Construction and Manual Work Volunteer Program Nepal

VIN's construction and manual work volunteer program mainly aims towards building basic infrastructure for the people in rural areas of Nepal. A majority of the homes that VIN works with do not have proper toilets and the communities at large do not have access to facilities such as libraries or classrooms. VIN looks to provide them with these basic facilities.

You as a volunteer may participate in this program. You will be placed with a Nepali host family, and your role will be to collaborate with the skilled constructors appointed by VIN, along with the local people. You will mainly be doing unskilled labor such as digging, mixing and carrying of various materials. You will be another helping hand in the construction of hundreds of toilets, soak pits, libraries, compound walls and classrooms. After building them, you may conduct regular checks of the structures, such as the toilets, to ensure their maintenance and cleanliness, as well as give the villagers sessions on the importance of sanitation and its relation to one's quality of life and general health. The construction and manual work volunteer program is one that will challenge your strength spiritually and physically.

PROGRAM AT A GLANCE: Project: Construction and Renovation

Program: Construction and manual work

Start Dates: 1st and 15th of each month

Language Requirements: English (Basic Nepali is provided)

Food and Accommodation: Nepali standard at host family in the working community

Key Activities: Manually helping locals with the construction and renovation of sites and sharing your labor skills (if any)

Beneficiaries: Schools, local communities, women and children

Working Hours: 3 to 5 hours a day / 5 to 6 days a week

Required Qualifications and Skills: Keen to help local disadvantaged people, flexible

Our construction and manual work volunteer project is designed for mutual benefits. Benefit to the disadvantaged communities and benefit to the local & overseas volunteers who would like to contribute to the sustainable development of Nepal. Majority of the schools in Nepal lack basic infrastructure such as toilets, drinking water, classrooms, playgrounds, libraries, laboratories and teaching resources.

Most of the population lives in rural areas where there are next to no phones, roads, clean water, or schools. Where government schools exist in the countryside, they are underfunded, very basic, and sometimes even unsafe. Often these schools have no blackboards and are characterized by little furniture. Supplementary materials such as libraries, children's books, and computer labs are rare.

Consequently, children in Nepal are facing many problems and often find it difficult to continue their studies. Many children leave school due to the lack of a congenial study environment. VIN has been trying its best to provide basic support to those schools in its working communities in collaboration with overseas volunteers and community people who are ready to help construct basic infrastructure and other urgently needed facilities through volunteer abroad projects. Watch a video made by one of our volunteers here VIN not only appeals to interested individuals, students, tourists, professionals, organizations, and other groups for the support of funds and materials, but also appeals to them to get involved with the construction program set up. This program offers the volunteers a hands-on, authentic experience of the real Nepal, while simultaneously allowing the volunteer to tour various, culturally rich regions of the country. Volunteering can be extremely rewarding to a person, in that they feel they are doing something for the less fortunate. The gratitude volunteers receive from the community people they help is immense.

When the volunteers first arrive in Nepal, they are given the chance to sight-see and take part in some light trekking for a days, to see some breathtaking views at the top of mountains. After the volunteers return to Kathmandu, they will once again set out, but this time for the schools or health posts in rural areas to construct much needed physical structures such as toilets, libraries, classrooms, compound walls, water supplies, gardens and playgrounds. Once placed, the groups will work in those rural areas for one or more weeks, working in a team effort with the local people to build towards sustainable, practical systems. This time spent in the village, will make the volunteer more than just a tourist, in the eyes of the locals, as well as in their own perspective. It is not uncommon for a volunteer at this time, to feel an innate transformation; to go from being someone who was an outsider, to someone who has taken on a whole new set of values and adopted the rural area's setbacks as their own. These mixed feelings are what we call, the seed of change. Volunteers do not need to have any skills or particular knowledge about construction, as they will mainly be doing unskilled work such as digging, mixing sand and cement, carrying rocks, sand and bricks, fetching water, and painting the school buildings. They will be led by skilled Nepalis and will be working together with local community people who will be providing free labor for the betterment of their communities.

Volunteers who wish to stay for a longer period of time in the villages may participate in our other volunteer programs- e.g. teaching in schools, community education and environmental awareness programs, working in orphanages. If a sufficient amount of volunteers participate at any given time, VIN can better organize suitable Nepali skilled laborers and make the optimal use of those laborers in accordance with the work hours put in by the volunteers.

The work includes the construction of smokeless stoves, toilets, soak pits, and other facilities that can improve the basic standard of living. VIN will arrange for volunteering sites, skilled manpower, food, accommodation, logistical support and training, etc. Volunteers will live and eat with Nepali families, where they will have an opportunity to observe and enjoy the aspects of Nepali lifestyle and the culture in general.

Over 80% of the homes in the rural area that VIN has been working in, lack fundamental sanitary conditions, as well as the subsistence of proper toilets and countless other structures. So if you are on vacation, or have a break from your work at the moment, please do consider joining us in this movement that is sure to gain even greater momentum with each added helping hand.

Program Availibility:

Available