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independent travel > savvy volunteer
Everyone is welcome to volunteer on a VentureCo Trust development project. Some volunteer as a follow-on to a Savvy Traveller course, others volunteer as a stand-alone overseas experience in its own right, and still others as an addition to trans-continental independent travel. All the projects are ambitious undertakings, requiring the in-put from several people at once, so you may volunteer as an individual, but you will join a group of like-minded volunteers and become part of a volunteer workforce, working alongside local people from the host community. This makes the projects more than just “voluntary work”: volunteers will see the local community in its working clothes, warts and all! You will learn all about life in the developing world, as it really is, and will develop a sympathy and understanding for the plight of many of the world’s people, while making a sustainable contribution to a worthy cause.
The VentureCo Trust Projects
The VentureCo Trust organises a number of development projects all around the world. All the projects bring together the needs of a local community with the wish of volunteers from the West to do something tangible to help. Bringing these two groups together is challenging and VentureCo invests a great deal of effort harmonising project expectations. For full details about project selection and the Trust [click here for details]
Project duration
You can join a project for 2, 3 or 4 weeks. All the projects have a fixed start date so that we can group volunteers together to form a single group. Thus on any given start date some volunteers will be there for two weeks, others for three and the majority for four.
Project synopses [All titles are links to their relevant project pages]
South America
Agrupar & Con Quito Project [Ecuador]
It is often better to offer assistance to communities in the developing world on a person-to-person basis, rather than on a grand, ambitious scale: small is beautiful! We started building micro-greenhouses in Quito in May 2002 and there are now over 60 of them within the sprawling city limits. This project has not only facilitated a quantum leap in the standard of nutrition for recipient families, but has fostered the development of a non-cash, barter economy. Surplus food (which is organic) as well as other micro-enterprises that are attached to the greenhouses, such as bee keeping, small orchards and rabbit keeping, is traded between families at regular “Micro-markets”. Your task is to team-up with the resident Agrupar people and build the next greenhouse, from scratch.
ECOAN Project [Peru]
This is one of our most challenging projects, not least because you are working hard physically, and you’re doing it at altitude. You will be based in the High Andes, slightly higher than Machu Picchu, working with Quechua communities, who speak the old Inca language. The tasks include looking after and replanting Polylepis trees, recording fauna species and ringing birds caught in mist nets, and helping the building project that provides a “salon communal” for the host Inca hamlet.
Galapagos Project [The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador]
The Galapagos are perhaps the world’s most famous conservation area and it is the high point of anyone’s life to visit the islands. The islands are one of the few places in the world where the reality of visiting, matches the expectation! Our task here is first and foremost the eradication of introduced plant species that are choking the life out of fragile, indigenous habitats. This means the environments that used to support unique Galapagos animals are disappearing and becoming barren of indigenous species. The work is done in conjunction with the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island and we will visit Lonesome George, the giant tortoise, during our time on the islands. We also make a practical contribution to the Tomas de Berlanga secondary school to help improve the infrastructure.
Great Inca Road Project [Peru]
One of the greatest misnomers in the “Travellers Handbook” is to call the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, “The Inca Trail”: it is only one of many trails built by the Incas. During 2005 and 2006 VentureCo researched the feasibility of restoring an unknown Inca trail in the north of Peru, not far from the town of Huaraz. You will be working alongside Quechua-speaking people in remote High Andean villages and the task is to restore this trail which isn’t even in the guidebooks … yet! We are putting in a series of camp sites and other basic facilities for independent trekkers to use. The local community benefit by gaining an on-going income stream from the fees paid by the trekkers
Machalilla Project [Ecuador]
The VentureCo bunkhouse is in the heart of this small seaside fishing village. Our work here is in partnership with the Ecuador National Parks, as well as the community itself. Many of the tasks are hard physical work, such as constructing footpaths and mountain bike trails that explore the pristine Pacific coastline and unique national park that adjoins it. We also carry out tasks to help the local community such as renovating the fisher-families’ crèche and introducing young children to the national park that is on their doorstep. Machalilla National Park is Ecuador’s least-visited park, and we aim to improve access to the park, thus providing a small but sustainable income for local people
derived from trail fees, guiding fees and meals purchased by visitors.
Central America
Balam Na Project [Belize]
If the idea of living in pristine Caribbean jungle conditions appeals to you, and working on a conservation initiative that will last indefinitely, then this is the project for you. We are helping to construct a bio-corridor to link two nature reserves, so that the resident animals have a great area in which to roam. The real bonus is that the Caribbean coast is not far away – perfect for a weekend break!
Manatee Project [Belize]
Manatees are large, docile vegetarians that live in lagoons where a river meets the Caribbean: the gentle giants of the inland waterways. The trouble is they like to bask just beneath the surface of the water, where they are tricky to spot, making them susceptible to strike by outboard motor. We are involved with constructing a treatment pen so that local vets can examine injured animals. A series of release pens is required so that convalescing animals can be effectively monitored through their recovery and orphaned manatees can be properly cared for.
Rest of the World
For 2006/07 the following projects are only available as part of a Venture or Summer Venture.
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