Projects Abroad

Projects Abroad (formerly Teaching & Projects Abroad) is a commercial volunteer travel organisation based in the United Kingdom. Projects Abroad sells volunteer placements in 30 countries worldwide. Their customers travel to foreign countries to teach conversational English or gain experience in medicine, conservation, journalism, business and many other professions. For a program fee, their customers receive food, housing, insurance, training and 24 hour support from local staff and trained professionals. Destination countries include Ghana, Mexico, Sri Lanka, China, and Romania, among several others. Housing is typically arranged in home stays with local families who are paid a stipend for their participation. Customers range in age from 16-75.

Projects Abroad was a founding member of the Year Out Group and is a member of the IVPA(International Volunteer Programs Association). The company is also affiliated with the Reconstruction Project which was set up following the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami. Funds from the Reconstruction Project go towards projects in Projects Abroad destinations around the world.

History

Projects Abroad was founded in 1992 (then known as Teaching Abroad) by Dr. Peter Slowe.^[1] After a few years sending voluntourists to Eastern Europe teaching the company expanded to sending voluntourists around the world doing a wide range of projects. It was one of the first companies to organise gap years for alternative holidays overseas in large numbers. After becoming Teaching & Projects Abroad, it became simply Projects Abroad in 2007. Projects Abroad now has recruitment offices in a number of countries around the world.^[2]

To date, Projects Abroad has over 20 years of experience on organizing volunteer and internship projects over seas.^[3] They are situated in continents all around the world with programs in Argentina, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Samoa, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, and Vietnam. The company has placed 60,000 volunteers all over the world and offers programs anywhere from child care and teaching, conservation, disaster relief building projects, to medical and dentistry missions. Projects Abroad places local staff in each destination as to provide constant support for international volunteers and organize all aspects of the journey. The volunteer is accommodated with a carefully chosen host family in most programs which helps integrate an individual into the culture of their visited country.

The profit company ensures security to their customers through placement in secure facilities. No individual can be sent to a country that is not stable at the time of travel or that is estimated to become unstable during the duration of their trip. All placement and accommodation details, including the location in which a volunteer will work, is provided before departure from one's country of origin to ensure that they are comfortable and prepared before arriving to their placement. Local staff make arrangements for each volunteer to be picked up from orientation where after they are given a thorough orientation and background on anything from culture in the city to transportation.