Volunteer Program Options:

INFO Nepal has established over 60 facilities and partnerships in Nepal where we can place volunteers. We try to use volunteer’s strengths, education and experiences to create an optimal placement, where volunteers can exchange their knowledge and also learn about Nepali life and challenges. Your input and contribution also helps mobilize and motivate the youths of these areas to seek better opportunities through education.

Volunteers can participate in any of the following programs throughout our communities. In some cases, it is possible to blend certain programs together.

Volunteers are welcome to start new libraries and resource centers. We recommend you consider this only if you are participating with a friend or group and staying for a longer period of time.

Standard Volunteer Programs:

Assisting at Orphanage Homes
In this program volunteers will be placed in an orphanage. Some placements allow the volunteer to live within the orphanage, however, volunteers can also choose to be placed with our local host family located within a walk-able distance from the orphanage home. As well as being very rewarding, these placements can be physically and emotionally demanding. Your role as an Orphanage Volunteer is to be a big brother or sister to the children. What you will be doing will vary in each orphanage. You may be required to help in other ways besides simply working with the children - for example helping with medical visits, cleaning, paper recycling, gardening, teaching the house mothers how to properly clean, doing repairs, mending clothing, planning activities for after they return from school and perhaps preparing meals. Once the children return from school, your role will be to assist and encourage them with their homework as well as play with them. Teaching English may be a big focus as you will not be able to teach common subjects such as Maths or Science with the language barrier. You could help the children in other areas - basic hygiene for example, like regular teeth brushing and hand washing. Games, songs and other activities will be extremely popular with the children. Some of the older children may be encouraged to develop skills that may help them in later life such as paper making, sewing or maintenance work. These may be future skills that could help them to become self-sufficient as adults. We have ten Orphanage homes in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan.  Read More

Teaching English - Children and Youth:
 Children and youth are the future of the nation. INFO has established 14 Resource Centers in rural villages in Chitwan, in the south and Pokhara and Lang Tang in the north close to the Himalayas. The Resource Centers were set up in small communities to offer educational opportunities to some of the poorest regions in Nepal. The Centers, often known as Libraries, are there to help the local children improve their English and learn from the many International cultures that the volunteers bring through INFO. The children attend before and after school and educational games and singing and dancing are a great way to get into the spirit of Nepal. Volunteers do not need teaching qualifications to partake in this program, just a passion for children and having fun! Children enjoy new experiences as much as us so anything you can bring from home to show them how your life works and culture differs is beneficial. The locations of our Resource Centers ensures total immersion into Nepali life and its culture. Our host families are all located within walking distance of the Resource Centers and the villagers also aid the early morning routines with hot cups of chiya (Nepali tea). The time spent in the village creates a real sense of community, you live close by, walk through the village everyday, you become part of their lives for a while and with the local festivals and the occasional wedding to attend there is no end to how immersed you become in village life. If that is not enough to satisfy your needs there are local schools we support who are always more than welcoming to receive help from international volunteers. You can give as much or as little time as you like, and classes normally revolve around a curriculum unlike the Resource Centers where you are free to make your own lesson plans and bring your own ideas and games to the children. Read more :  INFO Nepal Resource Centers. and
 Volunteer's experience

Teaching at the Monastery
As a volunteer in INFO Nepal Monk teaching project, you will primarily work as English instructors in the schools of Tibetan Children's Village. You will teach English to Tibetan kids for 3-4 hours a day. In addition to English teaching, volunteers will assist in other school extra curricular activities and administration. In the evening, you can organize games, drawing, singing, dancing, and other creative education and extra curricular activities.

Morning and late evening time is free. If you love Buddhism, this is the perfect time to join meditation, rituals, prays, and songs with the Buddhist monks. This project gives perfect opportunities to immerse in Buddhist religion and lifestyle.

Community building and school contraction projects :
This is an opportunity to help in a wide range of practical village-based projects. This is a nice project for the group volunteers from School or University. These projects could be as basic as painting or plastering, however, those with additional skills may be able to help in more advanced work. Projects are usually decided upon in consultation with local communities, but you can use your initiative to suggest projects of your own. It is vital to be sensitive to the needs and wishes of the local community. Projects are usually partly funded by the communities and partly by our partner organization and/or volunteer contributions. You'll work with other volunteers in small groups, usually with minimal supervision. Often you'll also work alongside villagers, learning about traditional methods of building and working. Example projects include school repair and decoration; toilet building; drinking water projects; road drainage projects; recycling projects; stove building; and construction work on our local partner organization's own Children's home.
 

