Work Programs

Africa and International Development

Introduction

This page contains links to organizations that offer work opportunities (many volunteer) in Africa as well as to organizations in the United States which focus on international development.

Volunteer Work in Africa and Beyond

• Volunteers For Peace International - Workcamps and Voluntary Service
  Provides an opportunity for young people of all nationalities to work together on 2-3 week projects. VFP coordinates placement in over 800 camps in 36 countries.
• WorldTeach Home Page
  WorldTeach is a non-profit program of Harvard University's social service organization, with opportunities for individuals to make a meaningful contribution to international education by living and working as volunteer teachers in developing countries.
• One World Volunteer Institute
  The One World Volunteer Institute in Norway (A Travelling "Folk" High School) educates International volunteers to humanitarian projects in Africa.
• Peacework
  Volunteers help meet the critical needs of marginalized communities in developing areas by working with host organizations on existing self-development projects.
• Visions in Action
  Visions in Action is an international nonprofit organization offering 6 and 12 month volunteer positions in five African countries and Mexico.
• Volunteer, Research and Work Opportunities
  Links to organizations presented National Consortium for Study in Africa, African Studies Center, Michigan State University
• Volunteer and Community Tourism- Ecotourism Resource Database
  Programs range from being structured very much like a standard tour package to long term overseas volunteer programs, where you live and work in the local community for up to two years, for local wages.
• Global Alliance for Africa
  The home page of Global Alliance for Africa- "Worldwide Partners for Health Care in Africa." A unique, grassroots approach to the many serious problems faced by health care workers on the African continent.
• Global Services Corp
  Provides cross-cultural learning and community service adventures for adults in Tanzania and Thailand.
• Volunteer in South Africa wildlife parks
  Learn all about the animals you work with. This program will teach you about game tracking, anti-poaching, identification of trees and much more.
• Work with AIDS orphans in South Africa
  Lean on Me aims to improve the lives of people infected or affected with HIV/AIDS. They believe that the Lean on Me volunteers return to their countries as ambassadors for AIDS awareness and the hardships Africans face.
• International Service and Travel Center
  ISTC is a nationally-recognized center dedicated to pomoting international opportunities and supporting individuals preparing for international experiences.
• Peace Corps: The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love!
  As a Peace Corps Volunteer, you'll make real differences in the lives of real people. Whether you're teaching children the basics of math, science, and English or working with a community to protect the local environment; whether you're helping people stay healthy, expand their businesses, or grow more nutritious food, you will help change and improve the human condition at the grassroots level.
• World Volunteers
  The World Guide to Humanitarian and Development Volunteering
• Global Volunteer Network
  The Global Volunteer Network currently has volunteer opportunities available-a great way to contribute to the global community and also fosters personal growth.
• Council on International Educational Exchange
  CIEE's International Volunteer Projects enable you to work on short term, team oriented projects overseas. Choose from over 800 projects in 32 countries.
• Concern America
  Concern America is currently engaged in development projects in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guinea and Mozambique
• Habitat For Humanity
  The Global Village program is a series of short-term trips designed to provide an educational and spiritual experience within a cross-cultural environment.
• Health Volunteers Overseas 
  HVO volunteers train local health care providers, giving them the knowledge and skills to make a difference in their own communities.
• Operation Crossroads
  The Africa Program focuses on development projects in seven to twelve African countries each summer.

Career Opportunities in Africa

• Employment in Africa
  Listings of employment opportunities in Africa
• Africa Guide Listings to Work in Africa
  Work in Africa, whether it be Voluntary, IT, Hotel & Hospitality, Tourism, Game Wardens or Rangers, Conservation, Civil Engineering etc.
• Careers in Africa
  Global Career Company is the premier specialist in the recruitment of graduates and professionals into emerging markets world-wide. Our aim is simply to connect top international recruiters with highly educated, internationally oriented individuals.

Organizations which focus on International, Human Rights and/or Development Issues

