Volunteer work in Zambia

Volunteer work in Zambia

You can decide in advance if you would like to do volunteer work in Zambia in the field of health, education, or sports. You will be working in one of these fields in the mornings, and will spend your afternoons volunteering in other various projects.

Health care (mornings)
Age: 18+

Healthcare in Zambia suffers from a lack of funding, general staff, and medical professionals. In the field of healthcare, you will volunteer in the mornings in a nursing home for elderly people, or you will make home visits to support caregivers, health promoters, or the loved ones of people with illnesses. For example, you will help with:

• Health education campaigns,
• The dissemination of vaccinations, and
• Supporting the local population in nutrition, hygiene, etc.

You may also volunteer in hospitals or clinics. Here you will help out with:

• Clinics for children and counselling stations,
• HIV/AIDS awareness efforts.

Whoever can prove that they have completed training in the field of medicine may be able to take on assignments with a higher level of responsibility during their volunteer work in Zambia.

Education (mornings)
Age: 18+

Zambia’s educational facilities have a serious shortage of teachers and classrooms. It is not unusual for schools with far more than 1000 pupils to have fewer than 20 classrooms at their disposal, meaning that the children are taught in “shifts” and forced into very large classes. Your volunteer work in Zambia will be highly valued in the following areas:

• Teaching
• Helping children with learning difficulties
• Organising games
• Helping with correction work
• Giving out food in the school
• Repairing and rebuilding school buildings

Upon request, you can teach a class independently during your volunteer work in Zambia. During school holidays, volunteers work in holiday clubs. Here, you will review missed class material with the children and prepare free time activities for them.

Sport (mornings)
Age: 18-40

There is very little money available in Zambia for sports or sport teachers. Yet many Zambian children are very talented and enthusiastic about learning a sport. Through your volunteer work in Zambia, you can give these children a chance to develop athletic skills, especially in football. You will help in schools and townships, training children in sport and organising games and team building exercises. If you are interested in other sports, you can work as a general coach as you volunteer in Zambia and teach sports including:

• Basketball
• Netball
• Track and field
• Yoga
• Taekwando

Also in the field of sport, you can do volunteer work during school holidays in holiday clubs, where you help to coach local team sports.

Further tasks (afternoons)
Age: 18+

Your volunteer work in community projects such as helping to teach, play with and supervise children will be greatly appreciated. You will have the chance to help:

• Teach children how to write or read
• Organise sports and other activities.
• Prepare teaching materials or posters for campaigns in the art club
• Help adults prepare for better jobs by instructing them in English reading and writing.

You can also help out building new classrooms for local schools:

• Build and paint walls
• Lay flooring
• Mix cement

The work can be strenuous, but in the end you will really see what you have accomplished.

Since Zambia has the highest HIV infection rate in southern Africa, your help in HIV prevention workshops will be greatly valued. You will also have the chance to teach people about first aid and health precautions. 

On top of this, you can do volunteer work in Zambia, supporting the local population in agricultural work, watering, planting, pulling weeds, and harvesting, as well as teaching local people about nutrition and healthy living.

Not only will you give your personal commitment during your volunteer work in Zambia, your participation in the programme will also contribute to the development of the area. Part of the programme fee will be donated to the projects in the form of needed supplies.