Volunteer Abroad
Overview
Are you ready for the life-changing experience of volunteering abroad? Join us for immersive volunteer projects that range from 1-26 weeks. See the world from a new perspective. You'll emerge from your ProWorld experience with a better sense of yourself and your potential to impact communities around the world.
ProWorld works with you to match your skills, interests, and timeline with a meaningful volunteer project to aid a local community. Our Program Advisors work to find you the perfect project for you, and the on-site ProWorld team guides you through project planning, execution and conclusion.
The following are examples of volunteer projects. Projects are dynamic and change throughout the course of the year, as well as the volunteer needs at each project. Final project placement for volunteers (especially during the peak season months of May-August) will be determined by site teams based on community need, while also taking into account your skills and interests.
Curious to learn more about the volunteer program and what it entails? Visit our FAQ page for more information.
Projects
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Peru
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Read Stories and Play Games with Kids at the Library
Overall literacy in Peru has dramatically increased in the last 20 years; but, at 82%, it is still second to last of all South American countries. Children in poor areas...
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Run academic and enrichment programs
Description and Impact
Child labor is a hard reality in Cusco. In an impoverished family where every Sol counts, sending kids out onto the streets to sell candy,...
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Description and Impact
Orphaned children need more than just a home. They lack the support provided by parents or guardians to provide the motivation to continue their...
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Description and Impact
Because their needs can be both great and varied, children and adults with disabilities are often neglected the care and education they deserve...
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Help blind, deaf, and physically challenged kids
Description and Impact
Because their needs can be both great and varied, children and adults with disabilities are often neglected the care and education they deserve...
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Description and Impact
In the poorest neighborhoods of Cusco, quality education is hard to come by. Schools are overcrowded, resources are spread thin and the shortage...
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Description and Impact
Climate change, global warming, the greenhouse effect, waning resources- all of these problems are becoming more real every day. Our future is...
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Description and Impact
Encompassing a section of the famous Amazon Rainforest, the Madre de Dios region of Tambopata Peru is an internationally recognized biodiversity...
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Give the Gift of Clean Water
Description and Impact
Every year, diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water are responsible for roughly 1.8 million deaths around the world. Most of...This is a featured projectExperience Community-Guided HealthcareDescription and Impact
Meet local health care professionals. Learn basic Spanish medical terminology. See...
This is a featured projectGive the Gift of Clean WaterDescription and Impact
Every year, diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water are responsible for roughly 1.8 million...
Description and Impact
The Peruvian elderly often find themselves out of luck and with nowhere to go. Some have been abandoned by their families, while others have...
Build and Install Cleaner-Burning Stoves for Families in PeruDescription and Impact
Indoor air pollution is now the fourth largest health risk facing the developing world...Stop the Cycle of Poverty and AbuseDescription and Impact
Street orphans of Cusco and young girls from neglectful or abusive domestic environments lack basic necessities: food, lodging and education....
Build and Install Cleaner-Burning Stoves for Families in PeruDescription and Impact
Indoor air pollution is now the fourth largest health risk facing the developing world today. Smoke from primitive indoor stoves kills 1.9...Teach young moms to support themselves and care for their babiesMany pregnant teenagers in Peru have no place to call home. This ProWorld program gives teenage moms and their babies hope for a brighter future through job training and...
Stop the Cycle of Poverty and AbuseThis ProWorld program provides refuge for women, children, and adolescents who are victims of exploitation and sexual violence. Guests are invited to stay as long as they...
Teach girls and women to expect respectDescription and Impact
Girls from impoverished backgrounds that are left on the streets with little resources suffer from malnutrition, constant stress and risk of...
Help Foreign Prisoners Navigate Peru’s JailDescription and Impact
This project works with women prisoners in one of Cusco’s local jails. The inmates range in age from 18 to 60, and have been convicted of...
Description and Impact
Although Peru has seen significant economic growth in the 21st century, this progress has yet to translate into a great reduction in poverty. In...
Mexico
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Help Grass Roots Organizations Collaborate
A strong community is the sum of many parts.
