e-volunteering -a solution during the pandemic and an opportunity for years to come

e-volunteering -a solution during the pandemic and an opportunity for years to come

The start of the vaccine roll-out!  Of course, like everyone else, we are delighted and keeping our fingers crossed that all goes to plan and volunteers can start travelling again later this year.  But that certainly will not mean the end of our e-volunteer programme. When we started creating opportunities for people to volunteer from home during 2020 it was of course in response to the pandemic – could we find a viable and useful way for volunteers to offer…

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e-volunteering is not “virtual”- it’s volunteering for real!

e-volunteering is not “virtual”- it’s volunteering for real!

It’s January, the time of year when many people’s minds turn to travel plans – maybe a holiday – or maybe a volunteer placement!  At the moment many people are ‘travelling the world’ via their computer screens – and you can volunteer in this way too without leaving the comfort and safety of your own front room. Visiting a tourist destination by viewing it online could accurately be described as ‘virtual travel’ – there’s no physical travelling involved.  Similarly an…

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I’m thrilled to bits – I’ve seen how much the children enjoyed and learned from my video

I’m thrilled to bits – I’ve seen how much the children enjoyed and learned from my video

A couple of weeks ago I decided to fill an idle couple of hours on a rainy Sunday afternoon filming a video which we could send to the education projects supported by people and places volunteers.  Quite a lot of volunteers have contributed to this initiative – we have videos of stories, demonstrations of simple Science experiments, even a walk round a farm to show children the animals.  But so far we didn’t have a video of a volunteer actually…

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When can we volunteer abroad again?

When can we volunteer abroad again?

A number of people have contacted us suggesting they would like to travel with us as soon as possible.  This is fantastic news, and we so want that too, BUT…current travel restrictions, (both for leaving the UK an other countries and entering the countries where our partner projects are located), make volunteering on site impractical at the present time. In addition, as our partner projects are in developing countries where health care facilities may not be the same as in…

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we’ve just won an award for our work during the pandemic!

we’ve just won an award for our work during the pandemic!

We, at people and places highly value recognition from such prestigious  awards as the WTM World Responsible Tourism Award. This year the judges decided to commend organisations and destinations which are taking responsibility and addressing the many challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are particularly proud to have won The Innovation Award because people and places was conceived to innovate for better practice in the volunteer travel.  We won the award for the work we are doing to develop support and encourage e-volunteering – a…

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Could you volunteer a couple of hours every couple of weeks from your home?

Could you volunteer a couple of hours every couple of weeks from your home?

We cannot deny that 2020 has been a challenging year for our volunteer programme – we have not been able to send volunteers to the programmes we work with for 9 months – and even an optimist cannot see us being able to do so until spring 2021 at best – a year after our last volunteers returned home after their placements. A year where all of the programmes we work with are struggling to survive – some doing better…

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e-volunteers at work

e-volunteers at work

In the six months since the pandemic struck a number of volunteers have been working with us to try out various ways of volunteering from home. Some had previously volunteered and were keen to continue supporting ‘their’ project in what were clearly going to be difficult times. Some had placements already arranged and were keen to start volunteer work even though they couldn’t yet travel. Some thought their volunteering days were behind them and were delighted to see a way…

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Our brand new e-volunteer site

Our brand new e-volunteer site

“Covid-19 did not remove the need for volunteer support, it stopped delivery.”​……………… Harold Goodwin Professor Emeritus …………….Well we are very proud to announce – it may have slowed us down a little but it hasn’t stopped us! We have been working away for months with our partners and we can now announce the launch of a new site. www.e-volunteer.co.uk e-volunteering is a way for you to volunteer from home – it will suit volunteers who want to use their skills…

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News from the projects

News from the projects

The pandemic is causing challenges for all of us – here’s an update from many of the programmes we work with about how they are trying to meet these challenges – from marathon cycle rides to emergency water supplies (imagine trying to wash your hands when there is no water!) Eswatini (Swaziland) The Neighbourhood Care Points in Eswatini are currently being used as feeding stations – the children go there every day for food which they take home to share…

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Making a podcast – how volunteer Zara is making fantastic use of her skills

Making a podcast – how volunteer Zara is making fantastic use of her skills

Volunteer Zara has a placement planned – she is going to go to Treak Community Centre in Cambodia  ̶̶  she works in the publishing industry and she is going to use her skills to help develop a literacy strategy at the school at Treak.  Her plans were to travel this year, but of course the pandemic has intervened.  So Zara is using her skills on an e-volunteer project until she is able to travel. As part of her work in…

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