Education & Community Development
Livingstone, Zambia
→ Prices start from US$1,445 for 2 weeks
Volunteering in education
Many schools in rural areas of Zambia are currently suffering from a serious shortage of classrooms, educational resources and formally trained teachers.
Join our team in Livingstone and play a huge role in children’s lives by providing them with a head start in their education through classroom assistance, one-to-one tutoring and fun after- school clubs!
Volunteer Reviews
Your Project, Your Purpose
Livingstone in Zambia is one of the main tourist hotspots in Southern Africa and receives over 250.000 international visitors each year who come to enjoy the wildlife, scenery, adventure activities and the mighty Victoria Falls, one of the 7 Wonders of the World.
Nonetheless and despite the foreign income it receives, this location is still facing many social issues such as having a very poor educational system. There ́s basically a lack of resources such as classrooms and qualified teachers which has led to the hot-seating system.
Given that there ́s not enough space or teachers to look after all the students at the same time, children can ́t attend school full time and can only take lessons either in the morning or afternoon. When we also factor in poverty in the area, including many parents unable to pay for school fees, we get lots of children who are unable to complete their primary education.
Children are really eager to learn and teachers want to achieve those goals but in overcrowded classrooms with over 60 students per teacher, it’s not so simple.
Our volunteers play a huge role not only by providing one on one attention to students but also in assisting teachers in their daily tasks, focusing on specific students so they don’t fall behind or even by delivering after school lessons to children and adult literacy classes as well!
Our goal is to ensure every person receives the quality education they deserve and in order to achieve that we need as many volunteers as possible!
This is your chance to gain some teaching exposure while assisting children and adults to further their education and improve their quality of life.
A Day In Your Life
You will be working Monday to Friday both in the morning and afternoon in different communities and projects. You will break for lunch and come back to your accommodation for a relaxing time before heading back on the project. Evenings and weekends are free for you to explore this amazing tourist destination that has so much to offer to anyone who visits it.
- One of your main focuses will be acting as a teaching assistant at a primary school in rural Livingstone supporting the head teacher in her classroom. This is where you ́ll be based every morning and you will not only be working directly with the students but also with the teacher so to share with her any ideas, techniques or skills you may have, so to improve the current teaching methods. In order to help students that might be falling behind in their studies, we may also provide some extra remedial lessons outside of the classroom for individuals or small groups so to go through the lessons again at a slower pace and with one on one attention to help them catch up with the group again.
- Fill your weekends with adrenaline activities like bungee jumping and white water rafting. Take advantage of optional trips to wildlife havens like Botswana’s Chobe National Park or visit the amazing Victoria Falls, one of the 7 Wonders of the World from both sides of the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. If that’s not enough you can enjoy them from a microlight flight or take a swim in Devil’s Pool (seasonal).
- It’s not all about the children! English is one of Zambia ́s official languages but there are 72 languages and dialects spoken all over the country. Many locals only learn their mother tongue and then struggle to get employed since more and more jobs are asking people to be able to speak English fluently. Besides the lack of English knowledge in some of the rural areas surrounding Livingstone, illiteracy is one of the main issues amongst adults. Nevertheless, there are many of them that want to improve their chances in life and gain better opportunities for employment! That’s why our team and volunteers deliver an Adult Literacy course with structured lesson plans and tests that also provide a certificate upon successful completion of the course. We’ve had so many great success stories on this particular project and it’s one of the most rewarding programs we have! For instance, one of our teachers on this course was actually one of our first students and he didn’t speak any English when he started and now is confident enough to teach the first level of the course with our volunteers to other non-English speakers.
- In the afternoon you’ll have the chance of joining different after school projects. Our aim is to keep children safe and off the streets in the after school period as well as creating fun activities to further their development. We run games, sports and art activities as well as exercises to improve kids’ knowledge of the English language such as reading, singing and much more. A lot of space for you to bring your creativity here!
3weeks – US$1,805
4 weeks – US$2,095
6 weeks – US$2,675
7 weeks – US$2,965
8 weeks – US$3,255
9 weeks – US$3,545
10 weeks – US$3,835
12 weeks – US$4,415.
Our Start Dates for 2022 are:
- 4, 11, 18 & 25 April 2022
- 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 May 2022
- 6,13, 20, 27 June 2022
- 4, 11 ,18 & 25 July 2022
- 1 , 8, 15, 22, & 29 August 2022
- 5, 12, 19, 26 September 2022
- 3 ,10, 17, 24 & 31 October 2022
- 7, 14, 21 & 28 November 2022
- 5, 12, 19 & 26 December 2022
This project starts every Monday throughout the year. We ask volunteers to arrive at Livingstone Airport on Monday your project starts and we’ll pick you up from there.
You can volunteer from 2 weeks up to 12 weeks. Project ́s last day is on Monday when we’ll drop you back at the airport.
(This project remains open over the Christmas period)
