Volunteering in Africa

There is a wide range of volunteering opportunities across Africa, and this is becoming an immensely popular option for young travellers looking to experience the wild scenery and diverse cultures of the continent. Usually, any positions that you will find available can vary greatly from country to country, and there are requests for experienced and qualified workers. However, certain sectors will always be in demand.

Teaching positions are often easy to find across North and Central Africa, and places like Ghana and Gambia on the west coast have seen a lot of teachers from the UK and Europe pass through over the years. In Ethiopia, most of the volunteers have been appointed in teaching positions as the number of children entering schools is growing at a phenomenal rate. As well as working hands-on in the classroom, there are many volunteering positions across Africa for working in other parts of the education sector, such as teaching programme developers and administrators.

Of course, there is always a strong need for workers from the healthcare sector, and nearly all of the African countries will have positions open for volunteers skilled in this area. HIV and AIDs is a serious pandemic across the continent and the percentage of people who have contracted the disease is quite staggering. In Namibia, up to 200,000 people – out of a population of two million – are believed to be infected, while it is said 100,000 children have been orphaned due to the virus. Education and awareness are seen as the best method of prevention in this area, but there is also a wide range of positions based within the local government healthcare services.