Volunteer with Children in Tanzania

Work on life skills and basic education with children in colourful and vibrant Tanzania

Destination

Tanzania

Age

16+ y/o

Minimum Stay

2 weeks

Start Date

Anytime

Accommodation

Homestay

What’s included

Certification

Certified record of service hours, workshops, and activities for your CV.

Pre-departure Support

Everything you need to prepare for your trip, including visa advice, cultural awareness training, access to your dedicated pre-departure portal, and more.

Socials & Fun

Regularly organized social events with other participants.

Activities, Training & Equipment

All programme activities and equipment, including training and workshops from experienced professionals.

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Starting at €2,095 for 2 weeks

Flexible 0% Interest payments
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Trip Overview

Support education and growth

Assist experienced teachers at our Maasai School in Arusha, helping take some of the stress away from busy teaching schedules.

Provide individual support

Track child development and support individual needs, helping those who struggle in certain areas or need additional support to learn effectively.

Learn to make lessons fun

Design and deliver engaging and interactive learning activities to help early childhood development in academic, social, and sporting subjects.

Experience Tanzanian tradition

Live with a host family and get involved with local events, visit a Maasai village, and spot Africa’s “Big 5” on a safari in your free time.

Embrace a new challenge

Carry out important work in a new environment, challenge yourself with a different and exciting experience, and develop your skills on the way.

What you need to know

Overview

If spending your day amongst a group of energetic children is your cup of tea, this Childcare project in Tanzania is ideal for you. It’s a great way to gain childcare experience, while also making a difference to local communities.

Our Childcare Project in Tanzania is open to all ages. You don’t need any childcare experience or qualifications. Our local Project Coordinator will guide you through your activities with local children.

Perhaps you’re interested in a career in teaching and childcare. This is an opportunity to gain practical experience and see if this is the right career path for you.

This project runs all year round, giving you the flexibility to volunteer when it suits your schedule.

Activities

There are different tasks you can get involved with as part of your volunteer work with children in Tanzania. The work you do will help prepare them for school and improve their overall development.

Work in small groups with children, helping with their school work
Organise games and activities to promote their development and make learning fun
Monitor each child’s development progress

Your work will focus on the following areas:

Work with children on their education

As a volunteer, one of your most important tasks is making sure no child is left behind. Through lessons with small groups, you can see what each child struggles with. Adapt your lesson plans according to this and provide focused tutoring.

In large classrooms and overcrowded care centres, this is something that teachers and caretakers simply don’t have time for. So by providing added support to the staff, you’ll be making a world of difference to each child.

Promote early childhood development

When children are young, play is one of the most important parts of their development. With the guidance of the Project Coordinator, you can come up with fun games and activities that will make learning more engaging for these children.

You can organise sports lessons to promote physical development or arts and crafts to get them thinking creatively. It all adds up to a more holistic approach to learning and a child that is better equipped for school.

Monitor their progress

As a volunteer, you will be paying close attention to specific children during fun activities, so you can record how they’re doing. You’ll input this data into our Global Impact Database, to help with monitoring children’s progress. Future volunteers will use this database to build on the work you do.

A Day in the Life

On a typical work day, which runs from Monday to Friday, you’ll enjoy a tasty breakfast with a cup of chai, a type of local tea. Once you’re ready, you’ll catch a dalla dalla to your placement.

Depending on which daycare centre you work in, a typical work day will usually start at around 7am or 8am. Your work will usually finish at about 4pm.

Mornings could be spent helping children with their schoolwork, breaking into groups and playing different sports, or running an art class where you make animal faces out of paper plates. You will also have the chance to work in small groups with children, helping them to read and write.

After a hearty lunch with the other volunteers at your placement, you might spend the afternoon preparing activities. We encourage you to do things like plan games or make educational posters to put up in local schools. You can also use this time to enter data into our Global Impact Database.

Your evenings will be free, giving you the chance to travel around Tanzania.

Aims & Impact

The aim of this project is to support children’s basic education and early childhood development. Projects Abroad has elected not to work with children in orphanages in Tanzania, but rather focus on community-based programmes that allow children to remain within their families.

In the community-based care centres, kindergartens, special needs schools where we work, classrooms are overcrowded. Teachers often struggle to give focused attention to each child and they don’t always pick up when a child is struggling. Children can fall behind in the school system, setting them up for difficulties later in life.

On top of this, parents or family members often have to work long hours to support their families. Children don’t always get the stimulation they need at home.

Through our development checklists and Global Impact Database, volunteers monitor children and tutor them in areas where they’re falling behind their peers. You will contribute to monitoring their overall development, by observing as they play games or participate in sports.

To make sure we are always working towards our overall vision, we’ve outlined three main goals in our Childcare Management Plan for Tanzania. These are:

Promote early childhood development
Improve hygiene levels of the children
Increase English

Volunteer with children in Tanzania and help us work towards these goals.

Map & Location

Vast savannahs teeming with wildlife, Mount Kilimanjaro piercing the sky, and the colourful culture of the Maasai tribe — all things you’ll find in the incredible East African nation of Tanzania.

Tanzania is considered as one of the safest countries in Africa with a friendly and welcoming population, and is a popular tourist destination. With 30% of the country covered in national parks, including the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, it’s especially good for safaris.

Arusha

Arusha, in northern Tanzania, serves as a gateway to Africa’s most renowned safari destinations. The region is home to 2.4 million people, with 600,000 living in Arusha city at the foot of Mount Meru. It enjoys a pleasant highland climate with warm days and cool nights.

It has a mix of cultures and a growing tourism industry thanks to the fascinating handcrafted souvenirs of the Maasai markets, interesting cultural sites, and thrilling safari trips to nearby national parks.

Food & Accommodation

Discover the magic of Tanzania from your base in Arusha. You’ll have everything you need for a comfortable stay, including a cosy bed, three meals a day using the authentic tastes of Tanzania, and readily available drinking water.

You’ll be welcomed into a carefully selected host family in Arusha, instantly making you feel like a local and providing a taste of Tanzanian life. It will be clean, safe, and within a short distance of your placement. We’ll also handle your daily transport to and from your project, so you can focus on developing your skills, connections, and global perspective.

Shared rooms are arranged with other participants of the same gender and similar age, creating a great opportunity to connect and share your cultural exchange in this beautiful country.

Your Arrival Made Easy

When you arrive at your respective airport, a member of Projects Abroad staff will be there to meet you. You can find more detailed information on arrival airports, orientation, and visas on our Tanzania Arrival Procedures page.