How to volunteer abroad

Not sure where to start? Assess your skills, how long you would like to go for and what you hope to achieve.

✣ If you want to work with animals… There’s a wealth of opportunities available, from tracking giraffes in Africa to monitoring bees in Nepal. Gapforce offers a 4-10 week course in the Bahamas where you learn to be a qualified

PADI diver while caring for the reef; gapforce.org/gb

✣ If you want to help the planet… Join the Earthwatch community, which aims to create “citizen scientists”. An 11-day trip to help measure evidence of global warming in Hudson Bay, Canada, costs about £3,000; earthwatch.org

✣ If you want to help young people… You don’t need teaching experience but enthusiasm in sports, music and drama is highly valued. At Aventure, you can work at a school in Nepal for 12 weeks for approx £3,000; aventure.co.uk