• Center for Concern
  Through research, analysis, networking, public education and advocacy, the Center works to advance more just, sustainable and authentically human development for all, especially for the marginalized and those in poverty.
• Project Concern
  Project Concern International provides parents and our worldwide partners with with training, support and care crucial to protecting the well-being of children and families.    
• Pearson Peacekeeper Centre
  an internationally recognized peace operations training centre, which supports Canada's contribution to world peace and security
• Refugees International
  Refugees International generates lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for displaced people around the world, and works to end the conditions that create displacement.
• World Resources Institute
  WRI is an environmental research and policy organization that creates solutions to protect the planet and improve people’s lives
• Women, Law and Development International
  WLDI is a women's human rights organization.
• Center for Global Development
  The Center for Global Development is dedicated to reducing global poverty and inequality through policy-oriented research and active engagement on development issues with the policy community and the public.
• Global Exchange
  Global Exchange is an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice.
• International Development Exchange
  IDEX is a US-based organization working for economic justice among low income communities in eight countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America
• Advance Africa
  Advance Africa uses a holistic approach to strengthen family planning/reproductive health (FP/RH) services.
• Global Fund for Women
  The Global Fund for Women is a grant making foundation supporting women’s human rights organizations around the world.
• Human Rights Watch
  Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world
• Amnesty International
  Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights
• Care
  CARE seeks a world of hope, tolerance and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security
• CUSO
  CUSO works primarily with local, non-government groups overseas.
• Freedom From Hunger
  Freedom from Hunger brings innovative and sustainable self-help solutions to the fight against chronic hunger and poverty.
• International Rescue Committee
  The International Rescue Committee is among the world's largest non-profit, non-sectarian, voluntary agency providing assistance to refugees, displaced persons and others fleeing persecution and violent conflict.
• Interplast, Inc.
  Interplast is a 35-year-old nonprofit organization that provides free reconstructive plastic surgery for needy children and adults in developing countries.
• Hesperian Foundation 
  The Hesperian Foundation is a non-profit publisher of books and newsletters for community-based health care.
• Madre 
  MADRE is an international women’s human rights organization that works in partnership with women’s community-based groups in conflict areas worldwide.
• Oxfam
  Oxfam International is a confederation of 12 organizations working together in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty, suffering and injustice.
• Save The Children
  Their approach - working with families to define and solve the problems their children and communities face and utilizing a broad array of strategies to ensure self-sufficiency - is the cornerstone of all Save the Children's programs  
• Seva
  Seva is a donor-supported non-profit foundation building partnerships to respond to locally defined problems with culturally sustainable solutions throughout the world.
• World University Service of Canada
  We link governments, non-governmental organizations and institutions, and community-based organizations with Canadian expertise, services, and resources to strengthen capacity and develop local potential.
  

International Research and Policy Institutes

• International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
• The Brookings Institute
• Institute for Policy Studies
• Resources for the Future
• Center for Policy Alternatives
• Center for Strategic and International Studies
• Food First
  The Institute for Food and Development Policy better known as Food First--is a member-supported, nonprofit 'peoples' think tank and education-for-action center.  

Government Agencies working in International Policy

• USAID
• World Bank
• International Monetary Fund
• The Federal Reserve
• International Organization for Migration
• State Department- Foreign Service Exam
• United Nations   

Organizations Focusing on Development Work in Specific (non-African) Regions

• AmeriCorps
  AmeriCorps is a network of national service programs that engage more than 50,000 Americans each year in intensive service to meet critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment.


• Asia Foundation
  The Asia Foundation is a non-profit, non-governmentalorganization committed to the development of a peaceful, prosperous, and open Asia-Pacific region.
  
• Amigos de las Americas
  AMIGOS is a non-profit organization that provides exceptional leadership training and volunteer service opportunities in the United States and Latin America.

Religious Organizations' Development Work

• Bahai International Community
  From the point of view of social and economic development, the most interesting feature of Bahá'í community life is its unique consultative system.
• Catholic Relief Services
  Catholic Relief Services was founded in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and disadvantaged outside the country.
• American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
  The American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization, carries out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the world.
• Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
  The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) is a relief, development, and educational ministry supported by the Christian Reformed Church in North America.
• Christian Children’s Fund, Inc.
  Christian Children's Fund currently assists more than 4.6 million children and families in over 30 countries, including the United States, regardless of race, creed, nationality or gender.
• Frontier Internship In Mission 
  Founded in 1960, Frontier Internship in Mission ( FIM ) has organized new forms of mission and theological reflection and has established mutual partnerships between religious communities and community-based organizations that express a common commitment to justice and liberation.
• God’s Child Project 
  The GOD'S CHILD Community, are benefactors, friends, volunteers, and children joined together to assist God's poorest children in their educational, social, physical, and spiritual growth.
• Heifer Project International 
  Heifer animals (and training in their care) offer hungry families around the world a way to feed themselves and become self-reliant.
• Jesuit Volunteers International 
  Jesuit Volunteers serve the homeless, the unemployed, refugees, people with AIDS, the elderly, street youth, abused women and children, the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled.
  
• Mennonite Central Committee 
  Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is a relief, service, and peace agency of the North American Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches. MCC reflects the biblical call to care for the hungry and thirsty, the stranger, the sick and those in prison.
• Salvation Army
  Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.
• Tear Fund
  The purpose of Tearfund is to serve Jesus Christ by enabling those who share evanglical Christian beliefs to bring good news to the poor. 
• Unitarian Universalist Service Committee 
  Grounded in Unitarian Universalist principles that affirm the worth, dignity and human rights of every person, and the interdependence of all life, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee is a voluntary, nonsectarian organization working to advance justice throughout the world.
  

Sites with volunteer job listings and information regarding nonprofits

St. Vincent Pallotti Center 
Internet Nonprofit Center
Association of Voluntary Service Organisations
OpportunityKnocks.org
Job/Volunteer Links