Are you drawn to the rich culture and various landscapes of Europe? Are you also keen to volunteer for the diverse causes this continent has to offer? You’ll be happy to know that there is a wide variety of volunteer opportunities available ranging from Northern Ireland to the Mediterranean Sea and even Russia. While Europe might not be the first continent that comes to mind when you think of volunteering, your volunteering efforts are equally necessary here as anywhere else in the world. Whether it’s helping with preserving its unique wildlife or teaching English in Europe or other community service projects, your efforts are highly appreciated.

If this is the first time that you are considering becoming a volunteer abroad, we are here to help you. In what follows, we would like to introduce you to our top countries for volunteering in Europe. Find out what each of these destinations is all about and choose your perfect place to volunteer abroad!

Whether you are interested in teaching English in Europe, devoting your time to marine conservation, contributing to local communities or working on a horse sanctuary, the possibilities are almost endless. We will give you more insight into what kind of volunteer opportunities you can find in Europe. Find out which volunteer projects are taking center stage in your European country of choice.

Once you are confident that you have found your desired European country for volunteering, we encourage you to check out the respective country page where we provide you with more detailed information. For now, let's learn a little more about volunteer opportunities in Europe.

According to Business Insider, Europe is facing some serious challenges. By engaging yourself in one of the European volunteer opportunities, you may be able to provide some relief in the following areas:

• inflation and rise in cost of living
• gender inequality in political and economic life
• immigration and integration issues
• climate change
• deterioration of the environment

There are many ways for volunteers to help with some of these problems abroad, and the most hands-on and active way is to volunteer abroad in Europe for one of the many projects on site. Whether you are passionate about women empowerment in Ireland, care for injured horses at a horse sanctuary in Spain or are eager to contribute to marine conservation in Greece or Italy, one of the volunteer programs in Europe will give you the chance to do exactly that.

Continue reading to find out how to volunteer in Europe, what kind of volunteer abroad programs are available and what you will be doing when you decide to volunteer abroad.

Animal and wildlife conservation

Although you might not think of Europe as the most diverse destination with regards to wildlife, there are quite a number of opportunities to work with animals and contribute to the conservation of precious wildlife. From horses in Spain to the conservation of wolves in Portugal and saving bears in Finland, the life on land portrays a variety of amazing animals. But not only does Europe convince animal lovers with its diversity on land - its oceans are filled with wonderful marine life such as dolphins, whales and sea turtles that can be admired on the islands of the Mediterranean.

One of the main problems Europe is facing when it comes to its animals and wildlife is its exploitation for economic purposes. This includes, for example, whaling, poaching of bears and mistreatment of horses. Additional threats are:

• illegal poaching
• wildlife trade
• shrinking habitats
• environmental pollution

The combination of all these threats has led to declining numbers of many animals, even to the point of near extinction. As a wildlife conservation volunteer abroad, you can support efforts to prevent this decline and rehabilitate native European species.

Support community services

If you want to immerse yourself in European culture and get in touch with the locals during your volunteer work abroad, a community program is a perfect opportunity. Community work calls for open, outgoing and empathetic volunteers that aren’t afraid of getting involved and can face realities.

Depending on what your skills and qualifications are, there are many different ways to help in a community development program abroad, no matter if you see yourself volunteering for projects in Italy, Portugal or Albania. Some of them are:

• taking care of young children
• taking care of people with special needs
• supporting women empowerment and human rights efforts
• working with street children
• renovating and building community facilities, houses, and schools

Before you decide to volunteer abroad with children or people with special needs, make sure you are prepared for your task and understand what you can expect from the project.

It’s possible that some of the children you will be working with on the programs may have experienced a difficult past and are traumatized in a certain way. For this reason, it is important that volunteers have appropriate skills. If not, you could be putting yourself and the people you work with at risk. Therefore, it is beneficial that volunteers have the following qualifications when they decide to volunteer with children:

• experience in working with traumatized clients
• training as a child caretaker
• training for people with special needs
• training as a psychologist
• training as a social worker

It’s not always necessary to have these qualifications but volunteers should inform themselves regarding the content and expectations of the program.

Teaching English in Europe

Shortage of staff and geographical difficulties make it difficult for many students, especially in rural areas, to receive the education they deserve. As a teaching volunteer in Europe, you can support the staff in local school programs and support the progress of the children in the classroom by providing extra help and attention. You can also contribute by volunteering for afterschool programs where you help teaching kids certain skills. Depending on the volunteer program you choose, there is a great variety of tasks you can do:

• helping out at a daycare center for children with special needs
• assisting disabled children
• supporting local teachers and staff
• teaching school subjects
• teaching English
• providing shelter and education for orphanages
• teaching sports or other after school activities

Biodiversity and its conservation

As a volunteer in Europe, you can join environmental programs to make a real difference in the effort to preserve the unique environment. Environmental programs abroad are focused on agriculture, conservation work, and marine conservation. All of these conservation programs are spread across the continent, so you will have several options to choose from. Depending on the projects you will join, typical volunteer work might include:

• Habitat restoration
• Biodiversity monitoring: land, sea, and coast
• Clearing trash from the sea
• Recycling trash
• Archaeological preservation
• Diving and snorkeling
• Sustainable farming
• Wildlife monitoring and research
• Wilderness conservation
• Mapping within Geo-information tool
• Educating environmental awareness

Volunteers who are concerned about the environment and maintaining Europe’s unique biodiversity have several projects which they can contribute toward.

