Business Administration & Training Assistant

As a volunteer on the Working with NGOs project, you will play an important role in assisting NGOs in Kenya who generally have limited financial resources and often struggle to run their projects and raise funds from international donors.

This project is well suited to hard-working individuals who are interested in sharing their relevant experience with NGOs in the fields of community development, human rights, health and HIV/AIDS awareness, gender issues, environmental issues, and education.

Your volunteer work may include writing proposals for fundraising, preparing case studies and reports, teaching English to staff, organizational development, administration, research and providing IT assistance. You can expect to work between 3 and 8 hours per day and your tasks will depend on your individual skills and interests, as well as your program duration. If you stay longer than 2 months, you will have the chance to work more independently and gain deeper involvement within the NGO, and may have the opportunity to participate in field-based research.

The Working with NGOs project in Kenya is open to volunteers over the age of 18 years-old with relevant experience in the field they wish to work in.

Please note that you will be assigned to the NGO that has the most need for assistance and is the most suitable match based on your educational background, experience and interests. This project has a minimum duration requirement of 5 weeks and you will need to bring your own laptop.

First Day: On your first day of volunteering, you will be escorted to your placement by a local coordinator and introduced to the placement staff you will be working with.

Weekdays: A typical volunteer day would is as follows:

7.00 AM Breakfast in the volunteer house or with your host family.

7.45 AM Volunteer leaves home and travels to the project. The volunteer joins with the local staff and will be given a duty roster and plan for work. Work and hours is dependent on the project and location that the volunteer is participating in.

12.00 PM - 2.00 PM Lunch break. In Kenya all workplaces have a lunch break for about 2 hours. Some start earlier, some later. During this lunch break you are welcome to stay with the children at your Childcare placement or in the office at Teaching/NGO placements and some placements will offer you food.

2.00 PM - 5.00 PM Work at the project usually ends. The volunteer at this point is free to travel home, sightseeting or do shopping.

7.00 PM Dinner in the volunteer house or with the host family.

During the weekends, volunteers have free time to relax or take the opportunity to explore Nairobi, wider Kenya and Eastern Africa. Long weekends can be taken to travel further afield (i.e. Mombasa, Uganda or Tanzania), or to embark on a safari. Sunday is a religious day of rest. If you wish, you can accompany your host family to their local church, as a Kenyan church service is a unique and special experience for many volunteers.