Workcamps Abroad

What is a workcamp?

Workcamp is one to maximum of three-week long voluntary project where a group of volunteers from all over the world work and spend free time together. The group usually works for 6 hours, 5 days a week. The work does not require specific skills or previous experience and is unpaid. The thing that matters the most is your own motivation.

Destinations

Our database offers workcamps in Europe, Africa, Asia and America. INEX-SDA is a full member of the Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations, which connects over 40 member organizations and cooperates with around 40 partners from more than 50 countries. We are also partners of the international network Service Civil International, which brings together over 130 organizations in more than 90 countries all over the world.

Our partners abroad carry out the workcamps in cooperation with their local partners. Every year we collect feedback from volunteers and we suggest measures to improve the quality of workcamps. In addition to that, we meet  with representatives of several partner organizations at annual meetings.

Workcamp themes

You can find up to 19 different themes of workcamps. Many workcamps are oriented on construction work or renovation but If you’re more interested in social work you can work with children, elders or people with disabilities. You can also work at an eco-farm or organize a music festival.

Leisure

After working hours there is plenty of time for visiting interesting places, cultural
activities and other collective activities with the rest of the volunteers or locals. Local partners often suggest activities. If you have any ideas on how to spend your time with your friends after work, there is an open space for suggestions.

Accommodation and food

Accommodation and food are provided by the hosting organization. The volunteers can help with the cooking or the dish is made together by the volunteers. The accommodation is usually not very luxurious and volunteers sleep in school, tents or gyms. In some cases it is necessary to bring your own sleeping bag and camping mat and in other cases you will be accommodated with a host family.

Transportation

Volunteers are responsible for arranging and buying their flights/tickets. You can find information about travel in the workcamp description and more detailed information later on in the infosheet, which you will receive upon acceptance. (Only exceptions are Volunteering Teams financially supported by the programme European Solidarity Corps)

Why to go on a workcamp?

There is plenty of reasons to go to a workcamp. One of them can be your own independence or maybe you want to gain new experience. You can improve your English or even communication with others, team work and organizing. You will make new friends from all around the world and voluntourism is considered a low-cost traveling. And the keynote of workcamps is helping where they need it.

Who can go?

It is expected that you participate in all parts of workcamp – work, leisure, cooking etc. and you will become a part of the group. You should be flexible and be able to adjust to local culture.

Age

Most volunteers are between 18-26 years. But it is more and more popular for younger and older participants to join workcamps as well.

• 18+ Majority of workcamps are for volunteers who are 18 and older. If the workcamp description doesn´t say otherwise, the upper age limit is not defined.
• -18 If you are under the age of 18 you can participate at TEEN workcamps (14-17 years old) or at workcamps for youth (16 – 26). To participate you have to send us a consent of your parents or legal guardian.

APPLICATION TIP: As a minor, you can apply for a workcamp for adults if you will be 18 years old at the time when the workcamp starts.

Language

For the majority of workcamps you will need at least a basic level of English. The most important
thing is to participate and not to be afraid to talk with others and workcamp is a great opportunity to learn that. You don’t need any certificate or diploma of your language skills. If a more advanced language level or other language than English is needed  (for example Spanish, German, French, Russian, etc.), you will find it in a description of every project.

Financial costs

Registration fee

To process your application you need to pay a registration fee. If we don’t receive your payment we cannot process your application. You can pay by through a payment gate at the end of the registration process. All the information will be in the confirmation email. The registration fee is valid till the end of a calendar year.

• Registration fee for a workcamp: 2 500 CZK
• Every other project in the same calendar year, you get a 50 % discount, so the fee is 1 250 CZK
• Family workcamps : Adults (15 years and over) 2,500 CZK, under 15 years free registration

• Countries within the Global Volunteering Cycle
  South and Central America, Africa, Asia (Japan, South Korea, Russia and Turkey excluded) incl. Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Jordan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Morocco, Mongolia, Taiwan, Ukraine
  When volunteering in those countries, you have to participate at a pre-departure meeting.

Check our general conditions to see all prices and discounts.

If you’d like to support our activities, you can add a donation to your registration fee. Thank you very much!

Cancellation fee

After acceptance, the hosting organization counts with your participation. If have to cancel your participation for any reason, we will will reimburse you part of your registration fee. Your application is subject to the cancellation fees specified in the conditions of participation (Czech). If you have to cancel your participation because of health issues, please contact us and we will solve it on an individual basis (Terms and conditions, Czech)

Other expenses

Some of the hosting organizations can change a participation fee  (incoming/extra fee) that helps them finance accommodation and food for volunteers. The fees are always listed in the description of each project.

Please note that workcamps organised by SCI branches charge an incoming fee of 50 EUR. You will recognize these workcamps in our database by their code – for example IT-SCI 7.1, DE-SCI 12.4.

• travel costs
• visa (if needed)
• vaccination (if needed)
• travel insurance

Arrangement of all those things is your responsibility but we can help you with everything if needed.

Choosing a workcamp

How to choose?

Our database offers more than 1000 workcamps in 50 countries around the world. You can filter them by the date, the destination or theme.

• Please consider, what is more important for you – the destination or theme of the workcamp? 
• consider the costs in the country 
• check your calendar – please stay on the workcamp from start to the end, so the workcamps dates should not overlap with any of your other planned activities 
• Do you want to join a workcamp in Europe or in the Global South?

If you choose to volunteer in the Global South, please count with weekend pre-departure meeting. In that case, we recommend you to apply at least two (or more) months in advance. Please check the dates of the pre-departure meeting and your availability during that weekend. If you don´t understand Czech, we will arrange for you an individual pre-departure meeting.

Feel free to join our Facebook group, so you don´t miss current workcamp opportunities! You can also connect with experienced or new volunteers.

How to apply?

Choose up to 3 workcamps and line them up by your preference. Then you need to fill out the application and send it to us. After that you will get an e-mail with payment information and next steps.

When we get your registration fee and all required documents, we will send your application to the hosting organization which will decide about your acceptance.

If you’re not accepted to the first chosen project, we will send your application to your second or third choice. The processing of your application takes 1 – 20 days, it all depends on the hosting organization. We will inform you about the results via e-mail.

Specialized projects

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