This ProWorld program aims to bring people in and nearby Oaxaca together to improve community and quality of life.... -
This is a featured projectHelp preserve indigenous and Mestizo art and history
Description and Impact
This ProWorld program partners with an organization of eighteen indigenous and mestizo (people of...
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Help Migrant Workers Stay Safe on Their Journey North
Description and Impact
Each year thousands of migrant workers from Central America make their way northward in search of a way make a living in order to feed their...
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Classes, Seminars, and Sports for Locals
Description and Impact
Many of the rural communities outside of Oaxaca are home to low income families with fewer resources than those residing in the nearby city....
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Promote Healthy Eating to Encourage Healthy Communities
Description and Impact
According to the 2000 census, Oaxaca is the second-poorest state in Mexico. The average person in Oaxaca earns less than $5.00 per day and...
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Work with Disabled Kids
When disabled kids in impoverished areas can’t attend school, they usually have nowhere else to go. This ProWorld program provides therapy and educational services...
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Overcoming both poverty and a disability is a huge challenge. When you cannot speak or be understood, you are completely at the mercy of those around you. This...
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Help Kids Living Away from Home for School Make the Transition
Students travel from rural villages to attend high school in Oaxaca. Living away from their families for the first time, the transition between rural and urban life can...
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Be a Friend to Abandoned or Abused Kids
Description and Impact
Many women in Oaxaca are very poor and marginalized and are forced to seek night time employment in order to survive. As single mothers, their...
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Bike Paths and Trees Keep the Southern Sierra Clean and Pristine
Description and Impact
Although surrounded by the lush and beautiful Sierra de Madre Mountains, the valleys and...
Use Resources More EffectivelyDescription and Impact
Amongst all of the problems that plague many people in the state of Oaxaca, one of the most dangerous and detrimental to the long term success...
Bike Paths and Trees Keep the Southern Sierra Clean and PristineDescription and Impact
Although surrounded by the lush and beautiful Sierra de Madre Mountains, the valleys and cities of Oaxaca are plagued with environmental...
Description and Impact
One Mexico’s most forgotten group is poor children with disabilities. For these children, overcoming poverty and a disability is a double...
Promote Healthy Eating to Encourage Healthy CommunitiesDescription and Impact
According to the 2000 census, Oaxaca is the second-poorest state in Mexico. The average...
Help Kids Living Away from Home for School Make the TransitionStudents travel from rural villages to attend high school in Oaxaca. Living away from their families for the first time, the transition between rural and urban life can...
Help Kids with Disabilities Ride HorsesDescription and Impact
The state of Oaxaca is one of the poorest in Mexico and subsequently it is lacking in social and human services for its citizens, especially for...
Belize
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Multigenerational homes are society’s anchor in Belize, but when they crumble, the elderly suffer as much as the children. ProWorld’s senior center in...
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Be the Teacher You Always Wish You Had - Assist a Primary School Classroom in Punta Gorda
Description and Impact
Crowded classrooms and slim resources make it easy for some kids to fall through the cracks. Our teacher’s assistant program in...
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It’s hard to beat soaking up Belize’s natural beauty while you help sustain it, but if you join us at this ProWorld project, you’ll do both. Come get...
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This is a featured projectWork on a Rural Organic Chocolate Farm Manufacturing Facility
Description and Impact
Due to globalization, cocoa production is becoming increasingly outsourced throughout the world. In Belize particularly, a handful of farms and...
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The Best Part of Farming – FOOD!
Description and Impact
Eating fresh, organic, local food is both healthy and beneficial for the community and environment. Consumption of local food ensures that...
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Help Keep Nature’s Pharmacy Intact
Description and Impact
Many Belizeans and foreigners look to the traditional Medicine Man for his advice on curing illnesses and maintaining health. He is able to help...
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Monitor & Maintain Habitats and Protected Lands
Description and Impact
Nearly half of Belize’s land is protected, but to preserve and sustain it, we need to study it, and ensure that the habitats remain viable...
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Experience Community-Guided Healthcare
Meet local health care professionals. Experience clinics and see how a holistic healthcare system works in the rural areas of a developing country. ProWorld’s...
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This is a featured project
Description and Impact
If you are interested in a career in special education or physical therapy, this could be the...
