Recent Press Releases

• Brazil becomes the number one gap year destination for British professionals January 2012 Brazil has not only displaced Britain as the sixth biggest economy in the world but it has also become the most popular destination for professional Brits volunteering abroad. Read full release »

• Appeal for volunteers to dive in to help Thailand November 2011 While Thailand mops up after months of devastating flooding, groups of British volunteers are cleaning up the beaches and coral reefs and planting mangrove saplings along the south coast of the country, and more are needed to join this worthwhile conservation project. Thailand is just one of the 26 countries serviced by Projects Abroad – the world’s largest commercial volunteer organisation – but currently one of the most ‘needy’ in respect of conservation activities. Read full release »

• Thousands of UK youngsters are heading for the third world November 2011 High unemployment and lack of university places has driven young Britons to volunteer abroad. Many of the 220,000 young Britons who were unable to gain a place at university this year have decided to opt for taking philanthropic volunteering breaks in developing countries instead, according to the world’s largest commercial volunteer organisation, Projects Abroad. Read full release »

• What better time to visit the Ancient City of the Incas than on its 100 year anniversary? May 2011 The century anniversary of the discovery of the magnificent city of Machu Picchu in Peru will be celebrated this year on the 24th July. This date marks explorer Hiram Bingham’s heroic discovery of the ancient ruins and first bringing the site to the attention of the outside world. The area nowadays is available for all to visit, so anyone can discover the hidden secrets of the Incas and explore its wonderful surroundings. Read full release »

• 47% of Brits believe they are “too busy” to volunteer abroad March 2011 Straw poll discovers the main reason why some Brits are shying away from volunteering abroad A straw poll conducted by leading international volunteering company Projects Abroad, has found that the main barrier holding Brits back from volunteering abroad is the required investment in time. Almost half of the Brits polled (47 per cent) say they wouldn’t volunteer abroad as they don’t believe they have enough spare time. Read full release »

• Christ Church University opens inspirational ‘Peru’ photographic exhibition to the public January 2011 Broadstairs Campus’ University Hall hosts South American themed exhibition. Keen photographer Angela Pitt is currently exhibiting the photographs from her travels in Peru at the Broadstairs Campus of Christ Church University. Following a month-long project with volunteering organisation Projects Abroad, in Taricaya Peru in June 2010, Angela decided to show her fascinating photographs to the public with the hope of inspiring others to follow in her footsteps. Read full release »

• Projects Abroad wins award for ‘Community Project of the Year’ at the Digital Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2010 December 2010 Water sanitation project in Tanzania is recognised as ‘best community project’. Projects Abroad, the global leader in short-term overseas volunteer work placements, won the award for Community Project of the Year at the Digital Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2010, which were hosted last Wednesday 1 December. The awards are dedicated to internet entrepreneurialism with entries from a number of industries across the web. Projects Abroad won the award for its water sanitation project in Tanzania which took place earlier this summer. Read full release »

• Volunteers Urgently Needed to Teach Teachers in Peru October 2010 Projects Abroad is appealing for volunteer English teachers to help improve quality of education for Peruvian children. Due to a recent shortage of volunteer teachers in Peru, leading international volunteering company, Projects Abroad is appealing for more individuals to come forward and take part in improving the quality of education for young children living in this incredible country. Read full release »

• Projects Abroad Launches New Cultural Exchange Initiative: Voices of the World September 2010 Projects Abroad, the leading international volunteering company, is today announcing its online global journalism project. Voices of the World will provide a voice and a forum to young, aspiring journalists to exchange opinions, face prejudices and discover mutual consensus through the medium of written word. This is a unique initiative that will be shared by thousands of young people from all over the world. Voices of the World is an online weekly newspaper and magazine that will also allow young people from all over the world, whether volunteers or local residents, to engage in dialogue and learn about one another through journalistic exploration of (always pressing, sometimes controversial) topics that greatly affect our world today and their world tomorrow. Read full release »

• Projects Abroad volunteers help deal with effects of Roma deportations from France September 2010 Young Projects Abroad volunteers in Romania are helping with the human tragedy created by President Sarkozy’s Roma deportations campaign. They agree with Commissioner Reding that French deportations of Roma are a reminder of the Nazis. Dr Peter Slowe, Director of Projects Abroad says “Our volunteers work at Sacele Hospital and Prejmer Day Care Centre. Every day, the tragedy, created artificially by the French President, unfolds before our eyes. Kids are abandoned because the families cannot support them. In France, a wealthy European country, the welfare system could look after them; here they cannot be cared for. And that is on top of the distress of being deported just because they belong to one ethnic community.” Read full release »

