Project Trust

Project Trust is an educational charity based on the Hebridean Isle of Coll in the UK. Since 1967 Project Trust has been sending volunteers to Africa, Asia and the Americas for a wide variety of long-term volunteering projects including teaching, social care work, outward-bound instructing and journalism. All of Project Trust’s volunteers are 17- to 19-year-old school leavers, with around 300 volunteers from across the UK and mainland Europe going overseas annually. The projects that volunteers are sent to are carefully selected and vetted to ensure the volunteers’ existing skills can be put to good use in their host communities and do not take work from local people.

History

Project Trust was started in 1967 when Nicholas Maclean-Bristol OBE sent three volunteers to a school in Ethiopia. Project Trust proceeded to grow both in terms of the amount of volunteers sent abroad, and the array of destinations they were sent to. For the 2014/15 academic year Project Trust arranged placements for 278 volunteers in 22 countries.

Volunteering

Project Trust is the only volunteering organisation that specialises in sending schools leavers overseas for a full 12 months (with a small proportion of volunteers working overseas on eight month placements). The key reasons cited by Project Trust for this decision are that a year-long project provides:

Community involvement - 12 or eight months gives volunteers time become integrated into a community and learn in-depth about a new culture. Being in their role long-term allows volunteers to work and improve in their volunteering role for an extended period of time, delivering a real benefit to the community they’re working in.
Time to experience as much as possible - Throughout their 12 or eight months overseas, volunteers live through the changes that occur in a country;every season, every festival and every holiday. Volunteers are also provided with at least six weeks paid holiday during which they can travel across the continent in which they have been placed.
Language opportunities - A year overseas allows volunteers time to learn a new language, or become fluent in one that they learned at school, such as French or Spanish.

Countries

In 2014/15 Project Trust sent volunteers to the following countries:

Africa

Botswana
Ghana
Malawi
Namibia
Senegal
South Africa
Swaziland
Zambia

Asia

Cambodia
China
Hong Kong
India
Japan
Malaysia
Nepal
Sri Lanka
Thailand

Americas

Chile
Dominican Republic
Guyana
Honduras
Peru

Process

Selection

Prior to being placed on a project overseas, all volunteers attend a Project Trust Selection course to identify the strengths and abilities candidates have to offer. The Selection course runs over four days on the Isle of Coll and has three main functions:

For Project Trust to get to know the applicants/volunteers
For the applicants/volunteers to get to know Project Trust and the placements available overseas
For the applicants/volunteers to get to know more about themselves

During the course, volunteers stay with local host families on the island and spend the days carrying out a number of activities at Project Trust’s Hebridean Centre, as well as undertaking voluntary activities on the island. The activities are designed to allow applicants to demonstrate a range of different skills and abilities. Of the applicants who attend the selection course, an average of 80-85 percent are matched to a placement overseas based on their skills, interests and experiences.

Fundraising

Each volunteer fundraises to cover the majority of the cost of their volunteering placement. The money raised covers:

Flights: Return flights from the UK (usually London) to the overseas project country.
Insurance: Comprehensive medical insurance while overseas.
Support: In addition the volunteer’s host, there is an in-country Representative and a UK based Desk Officer.
Selection: Four day residential Selection Course on Coll (£150 deposit).
Training: Four day residential Training Course on Coll.
Debriefing: Two day residential Debriefing Course on Coll.
Overseas Accommodation.
Pocket money/living wage: Volunteers receive an allowance comparable to a local wage to live on.

Project Trust’s Volunteer Fundraising Support Team help volunteers reach their target amount. They provide a fundraising advice pack, are available to provide volunteers with fundraising advice throughout the time leading up to their placement overseas, and hold fundraising meetings across the UK and the Netherlands for volunteers and their parents.

Training

The Project Trust Training Course is a five-day residential course held on the Isle of Coll before volunteers go overseas. The purpose of the Training Course is to ensure volunteers are best-placed to develop their skills, make the most of their time overseas, deliver a beneficial educational impact in their host community, integrate into their host community/country and remain safe whilst living and working overseas. The volunteers are given training in whatever service it is that they will be providing from qualified staff at Project Trust, whether it is in teaching, social care or outward bound. Training is an opportunity for volunteering partners to get to know one another, as they will be accompanying one another whilst overseas. Volunteers will also have a chance to get to know the other volunteers in their country group and the staff that will be supporting them during their time overseas.

Debriefing

Debriefing is a two-day residential course on the Isle of Coll that takes place a few weeks after the volunteers have returned from their year abroad. The course is an opportunity for volunteers to process the experiences they’ve had, plan how to continue their personal development and settle back into life in Europe. Volunteers get the chance to provide Project Trust with feedback on the charity’s performance, and on their individual projects. Debriefing gives the volunteers and Project Trust an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the volunteers’ achievements.

Media Coverage

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