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Western Regional Hospital, SanIgnacio Hospital, La Loma Luz Hospital
Description and Impact
The availability of high quality medical care is vital to any community’s needs. Developing countries such as Belize often...
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Description and Impact
The small community in San Ignacio has a growing need for elderly home facilities and those willing to help look after the residents. In a...
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Description and Impact
Access to quality healthcare is vital to every community’s need. Many Belizeans lack access to adequate levels of health care and weight...
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Description and Impact
This organization works within the community to provide rehabilitation and education for persons with disabilities. Currently the organization...
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Get a Tan and Make a Difference
Come to Belize for two weeks of hands-on development work, full cultural immersion and a life-changing experience. We’ll introduce you to the locals of Cristo Rey,...
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Stop the Cycle of Violence and Abuse
This ProWorld program provides emergency shelter for women and children who are escaping domestic violence. Guests receive medical attention, food, clothing,...
Costa Rica
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Make a Community Impact this January
Escape the wind and rain to experience the beauty of tropical Costa Rica while making an impact this winter. ProWorld invites you to collaborate with us in Pochote, a small...
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Contribute to valuable commerce activities in the community
Description and Impact
ProWorld’s Eco-Tourism project is based in a small community located 35km from the city of Quepos, on the Central Pacific coast. ...This is a featured projectHelp Sustainable Farmers Secure their FutureDescription and Impact
ProWorld’s partner is a cooperative started by 12 families, which supports community development for a village surrounded by a vast...This is a featured projectMake a Difference to Abandoned ChildrenDescription and Impact
Located in downtown San Jose, this non-profit organization provides child support to orphans and abandoned children, providing lodging, meals...Help Special Needs Children SucceedDescription and Impact
The special education school in San Jose is overcrowded, underfunded, and under staffed. Even in Costa Rica where the state places a high...
Empower Women as They Escape a Life of Prostitution and VictimizationBeneath the smiling and friendly visage of Costa Rica's tourism industry lies a dangerous and demoralizing secret: the sex trade. Boosted by immigrant workers and sex tourism,...
Ghana
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Help Local Farmers Plant and Harvest Their Crops
Description and Impact
Rural poverty and the lack of access to opportunity are huge issues throughout Ghana, particularly for widows who lack financial support from a...
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Description and Impact
So much of West Africa’s cultural roots and identification can be found in the traditional drumming and dancing. It is more than...
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Description and Impact
Economic problems, political instability and drug related violence prevent thousands of Ghanaian youth from reaching their full potential. The...
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Description and Impact
Recently Ghana’s literacy rate has been on the decline; although it still hovers at around 50%. This international youth-oriented...
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Help Reduce Pollution in Cape Coast
Description and Impact
This organization understands that for true change to occur there needs to be a self-help mentality throughout the community. There...
AIDS is not as widespread in Ghana as it is in other parts of Africa, but it is more prevalent in rural areas. Other STDs as well, go untreated because people don...
This is a featured projectDescription and Impact
Meet local health care professionals. Experience clinics and see how a holistic healthcare...
Description and Impact
This organization was founded in 2008 by a doctor with the intention of educating, sensitizing and creating a heightened awareness on the...
Description and Impact
Unfortunately, Ghanaian society still has strong prejudices against those who have special needs or suffer from some type of learning...Give Kids in Ghana a Healthy StartDescription and Impact
With 83% of its children in school, Ghana has one of the highest school enrollment rates in Africa. This is directly possible through the...
Description and Impact
It is extremely difficult to provide a decent education for the children of Cape Coast. Once you start venturing out into the rural...
Ecuador
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Team up with Locals to Educate Youth on Deforestation
Join forces with educators, farmers and citizens uniting to combat the slash and burn agricultural techniques that subsistent cacao, coffee and banana farmers in this...
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Restore Mangroves and Teach Conservation in Local Schools
Despite its small landmass, Ecuador is renowned for its megadiversity due to its variety of life zones, including: mangrove swamps, dry tropical forest, tropical cloud forest,...
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Monitor Rare and Exotic Species while Conserving Local Food Sources
Despite its small landmass, Ecuador is renowned for its megadiversity due to its variety of life zones, including: mangrove swamps, dry tropical forest, tropical cloud forest,...
