InterVol makes volunteering accessible and rewarding for UK students, both locally and abroad. We connect young people in the UK with ethical, trustworthy and sustainable community-owned projects and, crucially, build their skills and experience through these projects.
Approach
We maximise the long-term impact that student volunteers can have through our two-part model of volunteering, with an initial focus on local volunteering in the UK prior to taking part in placements with trusted partners overseas. We focus on overseas initiatives that strengthen the capacity of non-governmental organisations and communities and require specific skills that our volunteers can contribute. Initial participation in local UK-based initiatives to develop and enhance existing skills in a familiar setting is therefore an important part of making sure volunteers’ time spent on international placements is impactful and ethical.
We engage with local and overseas partners over years rather than on one-off projects. Each year, we run a selection process to find volunteers who have the skills and enthusiasm to flourish in a team, as well as the passion to gain experience both before and during their placement overseas.
Each team planning an overseas placement has a fundraising target to cover the costs of their main objective. All of these funds are spent on the placement itself, with InterVol run entirely by volunteers. InterVol is not a ‘voluntourism’ organisation and does not support volunteering in orphanages; our placements are designed by our local partners and with the long-term needs of beneficiaries and communities in mind. Volunteers financially contribute for their own travel, insurance, training and accommodation expenses and regularly apply for student travel bursaries and grants to fund their volunteering.
History
InterVol was founded at the University of Birmingham in 2003 and has since expanded to have groups at the University of East Anglia (Norwich), University of Nottingham, University of Manchester, and SOAS (University of London). Well over one thousand student volunteers have taken part in volunteering projects and placements through InterVol over the past two decades. Our volunteers have focused on humanitarian, conservation, education, and community development projects in the UK and around the world and have raised over £250,000 of grant funding which has gone directly to our partner charities.
InterVol is a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1136099.
Photo: Nepal 2013 project with PSD Nepal, extra-curricular games with local schoolchildren, by Faheem Hussain.
InterVol 