• Alternatives to University for 170,000 students who might miss out August 2010 Last year, Projects Abroad sent over 5,000 volunteers overseas to work on a voluntary project as part of a gap year. In the UK 41% of these were pre-university students, 18% were undergraduates and 78% of the total volunteers were between the ages of 16 and 24. The most popular placements are care projects with over 21% of Projects Abroad volunteers participating in these projects. Voluntary care work is one of the most worthwhile activities you can get involved in, whether it is in a developed or a developing country. “I felt the work we did contributed to the community, which made my experience more worthwhile and meaningful.” Luci Pollock (in Ghana) Read full release »

• Projects Abroad Edinburgh Information evening 16th August July 2010 Projects Abroad is the leading global organiser of overseas volunteer work placements. Our wide range of projects, including Teaching, Care, Conservation & Environment, Medicine & Healthcare, Sports, Community projects, Business, Law & Human Rights and Journalism, are designed specifically for the needs of the communities in which we work, whilst giving our volunteers (aged 16 - 75) the very best experience of volunteering abroad. Last year Projects Abroad had over 1500 UK based volunteers travel to 26 different countries on 5 continents to participate in over 500 projects. Over 40% of volunteers are undergraduates and more than 6% of the volunteers from Projects Abroad are from Scotland. One of these volunteers is Louise Ratcliffe who did a Medicine and Healthcare project in Ghana for 1 month during the summer holiday of her fourth year of University. ‘As I’m studying medicine travelling to Ghana was the perfect way to gain more work experience as it was very different to anything I’d experienced in the UK” Louise Ratcliffe (Ghana) For more information about volunteering with Projects Abroad have a look at our website www.projects-abroad.ie and sign up for the Edinburgh information evening on 16th August 2010 6.30-8.30, Wallace Dunlop Hall, Stewart’s Melville College, Queensferry Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3EZ

• Wright Way for Volunteer Health and Safety Training July 2010 For Madeleine Wright teaching schoolchildren health and safety skills in Ghana last year has changed her life. The 22-year-old university student taught at the Voice Preparatory School in Koforidua and quickly realised that health and safety was not a top priority. They had some basic health and safety laws but they didn’t seem to take them very seriously, and the children had no training whatsoever,” Madeleine said. Read full release »

• Human Rights Volunteers Meet World Cup Band in South Africa June 2010 Projects Abroad Human Rights volunteers Talbot Beck and Justin Miller met the lead singer last week from the South African band, The Brothers Streep who played the FIFA stage during the World Cup. Most recently seen on the Graham Norton Show singing a song about American actress Anna Paquin, South African acoustic comedy band The Brothers Streep provided entertainment on the FIFA stage between matches at the World Cup. Read full release »

• Volunteer in South Africa during the World Cup May 2010 Projects Abroad is the leading global organiser of overseas volunteer work placements. Our wide range of projects, including Teaching, Care, Conservation and Environment, Medicine and Healthcare, Community and Sports projects and specifically designed for the needs of the communities in which we work, whilst giving our volunteers the very best experience of volunteering abroad. With the 2010 football World Cup getting ever closer, football has never been bigger in South Africa. The football frenzy is growing and the eyes of the world will soon be fixed intently on South Africa. Read full release »

• Projects Abroad Pro - qualified volunteers in action November 2009 Volunteering organisation Projects Abroad have officially launched an innovative initiative for skilled or qualified volunteers. Projects Abroad Pro offers recent graduates, professionals on a career break and retired seniors the chance to make a difference, using their knowledge and training to help some of the poorest communities in the world. With projects based in 17 countries throughout the developing world, encompassing areas such as business, culture and media, education, engineering, the environment, human rights, medicine and social work; anyone with a skill to offer will find themselves in demand. Read full release »

• British Small Business Directors and Entrepreneurs Flee Britian on 'Enterprise Gap Years' March 2009 Recession-worn British small business directors and entrepreneurs are increasingly abandoning Britain to join ‘Enterprise gap year’ schemes in developing countries. More than half of the 60% increase in older volunteers leaving on gap-years in developing countries are British small business directors and entrepreneurs, according to Projects Abroad, the world’s leading commercial volunteer service organisation. Over 500,000 small businesses having ceased trading since the credit crunch began with over 50 businesses per day collapsing, leading to the increased interest in gap year programmes. Read full release »

• Projects Abroad is offering a solution to the shortage of city jobs March 2009 Projects Abroad, the leading global organizer of volunteer placements, is offering a solution to the shortage of city law jobs, as highlighted yesterday in The Evening Standard. A number of city law firms are paying graduates thousands of pounds not to start work for a year after being hit hard by the recession. Many are being told to use the money and time off to do something “meaningful and constructive”. Read full release »

