Before beginning your application, please carefully read the
following policies.
Age
The minimum age to volunteer alone is 20-years-old.
Volunteers who are 18 or 19-years-old are required to volunteer with a companion their age or older.
Volunteers who are 17-years-old or less must be accompanied by a parent, a legal guardian, or a person appointed by that parent or guardian and must take full responsibility.
Families with small children, as young as 5-years-old, are welcome
to apply and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Please
keep in mind that extreme weather conditions and lack of basic
facilities - such as plumbing and electricity - in some villages
may be difficult for young children. Also, please note that
childcare is not available for volunteers.
There is no age limit. Our eldest volunteer to date was 81-years-old.
Cancellations
A cancellation charge of 50% of the Volunteer Program fee will
be assessed for cancellations made 22 to 30 days prior to the
start of a Volunteer Program. Cancellation requests must be
received by the Village Volunteers office by mail or by phone.
Refunds will be processed within 14 days of Village Volunteers'
receipt of the refund request. Bank or wire transfer transaction
costs required to process the refund will be deducted. Program
fees that were paid by bank or wire transfer will have the transaction
costs deducted.
A cancellation charge of 100% of the program cost will be assessed for a cancellation or change in dates made 21 days or less prior to the start of a Volunteer Program.
Participants who depart a Volunteer Program early forfeit the program fee for the time not spent in the Volunteer Program.
Cultural Sensitivity
Be sure to thoroughly review our Cultural Sensitivity Policy.
Deposit Refund
100% of a Volunteer Program deposit is refundable if a refund
request is received by the Village Volunteers office by mail
or by phone more than 60 days prior to the program start date
specified in the Volunteer Program acceptance letter. If a
start month is listed in the acceptance letter, in place of
a start date, the start date will be considered the 1st of the
start month.
Refunds will be processed within 14 days of Village Volunteers'
receipt of the refund request. Bank or wire transfer transaction
costs required to process the refund will be deducted. Deposits
that were paid by bank or wire transfer will have the transaction
costs deducted.
Within 60 days of the Volunteer Program start date, a deposit
is no longer refundable.
If a volunteer would like to postpone his/her Volunteer Program, the deposit must be applied to a Volunteer Program that commences within 1 year of the original scheduled Volunteer Program. If the deposit is not applied to a Volunteer Program in this time, the deposit is forfeited.
Language
Volunteers must be fluent in conversational English.
Length of Stay
The minimum amount of time one is recommended to volunteer is 2 or 3 weeks, depending on the program placement.
The maximum amount of time one is recommended to volunteer varies by country, and is as follows:
Ghana - up to 4 months
Kenya - up to 2 months
India - up to 4 months
Nepal - up to 3 months
Travel Health Insurance
Travel health insurance is mandatory for all participants
in a Volunteer Program. For more information about obtaining
travel health insurance, please visit the FAQ
page.
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