Can international volunteering be truly accessible for all young people?

The government’s decision to give Raleigh £500,000 to support graduates  “who otherwise could not afford” to volunteer abroad has had a mixed reception. While the “creative thinking” was welcomed by the NUS, some previous volunteers complained that it was “unfair” to those who had raised the full cost of the trip themselves, while others claimed that these “free gap years” could still end up costing upwards of £2,000.

Many young people are sold on the value of international volunteering. DFID research published in December 2008 showed that while 19% of the general adult population think volunteering is effective at reducing poverty overseas, that number increases to 32% in the

16-24 year old age group. But is international volunteering still the preserve of the middle classes? There are several schemes in the UK which hope to prove otherwise.

Charlotte Singleton, a volunteer youth worker from Manchester, spent 10 weeks teaching in a school in Himachal Pradesh, northern India. Her placement was fully funded by Platform 2, a global volunteering scheme for 18 to 25 year olds who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to visit a developing country, funded by the Department for International Development.

She said: “I didn’t think that people like me could do something like this. I thought it was just for people who were rich… I’d never been on an airplane before. The farthest I’d been was Wales.”

Latitude Global Volunteering offers a range of fully funded placements and bursaries for 16-25 year olds who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford

to volunteer.

Meanwhile, virtual volunteering opportunities allow young volunteers to help international charities from the comfort of their own homes. WorldWide Volunteering now offers virtual volunteering options, and the UN Online Volunteers Service also has opportunities for volunteers aged 18+.