What activities can a 16/17 year old volunteer for? humanitarian aid?

Question

i would like to volunteer as a humanitarian aid for summer. i am currently 16 (will be 17 this summer). Are there any international groups i can join to volunteer during summer break? i would like to help people in developing countries

Answer 1

www.thepencilproject.com

Something you can do all year...

Answer 2

You could check out Building With Books.

Answer 3

Because of your age, organizations that don't charge fees for volunteering, such as VSO Canada, UN Volunteers and the PeaceCorps, aren't an option for you right now -- they need people who are much older, with professional experience and academic degrees.  

Short-term placement agencies are focused on people such as yourself who don't have experience and are looking to gain such, and want a short-term experience. Therefore, they charge volunteers, or require these volunteers to pay their own way (flights, in-country transportation, health insurance, accommodation, food, security, translators, training, staff to supervise and support them in their service, liaisons with the police and local officials, etc.).

There is a listing of the more-than-30 member organizations of the International Volunteers Program Association (IVPA) that is a good place to find reputable volunteer-for-a-fee programs -- programs where you don't need to have much experience in order to participate, and the placements are just for a few weeks or months:

http://www.volunteerinternational.org/

Here is a web site that can help you learn more about the skills and experience desired by long-term placement organizations, and how you can gain that experience locally. It also lists the various organizations that don't charge for volunteer placement (but require a great deal of experience -- the average age of a UN Volunteer is 38).

http://www.coyotecommunications.com/volu...

Answer 4

Try contacting your local United Way chapter.  They can tell you what agencies there are and help you decide which one you want to help with.  You can also try www.volunteermatch.org, or google volunteer matching agencies and see what other services come up.