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Care for injured wildlife in the tropical rehabilitation center
Founded by a local indigenous family that lives on the animal reserve, this rescue center rehabilitates and rescues wild animals from the jungle that were often illegally...
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This is a featured projectHelp Weed out Invasive Species in the Galapagos
Description and Impact
As a result of the lack of fruit and vegetable production on the Galapagos Islands, boats from...
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Teach and Play with Children of Migrant Workers
For years, the maltreated workers at Quito´s biggest landfill spent hours shifting through toxic garbage in unsafe and unsanitary conditions with no guaranteed salary. A...
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Stress the Importance of Education to Young Workers
It’s a sad reality to see children, often as young as three years old, working upwards of ten hours a day in the markets, streets and countryside of Ecuador to support...
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Give Vital Love, Care and Attention to Children in a Quiteno Orphanage
Currently, 50 to 60 homeless children with regular and special needs are cared for in three residential care homes at this orphanage in north-east Quito. The orphanage...
Thailand
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This Buddhist university was founded in 1887 by King Chulalongkorn of The King and I fame, to establish a major higher education institute for Buddhist monks, novices and...
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If you’ve wondered what government run schools in Southeast Asia are like, immerse yourself in this one. With 200 students from grades K-9, you’ll cut your...
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Teach Classes in English and Computers
Political unrest in Burma has uprooted more than a million people and created a culture of migrant camps in Thailand. Unable to return home, refugees are dependent on the...
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This is a featured project
Description and Impact
One of Thailand’s iconic animals, elephants needs lots of room to roam. Without a...
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Experience Community-Guided Healthcare
Meet local health care professionals. Learn basic Thai and see how a holistic healthcare system works in the rural areas of a developing country. ProWorld’s...
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Protect Girls and Women at Risk for Trafficking and Abuse
Thailand’s international sex trade wreaks havoc in the lives of young girls and women. Despite recent government efforts to reduce it, sexual exploitation is too...
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The Hmong are an ethnic minority in Thailand, and are more likely to be socially sidelined or impoverished. This ProWorld program offers shelter and education to more...
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Protect Girls and Women at Risk for Trafficking and Abuse
Thailand’s international sex trade wreaks havoc in the lives of young girls and women. Despite recent government efforts to reduce it, sexual exploitation is too...
India
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This is a featured projectHelp Special Needs Children Succeed
Description and Impact
There are some families in India that consider the birth of a mentally challenged child a curse....
Nepal
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This is a featured projectGive At-Risk Minorites a Chance for a Better Future
Description and Impact
The Tibetan minorities in Nepal face numerous obstacles in their daily lives, ranging from...
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This is a featured project
Description and Impact
In Nepal, the health-care problems are varied and enormous. Being one of the poorest countries in the world, the majority of people live...
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Make a Difference to Orphaned Children
Thousands of children live on the very edge of society in Nepal. Some have only one parent, some are living in the worst imaginable slum areas and many would be left at home...
Brazil
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Description and Impact
Salvador’s favelas (shantytowns) are characterized by poverty, violence, and disease. Education is one of the only avenues out...
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This is a featured project
Description and Impact
Brazil is home to 60% of the Amazon rainforest and is considered to have the greatest biodiversity of any country on earth. However,...
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Description and Impact
Although the Brazilian economy is flourishing, many Brazilians have not felt the benefits of industrialization. The gap between rich and poor...
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Provide Education, Healthcare, and Social Services
Description and Impact
Thousands of children live on the streets of Brazil because they are abandoned, orphaned or have suffered other abuses such as domestic violence...
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Give Underprivileged Kids a Better Chance at Success
Description and Impact
Salvador’s favelas (shantytowns) are characterized by poverty, violence, and disease. Education is one of the only avenues out of...
- 29,000
Trees Planted
- 10
Countries
- 5,100
ProWorld Volunteers
- 22
Schools Constructed
- 6,100
Stoves Installed
- 18,450
Patients Treated
- 4
Centers Built
- $7,100,000
Capital Injected
- 860,000
Service Hours
