Voluntary Project Overview

This charity started some 15 years ago to bring education to children who couldn't afford it. The poor families in the areas refused to send their children to school for a number of reasons - they can’t spare the money, the small earnings these children brought home were vital to their families and most of the poor construction workers move from job to job thus making it impossible for the children to attend regular school. Keeping in mind all these problems faced by slum and street kids and the children of construction workers, the founders of this organisation brought the schools to these children.

It runs fully-equipped classroom buses, also several study centres in slum areas for children who couldn't study at home, a kindergarten for pre-school children, an out of school programme and a community library. The organization works in partnership with the government run schools to organize excursions, competitions, library services and extra coaching to improve the quality of learning in over-enrolled schools and thereby lower the drop-out rates.

The Volunteer Abroad Role

Volunteers help teach English, Arts and Crafts or any other subjects that fascinate them and are likely to inspire the children. The volunteer abroad will be able to bring new ideas and innovative ways of encouraging and enthusing children to continue to learn in some very difficult circumstances. The volunteer might even come up with innovative ideas for them to earn a living. One came up with an idea for the children to make and sell beaded straps for sunglasses and the project encouraged it!

Other Volunteer Abroad opportunities

Apart from teaching, volunteering abroad can involve providing after school support for children from underprivileged backgrounds, during evening hours, designing extra curricular activities and encouraging different ways of learning.

Voluntary Programme Requirements/Eligibility Criteria

Career break volunteers joining this voluntary project in India don’t need to be qualified teacher, but do need good communication skills, an open mind, patience, lots of enthusiasm with a good sense of humor!

Volunteer Accommodation and Living arrangements

Accommodation is arranged with an Indian host family. This gives you the chance to view and experience life as a local. Volunteers will have a room to themselves.

Pune is 3 hours from the city of Mumbai. It is conveniently located to either get away to the hustle bustle of Mumbai over the weekend or escape from it all to the beaches or hills.

What’s included in your Programme Fee?

• Project selection and placement - Our in-country teams work constantly to identify and select projects that are doing exemplary work in developing countries but need your skills and effort. Our staff are in dialogue with you to ensure that we choose a project that really needs you, where you will use your skills and contribute, because at MondoChallenge, we believe that a great volunteering experience is largely dependant on matching you with the right project
• Pre Departure Briefing - Before you leave, we will arrange for a pre departure briefing where we help you with small but extremely helpful details on your chosen destination. Things like: what to pack, local culture and customs, food, safety and precautions if any - simple things to make your life easier!
• Guidance for processing visa - MondoChallenge will arrange for any relevant documents and guide you through the visa process.
• Airport Pick Up - Arriving in a new city and not knowing where to go and how to go can be quite unnerving. A MondoChallenge representative will meet you at the airport and take you to your place of stay where you can put your feet up after a long flight.
• In country Orientation and Welcome Pack - When you arrive at your location, you will be given an orientation where you could meet other volunteers from MondoChallenge, learn all about your location, how to find your way around, where to get SIM cards for the phone, small bits that you will need help sorting out in the first few days.
• In Country Support - Our local co-ordinators are there to guide you through out your stay. They will make sure that you are settled at your project, are comfortable with your accommodation and provide guidance on local culture and customs to ensure that you have a memorable and rewarding experience.
• Accommodation - In most cases you stay with a local host family. It gives you a taste of the daily life of a local. You will be sharing a room with another volunteer, however if you prefer to have a single room to youself, this can be arranged but a cost supplement may apply. If you prefer totally independent accommodation, this maybe possible in certain areas at an additional cost and our Programme Managers will be able to assist you with this.
• Breakfast and Dinner - Local home cooked food, will be provided at the home stays. This gives you a chance to experience local dishes.
• Optional Contribution to the Education Grant - The Educational Grant helps projects like the one you will volunteer with, to get basic infrastructure and resources. Open air schools need a roof, some need tables or chairs and some need books for children. We identify needs and constantly work at improving the conditions at our partner projects. We also encourage you to identify needs at your project and let our local management know of any specifics that you feel may help. The grants are made through our registered charity, FutureSense Foundation (Charity No: 1132101). In the project fee above we recommend an optional contribution towards these grants. If you would like to fund raise or contribute further amounts towards this directly to the foundation we can assist you through the process.

Not Included:

• International Flights
• Visa and Travel insurance Costs
• Vaccination
• Local Transport and Travel
• Personal Expenses

Project photos

Testimonials