• Projects Abroad and Prime Pump aim to improve water infrastructure in Jamaica November 2008 Wendy Tisdell, a volunteer with Projects Abroad in May 2008, is returning to Jamaica with her company in 2009 to help the New Hope Orphanage and McIntosh Primary School. They will receive on the ground expertise from her company, Prime Pump, and manpower from Projects Abroad, a global volunteering organisation, to improve their water infrastructure. The project aims to build a water storage system with an electric pump to carry the water to an ablution block. Read full release »

• Gap year volunteer joins Projects Abroad May 2008 Seventeen year old Manon Oliver from Esher is the 20,000th volunteer to join Projects Abroad. Manon and her brother, both from ACS Cobham International School have joined a two week medical project in India this summer. Last week she was called by Dr Peter Slowe, Director of Projects Abroad to tell her of the significance of her application. Dr Slowe met up with Manon at the ACS Cobham International School with Recruitment Director, Ian Birbeck, to present her with a certificate and camera. Ian was one of Projects Abroad's first twenty volunteers joining a teaching programme in Moldova back in 1992. Read full release »

• Physiotherapy students seek alternative options as job opportunities prove slim March 2008 A pioneering physiotherapy project in Nepal offering practical work experience is highlighting the importance of volunteers. The Self Help Group for Cerebral Palsy in Nepal is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation which is fully committed to helping children and adults with Cerebral Palsy and to providing emotional and practical support to their parents. Read full release »

• Law firms in China commend Projects Abroad interns March 2008 Projects Abroad now offers the chance to do an internship with a Law firm in a truly unique environment. There are a wide variety of legal areas in which interns work, including corporate, financial and criminal law. All placements are based in Shanghai. James Fones of Grandall Legal Group - based in Shanghai - wrote to Projects Abroad recently to praise the work done by our interns. He said: “Working with interns from Projects Abroad has been educational for both of us. Each intern in his / her own capacity brought with them superb skills and resources. Even the high school interns were top notch and contributed to our firm. Read full release »

• Meet Gerrit and the wonderful wilderness of Botswana February 2008 There is now an incredible opportunity for volunteers to live and work on a real-life African wildlife reserve. Covering some 15,000 hectares of land, the Legodimo reserve sits right on the border of South Africa and Botswana, straddling the majestic Limpopo River. On any average day on this unique project volunteers are likely to see Lions, Leopards, Elephants and Zebras, and volunteers have recently completed constructing a large watering hole, which has brought the action even closer to the camp! Read full release »

• Archaeology volunteers required to help excavate sites in Romania January 2008 An innovative archaeology programme run by Projects Abroad in Romania is proving a big success with volunteers. Based around the historic town of Brasov in Transylvania, considered to be an area of huge archaeological importance, volunteers are assisting local archaeologists in digging, cleaning and recording information. Artefacts dating to 4000 BC have been found as well as Greek, Roman and Dacian remains. Read full release »

• Celebrating 15 years Teaching & Projects Abroad becomes Projects Abroad! August 2007 This month, the UK’s leading Gap Year company ‘Teaching & Projects Abroad’ changes its name and becomes known simply as ‘Projects Abroad’. The change for the West Sussex-based organisation comes after 15 years of arranging worthwhile voluntary placements – designed to be of benefit to both the volunteers and local communities, for over 15,000 people from the UK, US and elsewhere in Europe. Read full release »

• The ultimate gap year that straddles the best of both worlds July 2007 Choosing between spending a year out working or seeing the world is a difficult decision which young people no longer need to face. Thanks to a brand new package from The Year in Industry, the ultimate gap year is now up for grabs – giving young people the opportunity to both work and travel as part of a structured placement for the very first time. The YINI Combo package, officially launched on July 2007, is a unique solution which meets the demands of today’s career-savvy, globe-trotting young people. The nine-month YINI work placement provides students with their all important first step on the career ladder – gaining valuable industry experience, developing skills and earning a salary. Read full release »

• Interns sought for human rights voluntary work in Ghana March 2007 The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) offers internships at its African headquarters in Accra, Ghana. UK-based Projects Abroad has been exclusively selected by the CHRI to provide law students as interns for this exciting project based in Ghana. Law student Danica Mullarkey, currently studying for a Masters at the London School of Economics, took up an internship at the CHRI in Accra during 2005. Read full release »

• UK Gap Year students offered football project in Ghana January 2007 An innovative football training project in Ghana offering coaching experience and professional league placements has been launched by Worthing-based Gap Year specialists Projects Abroad. Based in the capital Accra, this new project offers the opportunity to attend a football academy led by qualified coaches and participate in placements at local youth football clubs. Read full release »