ActionAid Association is a national organisation, an affiliate of ActionAid International federation which is active in more than 40 countries across the world and is committed to fighting poverty and injustice. In India, we have been working since 1972. We currently operate out of 12 Regional Offices spread across 25 States and 1 Union Territory.

Together with the people, we claim legal, constitutional and moral rights to food and livelihood, shelter, education, healthcare, dignity and a voice in decisions that affect their lives. Our work uses a Human Rights based approach and is centred around issues of land, livelihoods, urban poverty, natural resources, women and girls’ rights, child rights, work with minorities in their struggles and building solidarity and progressive actions beyond local and national boundaries.

Website: www.actionaid.org/india

Possible Volunteering Opportunities

ActionAid India engages volunteers from different backgrounds and with varied skill sets to support its various programmes, projects and campaigns in different regions of the country. Recent volunteers have worked in a variety of departments and worked on a number of projects and tasks. They have also assisted in planning activities and workshops, and were able to gain valuable insights into the workings of an NGO, and how international development projects are funded, implemented and evaluated. The placement also offers opportunities to interact with inspiring staff members working across the organisation.

See Testimonials for feedback from recent volunteers.

ActionAid seeks volunteers to support the following areas of work:

• Support in developing funding proposals.
• Support in campaigns: content development, social media promotion, vlogging etc.
• Research and documentation on the issues of natural resources, land, agriculture, commons and livelihoods.
• Data research, data mining and documentation to support fundraising.
• Policy research – Labour, Skills, Habitat, Sustainability, Climate change etc.
• Support with the work of the Corporate Social Responsibility team.

Preferred skills

• Passion and zeal to contribute to the development sector.
• Excellent communication skills with an inherent ability to write.
• Good analytical skills and attention to details.

Approximate cost

You should expect to spend about £1800 for eight weeks - this covers costs for food and accommodation, as well as local travel. This includes the £200 programme fee payable for Camvol support.

In addition to these local costs, students will need to book return flights to India (typically about £750 if booked early), and apply for an appropriate visa, as required by the Indian High Commission (for visa charges, please check the Indian visa facilitation service website for exact fees).

Vaccination and other medical costs have NOT been included in estimated costs, and applicants should take this into account while planning their budgets. If you intend to travel for recreation and tourism, these costs will be additional, so please budget accordingly.

Some financial support for summer charitable work, internships and volunteering is available via Colleges and from the University. If selected, the Camvol Director can advise about funding opportunities.