Hello Everyone,
I am getting very close to my departure to Brazil. I thought I would give you a quick look at the organization I am working with. Enjoy!
International Volunteer HQ (IVHQ) was formed in early 2007, with the aim of making volunteer travel possible for everybody through affordable, safe, high quality projects in developing countries. In 2005 and 2006 after finishing his Master of Business in finance and sustainable logistics, the Executive Director – Daniel Radcliffe volunteered abroad. Naively, he was initially surprised to find there were no opportunities to volunteer abroad for ‘free’, unless he wanted to commit himself to 12 months in a service like the Peace Corps. However, after thinking about it (putting his logistics degree to good use ), he came to the conclusion, that this made sense, because if a community was really in NEED, then where would the money come from to pay for these volunteers’ food, accommodation and supervision. Despite this, he was still surprised at the cost of volunteering and the lack of any real affordable volunteering organizations.
On returning home to New Zealand in late 2006, IVHQ was born with the goal of providing safe, affordable and high quality placements in areas where there is a real NEED for volunteers. IVHQ provides affordable placements by partnering with organizations based in the country where volunteers wish to work. This is extremely effective for a number of reasons.
Local organizations are in the best position to see where volunteers are really needed. The staff in these organizations are locals, have been raised in the area and know it inside and out. They can speak the local language, they know the local people and are in the best position to provide guidance, safe supervision and support to you the volunteer.
Partnering with local organizations reduces costs making the projects more affordable for you the volunteer. This means more people are able to volunteer resulting in higher volunteer numbers meaning more is achieved.
The entire project fee that you pay goes to our partner organization. While this fee is necessary to pay for your accommodation, meals, airport pick up and orientation among other things, it is better that it goes into the community and helps develop the area you will be working rather than getting stuck in a western country.
In a sense International Volunteer HQ (IVHQ) plays a link role between you the volunteer and the countries and organizations in these countries that require volunteers. An organization such as ours gets emails everyday from organizations around the world requesting partnerships, yet one of the strengths of IVHQ is our selection process. It is a sad fact that there are many volunteer programs with sub-standard accommodation and services even though they charge a small fortune to volunteers to allow them to ‘help’. Every program that IVHQ offers has been personally inspected and selected by a director from our organization. We have been there and done that, long before you so we know exactly what you will experience.
Despite our relatively young age, IVHQ is experiencing unprecedented success signing up a large number of volunteers every week. This has meant the need for expansion and IVHQ is currently in the process of opening new programs in other developing countries. In the weeks and months leading up to your volunteer stint you will no doubt experience a myriad of emotions.
If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask :)