The suggested daily budget for living as a volunteer in Europe is between US$ 70 and US$ 230. This is an estimate made considering the average price of some of the services you may 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 for one of the volunteering programs. The cost of living can vary greatly within Europe. Eastern Europe is much cheaper compared to Western Europe for example which is important to keep in mind when selecting projects. It is advisable that you look into the cost of living for the respective country.

Additional costs you should consider as a volunteer in Europe:

• program fees
• flight tickets (find cheap flights to Europe)
• travel insurance (we recommend World Nomads)
• fees for your visa
• personal expenses

Before starting your volunteer work abroad, it’s important to think about the cultural norms you’ll need to adjust to. In addition, learn about the precautions you might need to take when volunteering abroad. The following list can help you with that:

Safety & precautions

Before you leave on your volunteer trip, make sure to read up on the safety advice your government gives for tourists in the specific country you are planning on visiting. Most European countries are pretty safe, however, it is important to use common sense at all times and be aware of the current political situation.

Here are some universal tips you might want to follow during your volunteer work in Europe:

• Keep your personal belongings and important travel documents with you at all times! It also makes sense to bring attested photocopies of these documents, in case you lose them!
• If you are going out, do not take a lot of money, jewelry or other fancy possessions with you. Take only the money you will need and leave everything else back home!
• In the unfortunate case of you being robbed, do not resist the robbery!
• Be careful when withdrawing money from a bank or at an ATM!
• Do NOT ever buy, take or sell any kind of drugs

Health advice

It is annoying to get sick when traveling abroad and although it’s not so common for travelers in Europe to fall ill, there are some basic precautions you can take to avoid it at all costs:

• Drink tap water only in countries where you know it is safe to do so. Most countries in Europe have drinkable tap water.
• Wash all your fruits and vegetables thoroughly.
• 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

Packing essentials

It's nice to have an idea of what to expect from a foreign country. It's even nicer to know which packing essentials should definitely land in your backpack! This makes life a whole lot easier when it comes to preparing for your time as a volunteer for one of the programs in Europe. It is always a good idea to ask your project coordinator what volunteers should bring for the specific programs as well.

• Apart from the essential travel documents, like passport, travel medical insurance information, and visa, you should also keep photocopies or scanned copies of these.
• Always carry sunscreen with you in the summer.
• Keep enough cash with you! You might want to consider getting a money belt.
• Carry luggage with you that will aid, not complicate your trip, like daypacks or backpacks; as well as lightweight bags.
• Pack appropriate clothing and shoes! This means clothes that are suitable for a variety of climates, as temperatures can vary greatly on a daily basis in Europe. Especially, when working in the forests, long clothing protects you from bug bites.
• Don't forget to bring locks for hostel lockers and also for your luggage!

As you will have noticed by now, there are many different projects that expect different skills and abilities from their volunteers. While you can find out the specific requirements for each project on their program page, here are some general requirements that apply to most volunteer opportunities in Europe:

• You need to be at least 18 years old for most of the volunteer projects in Europe. When in doubt, we advise you to get in contact with the local project manager, as in some projects you can also volunteer when you're 16 years old.
• You need to have basic English skills to join a volunteer project in Europe. Please note that some teaching projects might ask for more advanced skills though.
• Depending on the project you're interested in, you might need to provide a criminal background check and a health declaration before volunteering.

So you’re ready to volunteer in Europe but you’re not quite sure how to get started? Take a look at the following 3 steps that will prepare you for your volunteer projects and an unforgettable adventure abroad:

• Check whether there’s a match between you and the project by looking at their requirements.
• Take a look at the location of the project and decide whether it would be a location you are excited about.
• Get in touch with the organization and see whether your expectations and your schedules matched up.

• Once this is sorted. Let’s take a look at the practical steps:

Insurance (Health & travel)

We recommend getting both health and travel insurance to all our volunteers. In fact, this is even a requirement for most programs abroad. Get in touch with your program contact person to find out if an insurance plan is already in place for volunteers.

Visa, passport, and documentation

Look into the visa requirements for the country you will volunteer in. Make sure you have a valid passport considering the requirement of the host country. and prepare the correct documents to fulfill the visa application.

And that’s it! You’re ready to volunteer in Europe and fall in love with nature and the people and the rich culture this unique part of the world has to offer. You have a choice of over 60 different volunteer projects that are waiting for volunteers to help lessen the workload.