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Volunteering is a great way to gain an invaluable experience abroad, or to add an additional activity to one’s day to day schedule. Not only is volunteering beneficial to learning a language and donating time and service to the community, but it also allows one to network, gain professional experience and broaden personal horizons.

A volunteer works as an unpaid assistant and often serves charitable ends. Many voluntary work opportunities in Rome are found through the Roman Catholic Church, as well innumerable organizations.

The European Voluntary Service (EVS)

The European Voluntary Service (EVS) is a European Union programme, set up by the European Commission in early 1996. It offers young people (between 18 and 25) the opportunity to work as a volunteer for six to twelve months in a non-profit project abroad. There are three key partners of an EVS project: the volunteer, the sending organization and the host organization.

The European Commission take in charge the travel costs for the young, the insurance (health, accident, public liability) and provides a monthly allowance from 140 to 220 euros.

How to proceed: Find a sending organization that will assist you individually along the procedure (you can find contacts through you National Agency, your National Coordinator or international volunteer organisations). Start contacting potential host organisations through your sending organisation. Keep your fingers crossed and persevere in your search as the difficulty is not to find a suitable project, but to find a project ready to host you within the time limit you have planned.

You can have a look at the European database on accredited host organisations and the Youth organisations.

More information is available on the website: www.britishcouncil.org

Volunteering in Italy

Links for voluntary work in Italy and Rome:

• VolunteerAbroad.com : Provides information for volunteer programs including archaeological excavation projects in Rome.
• ArcheoClubItalia.it : Search locally for organized archaeological digs throughout Italy.
• Focsiv.org : Italian organization that specializes in international and domestic volunteer opportunities.
• TransitionsAbroad.com : Offers short and long term volunteer opportunities in Italy. Many opportunities in Rome, the Lazio region and Abruzzo region, including work in National Parks.
• ParcoAbruzzo.it : National Park volunteer opportunities in the regions of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise.
• WorldwideVolunteering.org.uk : A search database with nearly 1000 voluntary organisations, in 214 countries worldwide.
• SantEgidio.org : The Rome based Sant'Egidio, a "Church public lay association," offers many opportunities to engage in what it calls “Solidarity with the poor.” The association welcomes volunteers to aid in serving the underprivileged locally, as well as globally.

You will find more information on summer jobs, holiday jobs or internship abroad in our other articles on the left column of this page. You will find also details on visa and health insurance in those sections.

NGOs

Nongovernmental organizations in Italy:

• UN.org : Access a worldwide directory of NGOs offered by the United Nations official website. Search by region, country and/or NGO activity. Includes full list of registered NGOs in Italy.
• Wango.org : Access a searchable database of worldwide NGOs, including those in Italy. Refer to the NGO Resources section of the website.

Insurance

Subscribing to a travel insurance is very important no matter the destination, or time of stay. Insurance is especially crucial when traveling to 'exotic' countries where the chances of falling sick are relatively higher. Below are some companies that offer travel insurance. You can browse the internet for more options.

• Travelex
• WorldNomads.com
• WorldwideInsure.com

Take care to make sure that you have a current passport and valid visa as necessary