Environmental & Sanitation Awareness: These education projects are conducted at a very basic level, introducing the villagers to concepts and creative activities of Environmental Awareness and personal hygiene.  Volunteers may also provide assistance to youth clubs or women's groups in the community sharing their ideas, skills and knowledge about environmental issues. Example projects include: creating "green" clubs, planting a flower garden, planting trees, garbage management, recycling programs, making a smokeless stove, building a toilet pit, etc. Volunteer's experience

 Home-stay and Cultural Programs: (Two weeks to four weeks) All placements include elements of the Home Stay and Cultural Exchange Program. Volunteers live with a traditional family, not more than 30 minutes from their placement. This provides volunteers with an opportunity to learn about all aspects of Nepali life, culture, food and people. Volunteers are expected to share items which show their own culture, customs and to share information about their home with the family and the community.
Volunteers doing this program exclusively become a member of the household, and participate in all activities including cooking, washing, working in the fields, and generally caring for the house and family. This is the best way to Experience real Nepal.
Note: Volunteers participating in most of the other programs will automatically be participating in this one as well, as they will be staying with Nepali host families.

Work in a Disabled Care Facility: Assist care givers and provide updated care methodology for children with a range of disabilities including Autism, Downs Syndrome, Physical and Mental challenges. You may also spend a small portion of your day to teach 'polite English' to care facilitators to better communication with medical staff, and interested third parties. Volunteer's experience
 

Primary Health Care and Medical Program:  INFO Nepal is seeking personnel with medical background to apply for volunteer work providing basic health care to impoverished rural populations, and children of orphanages in Nepal. We encourage medical students, nurses, and medical doctors to apply. Organize your own groups of 2-12 participants. Program start times are flexible according to your groups' needs. This will be a cultural and sightseeing experience, as well as clinical application of medical knowledge to those in need. The program includes Jungle Safari, Trekking and a lot of Sightseeing with Medical post placement.  Volunteer's experience

Working in Agricultural Fields

In this program volunteer will be staying with a local host family and help in their dally house work 5 days in a week.
Agriculture is one of the oldest occupations in Nepal and approximately 90% of our population works in this sector. There was a major breakthrough in agricultural production in the 1960's with the introduction of the new agricultural technology based on the high yielding variety of crops. The success of Nepalese agriculture, however, lies in the successful transfer of this new technology to the fields. Agricultural Sciences and allied fields are continually developing and changing as new knowledge is gained through research and new technology revolutionizes working methods. The fields allied to agriculture cover areas like horticulture, animal husbandry and veterinary sciences, dairy science, sericulture, fisheries and forestry, seed collection and distribution, erosion and flood control etc. Horticulture involves doing research work on plants and is a much-applied field. It is a science that includes floriculture or cultivation of flowers. In agriculture the volunteer has to be actively involved in planting, harvesting, marketing and other aspects of fieldwork

Provide Veterinary Care: Work in facilities to care for wild and domesticated animals.

Develop Income Generating Programs: to assist communities or women’s co-operatives. 

Administrative Support: Assist in the office with paperwork, email correspondence and general administration.

Volunteers are welcome to design their own program, if they have the necessary skills and knowledge to do the tasks. Previous volunteers have participated in business development, teacher training programs, and local economic development schemes.

It is possible to participate in almost all of these programs in each development community or region. Please let us know if you have a preference for a particular location.

Experience Real Nepal Program : Experience the real Nepal – the beautiful scenery, the mountains the people, the villages the culture and make a real difference for the people! This program includes, first weeks of Language and Cultural Training with a lot of Sightseeing around Kathmandu and White Water Rafting while going to Chitwan National Park for Elephanat Safari. At the end of your placement you will be doing trekking in Annapurna resion after teaching at your placement staying with a local Host Family.

Your benefits

If you want to do some trekking, hiking, jungle safari and sightseeing but also:

  - want to stay with local families for few days
  - want to learn more about the culture and the language
  - create employment for the local people especially in the villages
  - visit places off the beaten track and create employment for the local people
  - want to visit local schools, orphanages
  - learn about the needs of the people, especially the children
  - have some real cultural exchange with the Nepalese people

then you should give Nepal a different approach with Real Nepal! For more information please visit us at  www.realnepal.org