Volunteer abroad in Colombia
Why volunteer in Colombia? There are many reasons to choose this country for your volunteer travel. Colombia is a lively and colorful place with a huge biodiversity. This Spanish-speaking country is a paradise for nature enthusiasts with its beautiful coasts and tropical rainforests. There are also the fascinating cities like Bogotá or Cartagena that you can visit. At the same time, Colombia faces problems in various fields and needs the help of volunteers for further development. Volunteering is the perfect way to offer your help. You can also learn some Spanish while you experience this interesting country.
Colombia's tumultuous past has created poverty, a lack of educational opportunities, epidemics, and unemployment. This plays a major role in defining the kind of volunteering opportunities available. If you are ready to turn off Narcos and go experience the real Colombia then read on to learn how you can make a lasting impact by supporting local projects on-site.
Where help is needed most
There are many different possibilities for volunteering in Colombia so no matter where your interest lies, there will be a project that matches it. This can be either working with children in daycare centers, helping at an organic farm or supporting local sugarcane farmers. You want to learn more about the different projects and volunteer tasks? Then keep on reading.
Teaching in Colombia
Volunteering at a Colombian school is a great way to combine traveling and learning for your own career. Poor infrastructure and flooding can often prevent young people from going to school for many months at a time. As a volunteer teacher in Colombia, you'll give children who don't have access to education a chance to learn.
Volunteers who help in this field provide maybe the greatest impact on those who need it most. Quality education is the key to the positive development of a community.
As a volunteer in education, you might teach local children a variety of school subjects such as
- maths
- english
- spelling
- reading and writing
- games and sports
The younger children do not speak English, so it will be necessary for you to communicate with them in Spanish.
Another project you can participate in is a project supporting Youth Centers which offer after-school support and activities for children to provide them a safe place to stay and learn.
Support local agriculture
While Colombia is a country rich in natural resources and picturesque beauty, it also has a variety of environmental issues to deal with. Volunteering in Colombia at an environmental conservation project will give you as a volunteer the opportunity to contribute to agriculture and ecotourism development.
Especially volunteers who want to experience the life of an eco-village should consider joining a project in Colombia. You can engage in sustainable activities at an organic farm or help coffee and sugar cane farmers to harvest their products and keep farming alive in the communities.
Colombia is the third biggest producer of coffee in the world, but for small farmers, the market is very hard. When they face problems like heavy rains, coffee tree diseases and changes in the world prices of coffee, it often ruins them. By volunteering on a farm in Colombia, you'll help the small farms to keep the production alive. As a volunteer, your ideas and research will also help to increase the production. You'll work with the community to educate people about farming and learn from them as well. There are also some farmers that have started eco-farming and practice a new approach to agriculture. They are more than happy about help from volunteers. While volunteers will do hard work in these projects, the experience is one of a kind.
While you work at an environmental project you can engage in many activities such as:
- cleaning of the land
- planting and crop growing
- harvesting the sugarcane
- transporting crops with mules
- organic gardening
- environmentally friendly construction/ design projects
Depending on the project you might also be able to assist in a vegetarian restaurant-kitchen, or working with art and educational programs for the children living in and around the community. No matter what your project offers, you will be able to make a lasting contribution to the local community.
Cost of living
The suggested daily budget for living as a volunteer in Colombia is between US$23 and US$31. This is an estimate made considering the average price of some of the services you might need and things you might want to buy. It gives you a general overview of how much things cost in this country, so you can be prepared and save the money you will need.
Additional costs you should consider will be:
- program fees
- flight tickets (
find cheap flights to Colombia ) - travel insurance (we recommend
World Nomads ) - fees for your visa
- personal expenses
An exemplary overview of living costs in Colombia (in US$, for one person) is:
Know before you go
When you travel to a different country for voluntary work it is important to familiarise yourself with its culture and social characteristics. This helps you to settle in quickly and avoid misunderstandings. These are some tips that you might find helpful when preparing for your volunteer work in Colombia.
Safety & precautions
Colombia is not as bad as it once was, but you need to use common sense and caution to stay safe. In February 2010, the French government declared parts of Colombia to be "safe": adding Santa Marta, Barranquilla, Bogotá, Tunja, Bucaramanga, as well as the Zona Cafetero departments of Quindio, Risaralda, Caldas to Cartagena and San Andres as destinations approved for travel. Nevertheless, you should keep the following safety guidelines in mind at all times during your volunteer journey in Colombia:
- Try to keep a low profile.
- Limit the amount of cash you carry and leave valuables, such as passports, jewelry, and airline tickets in a hotel safe or another secure place.
- Don't flash your money or valuables.
