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A low cost volunteer scheme in India

volunteers making friends with local students

making friends with local students

a volunteer helping with child art

volunteer helping with art in primary school

Volunteer abroad on a budget

The VRI "Experience Rural India" scheme is very cheap compared with other schemes which place volunteers abroad.

This makes it accessible to students, recent graduates, back-packers and other budget travellers.

A fee of only £250 covers your training day in Britain, and food and accommodation for your initial 3-week stay in the rural development project in India.
After the first 3 weeks, the cost falls to £3 per day.
The only additional payment is £15 covering one year's membership of VRI (Volunteers for Rural India), and of course your travel costs to the project.
VRI has no paid staff; some of your placement fee remains in the UK to pay the administrative expenses of the charity (postage, phone calls, stationery, information booklets, training day); the remainder is given directly to our partner project in India, who use it to provide your food and accommodation and pay the wages of a local volunteer coordinator. Any revenue from the scheme is put back into the project to help develop its degree college, thus helping rural students of limited means to get a good education.

Why are our placement fees so cheap?

Placement fees are low because the scheme is run by people who volunteer their time. The organisation and training in Britain are done by volunteers. In India, you will be welcomed by local staff; teachers and project workers will give their time to welcome you and include you in the life of the project.

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