be showing their support for the principles it sets out. As a volunteer, your attitude to your placement and to your host project and community will be crucial to the success of the work you will be involved with. Your support will help to ensure a spirit of partnership, solidarity and respect between you, your sending organisation, and the host project and community with which you volunteer. The volunteer charter was developed through extensive consultations with the three main groups involved in volunteer placements: volunteers, sending agencies, and host projects.

Over the past decade, there has been a growing interest among Irish people in volunteering in developing countries. More and more people are going overseas as volunteers, sometimes for very short periods. Although there can be many differences between the work done on short-term and long-term volunteering placements, all international volunteers will be engaging with the same broader issues. These include having realistic expectations about what volunteering can achieve, and adopting the role of learner and guest while overseas. The Charter encourages people to think about these issues and to place their volunteering experiences within the wider context of global development. By doing so, it aims to contribute to the improvement of the volunteering experiences of international volunteers, and ultimately to the quality of life for host communities affected by volunteering. It does not replace sending agencies’ and host projects’ specific guidelines and rules for volunteers, but rather complements them.

 

By agreeing to sign the Volunteer Charter, you will be showing your support for the principles it sets out.

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3 years ago
Volops

Happy International Volunteer Day to all those we know from #volops
Perhaps we met you at a volunteer fair, or on a training course, or through an EU project or when you came to us for debriefing.
Wherever we first met you, happy #IVD to you!
Well done, well done you!
... See MoreSee Less

Happy International Volunteer Day to all those we know from #volops
Perhaps we met you at a volunteer fair, or on a training course, or through an EU project or when you came to us for debriefing.  
Wherever we first met you, happy #IVD to you! 
Well done, well done you!
Load more

Comhlámh’s VolOps magazines

#Volops magazine promotes responsible and responsive volunteering practices from the point of view of returned volunteer development workers, volunteer sending agencies, and us, Comhlámh.  If you would like to write an article for the next issue of #VolOps, please get in touch with us at info@comhlamh.org

 

After many successful issues of Comhlámh’s Focus magazine, we thought it was time to publish a magazine which promoted responsible and responsive volunteering practices through articles from returned volunteer development workers and colleagues from some of our Code of Good Practice volunteer sending agencies.  For the person who is new to volunteering, this magazine should present them with a wealth of information and ideas to get them started.  And for the long-time volunteer development worker, we hope that this magazine has given them some prompts for reflection.

Volops-Paper-2019-1

Volops-2018-Final-Pages

Volops-Paper-2017-Final-updated

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