- Don't use illegal taxis.
- Lock the doors of the car, and keep at least half a tank of fuel at all times.
- Watch out for drink spiking at bars and clubs.
Culture & religion
Colombia is a country situated in the northwest corner of the South American continent. It has a land border in the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and in the south with Ecuador and Peru. The territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples. These indigenous cultures included the Muisca, Quimbaya, and Tairona.
The Spanish-and the Roman Catholic religion-arrived in Colombia in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization. In 1886 the Republic of Colombia was finally declared. The indigenous groups, as well as the Spanish colonization, have significantly influenced the religions in Colombia over the years. Because of this diverse and multicultural background, Colombia is ethnically diverse but religiously homogenous.
95% of the Colombian population considers themselves members of the Roman Catholic Church. They attach great importance to Catholic sacraments and their religion is an important aspect of everyday life. More than 85% of Catholics in urban parishes attend mass regularly. In the countryside, you might find Catholic practices and beliefs combined with indigenous, African, and sixteenth-century Spanish customs. People often pray to a patron saint and rural villages have a patron saint who is honored each year with a fiesta.
When traveling in Colombia you should be aware that the official language is Spanish. All Colombians speak it except some of the indigenous populations. In major cities, you will also be able to communicate in English but outside urban areas, Spanish is virtually the only medium of communication. In addition to Spanish, over 200 indigenous languages and dialects are spoken in Colombia.
Health advice
Going abroad always includes some issues and precautions that need to be taken into account, especially if you are traveling to a country with tropical temperatures and wilderness. The risks to health whilst traveling will vary between individuals and many depend on your activities, length of stay and general health.
- Eat and drink safely: Don't eat undercooked food, avoid eating street food and don't drink water from the tap!
- Also, wash your hands often, especially before eating.
- Plan for how you will get health care during your stay.
Get a travel insurance and bring medicine with you, especially if you need special medication. - Prevent bug bites: You might want to cover exposed skin, use an insect repellent, and use a bed net.
- Make sure you are up-to-date on routine vaccinations before every trip. These include MMR, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, chickenpox, polio, yellow fever and your yearly flu shot. Moreover,
the US-based Health protection agency CDC recommends hepatitis A and typhoid vaccinations because you can get these diseases through contaminated food or water in Colombia.
Requirements & qualifications
You might have noticed by now that there are many different projects that require different skills and abilities from their international volunteers. While you can find out the specific requirements for each project on their profiles on Volunteer World, here are some general requirements that apply to most projects in Colombia:
- You need to be at least 18 years old for most of the volunteer projects. When in doubt, we advise you get in contact with the local project manager, as in some projects you can also volunteer when you're 16 years old.
- You should have an intermediate level of English knowledge; most projects also require basic to intermediate Spanish knowledge.
- Depending on the project you're interested in, you might need to provide a criminal background check and a health declaration before volunteering.
Visa regulations to volunteer in Colombia
You have made it to the last section of this guide, which is another really important aspect while planning your trip: getting your volunteer visa for Colombia.
Please consider that the following information is based on a best practice approach, which has been made according to the best of our knowledge and in cooperation with several volunteer organizations. That's why you should please make sure to discuss your visa requirements with your contact person on Volunteer World. If in doubt, we also recommend getting in touch with the Embassy of Colombia or consulate in your country.
General immigration information
There are some general requirements you should comply upon your arrival:
- Please check the current validity of your passport. Your passport should have at least 6-month validity from the date of arrival in Colombia.
- Make sure your passport has at least two blank Visa pages. Colombia requires that you have adequate un-used pages in your passport, allowing for any necessary stamps upon arrival and departure.
- Please check if a transit visa is required for any connections.
- Make sure to be in possession of a valid return ticket.
Best practice for short-term volunteers
Colombia grants 90-day tourist visas to residents of 95 foreign countries without prior application. Among others residents of Canada, the US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand or the European Union,
you are able to work as a volunteer on a tourist visa for up to 90 days. If you're from a country other than those listed above, check with the
Best practice for long-term volunteers
If you are planning to volunteer in Colombia for more than 90 days, you have to apply for a volunteer visa (Special temporary visa of a cooperator or volunteer of a non-profit entity or non-governmental organization). Make sure to apply for this Visa before entering Colombia at your closest embassy or consulate of Columbia.
To start your application process, you need to prepare a few things in advance. Make sure to have these things ready:
- Filled out Entry Permit form
- 2 passport size photos
- Copy of passport
- Letter signed by the legal representative of the non-profit entity or non-government organization
- Certificate of existence and legal representation of the non-profit entity or non-government organization
For more information please check the Colombian Embassy website.