You can volunteer in Bolivia with one of the amazing organizations listed below.
Over 300 organizations send aid workers to Bolivia each year. This should give you a pretty clear idea of how important foreign aid workers are to this country.
The following is a list of organizations that have programs where you can volunteer in Bolivia.
If you volunteer with one of them, won’t you please share your
Most Touching Volunteer Moment
with us? And you don’t even have to travel to Bolivia to help out:
Volunteer and Non-Profit Organizations in Bolivia
SUSTAINABLE BOLIVIA is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization with its main offices in Cochabamba, Bolivia. With projects in the Andean highlands, our primary objective is to provide Bolivian organizations with much needed human and financial resources while providing international students and professionals the opportunity to gain practical work experience through internships and volunteer opportunities in Bolivia.
EMPOWERING WOMEN in the Mining Communities of Bolivia through education, information and training, is a project created to address one of the most important global challenges: poverty alleviation. Interweaving elements of her heritage and her University of St. Thomas (Houston, TX) education, Ximena Murillo developed this internationally, award-winning humanitarian project. Awarded by the Clinton Global Initiative, President Clinton says: ”This is a huge, huge deal... This is going to become a global issue..."
WWF BOLIVIA
the conservation organization, contributes to the conservation of the Amazon and the Pantanal, promotes and generates sustainable economic opportunities for its inhabitants and Bolivia in general. WWF works for a living planet and its mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. Although some WWF programs in other countries do take volunteers, WWF Bolivia is not taking volunteers at this time but there is much you can do to help. Click on our logo to find out more.
CREATIVE CORNERS The Global Arts Project
was founded by a wonderful woman who served as a volunteer in Bolivia, and is a not for profit volunteer organisation that specialises in creative projects for creative people. It matches people like you to projects where you are best suited and returns profits to communities that need them most. It has dozens of exciting & creative projects throughout South and Central America. 100% of profits are reinvested back to projects for disadvantaged, abused and abandoned children where we send volunteers to supply arts education materials. Volunteer in Bolivia and elsewhere with us!
WANIDES
means Washingtonians pro Niño Desvalido or Association of Washingtonians for Needy Bolivian Children. To date all funds raised by WANIDES have been directed to the Instituto Oncológico del Oriente Boliviano in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. This is the only public cancer hospital in the eastern region of Bolivia. Twenty percent of the patients at this hospital are children. Funds raised have been used to purchase a cardiac monitor, pay for medication and chemotherapy, provide occupational therapy for mothers, and purchase first aid kits for the Red Cross. Wanides is now raising funds to build a much needed burn unit at the Santa Cruz General Hospital.
COMUNIDAD INTI WARA YASSI
is a Bolivian Non-Governmental Organisation staffed by people who come from around the world to volunteer in Bolivia. It is Bolivia's only refuge for abused wild animals. In 1996, the organization founded a wildlife refuge in "Parque Machía", Villa Tunari. In 2002 Quest Overseas made it possible to purchase our own land on which to establish a new, much larger refuge between Trinidad and Santa Cruz, called Parque Ambue Ari. Animal numbers were growing beyond Machía's capacity, and having our own land offers us the security we need to plan longer into the future. We desperately need help with this enormous and exciting challenge.
September 2009 - Inti Wara Yassi's Machia Animal Refuge in Villa Tunari is being destroyed. Authorities have already begun to build a road through this National Heritage site! Destroying it is illegal. Read more.
CARE INTERNATIONAL IN BOLIVIA
has been contributing and responding to priorities in Bolivia for over 31 years, focusing its work on the search for hope, tolerance and justice to ensure poverty is overcome and people are able to live with dignity and security and exercise their rights. This is achieved year after year by serving the people and families in the poorest communities of the country thanks to work done jointly with other social actors in order to make the greatest impact it can on the lives of the Bolivian population.
SIMPLE WATER SOLUTIONS
(now called Agua:Yaku) is an Evangelical Free Church of Canada Mission (EFCCM) project based in Santa Cruz, Bolivia that teaches simple, inexpensive water well drilling techniques and other appropriate technologies that improve the health, welfare, and economic production of small farm families and communities in Bolivia. More than 40 percent of Bolivia’s population lacks access to proper sanitation, and 37 percent lacks drinkable water. In addition to wells, we can teach and facilitate the construction of water storage systems, wind mills, irrigation methods, appropriate agricultural techniques, etc. To donate or volunteer, contact us through our website.
TALITA CUMI CHILDREN'S HOME
began in 1999 under the name Fe y Esperanza (Faith and Hope). It's first location was a property seized by the Bolivian government from a drug trafficker and declared for use as a children's home until the man was released from prison. Through prayer, perseverance and hard work, along with the contributions from missionaries, their supporters, and frequent short-term missions teams, the home is now in a new location with a much brighter future. Donating and giving of your time are both effective and rewarding ways to help the children who call Talita Cumi their home.
HOSPITALS OF HOPE
is a Christian International Medical Mission organization that operates a modern hospital outside of Cochabamba, Bolivia. There are many opportunities for volunteers to work at the hospital, with everyone from medical students to doctors to general helpers able to get involved. Visit our website for more info.
VOLUNTEER BOLIVIA
located in Cochabamba, offers one of the best international volunteer programs in Latin America. Volunteer Bolivia will match your skills and interests to local needs in order to provide you with an unforgettable cross cultural experience.
MANO A MANO
Our mission is to create partnerships with impoverished Bolivian communities to improve health and increase economic well-being. Programs include Medical Supplies, Community Clinics, Sanitation and Education Infrastructure, Water Reservoirs, Roads, and Air Transport.
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS THAT SEND VOLUNTEERS TO BOLIVIA
Want to GIVE somewhere else?
Volunteer in Ecuador!
I lived in Ecuador for 4 years and am happy to recommend this organization that offers volunteer programs in ecological, conservation, social, educational, communitarian and health projects all around Ecuador.
Prison Fellowship International
PFI is a global association of over 100 national Prison Fellowship organizations, each of which is indigenous, volunteer-based and trans-denominational. There is a PFI Office in Bolivia, however I have only been in contact with PFI's international headquarters. You can click on this link to contact them, or see one of their YouTube videos about the prisons in Bolivia on my page about the mutiny caused by
illegal San Pedro prison tours in La Paz.