InterVol is a community

volunteering Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergenc ...

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

.Charity Commission Official Website
Details of InterVol's charity framework and registration. Retrieved 15 October 2013. InterVol support

poverty reduction Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics classi ...

, conservation and

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

projects globally, as well as community volunteering based on university campuses in the United Kingdom. The charity is based at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

,Felix Online Archive, 30 November 2011
Article on new Project Nepal group at Imperial College and partnership with InterVol. Retrieved 16 December 2011.

Lancaster University Lancaster University (officially The University of Lancaster) is a collegiate public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new univer ...

,Lancaster University Students' Union Activities
InterVol Lancaster listed as official LUSU society. Retrieved 15 October 2013

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

,University of Nottingham Student Volunteering Projects Website
Details of the InterVol project at Nottingham University. Retrieved 22 June 2017.

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Th ...

, and

SOAS University of London The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

. __TOC__

History

Formation

InterVol was set up as a voluntary project in late 2003 by a group of students with the support of the University of Birmingham Guild of Students. InterVol's volunteers began a system of student-led

sustainable development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...

projects, aiming to make a long term difference to communities in developing countries whilst working in close partnership with local

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

in each country, as well as running volunteering projects, training sessions, and events on their own campus and in the local community.

Projects and expansion

In the summer of 2004 InterVol led three volunteering projects to

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

and

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. The volunteers were involved in work including

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

awareness training, work in children's centres, teaching English, and building the information technology capacity of local staff. In 2005 the project roster increased to eight projects as the popularity and presence of the project on the

campus increased significantly. There were two new projects in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, based around cloud-forest conservation and social development, as well as a

community development The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activist ...

project in Accra,

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, a teaching project in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and a social development project in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. In 2006 previous projects were maintained while a new coastal development project in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

with Andaman Discoveries began in response to the Boxing Day Tsunami. InterVol supported volunteers to renovate facilities and coach sport at the New Future for Children centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for the first time in July 2006. InterVol received its first national awards in 2006 when two founding volunteers, John Gorski and Danielle Gerson, won Impact awards at the National Year of the Volunteer Awards. In 2007 a new project to construct school buildings and teach in rural Nepal commenced. This year also saw InterVol send volunteers to both a trafficked animal refuge and to teach Spanish to members of the

Huaorani The Waorani, Waodani, or Huaorani, also known as the Waos, are an Indigenous people from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador (Napo Province, Napo, Orellana Province, Ecuador, Orellana, and Pastaza Provinces) who have marked differences from other e ...

in Ecuador. The following year another project was set up in Kenya, a sports-based development project in Nairobi's

Kibera Kibera (Kinubi language, Kinubi: ''Forest'' or ''Jungle'') is a division and neighbourhood of Nairobi, Kenya, from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and also the largest urban slum in all of Africa. The 2009 Kenya Popul ...

slum. In June 2010 the

's international volunteering project affiliated with InterVol to become the first InterVol branch outside Birmingham. InterVol's Nottingham project, based at the University of Nottingham Students' Union, continued to support volunteers to work with the Ugandan community development NGO, Little Big Africa. The charity expanded further, forming a new international volunteering group, Project Nepal, at

in October 2011 and a new InterVol society at

in December 2011. A group formed at Oxford Brookes in 2018, supporting education organisations in rural Nepal. An InterVol committee formed at

in 2023.

Charity status

Initially founded in 2003 as an initiative of the University of Birmingham Guild of Students, InterVol was a volunteering project within an

exempt charity An exempt charity is an institution established in England and Wales for charitable purposes which is exempt from registration with, and oversight by, the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Exempt charities are largely institutions of furt ...

.University of Birmingham Website
Details of the University of Birmingham's exempt charity status. Retrieved 22 June 2017 InterVol became an independent registered

in England and Wales in May 2010. InterVol's charitable objectives are to act as a resource for student volunteers at universities in the United Kingdom while promoting voluntary projects that focus on education, health, conservation, and the relief of poverty.

Placement locations

InterVol currently support community organisations in the following countries: Ecuador, France (

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

), India, Malawi, and Nepal. Volunteers gain relevant experience through volunteering with local charities in their university communities in England before travelling overseas.

References

External links

InterVol websiteUniversity of Birmingham InterVol ProjectUniversity of Nottingham InterVol ProjectImperial College London InterVol (Project Nepal)Merazonia (InterVol Partner NGO, Ecuador)Maya Universe Academy (InterVol Partner NGO, Nepal)
{{Oxford Brookes University Development charities based in the United Kingdom International volunteer organizations Student organisations in the United Kingdom