Join GVI and discover Nepal, a country with one of the densest concentrations of world heritage sites in the world. Your time here will be met with equal parts cultural exploration, trekking the vast Himalayan mountains, and personal development as you learn skills and make an impact with local communities.
Learn about social issues in Nepal and immerse yourself in Nepali traditions. Students will focus on improving the health and safety standards of educational facilities in Pokhara. Projects might include building desks for classrooms or installing water tanks for drinking water. This allows students to directly contribute not only to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) 4: Quality Education, but also others like Goal 3: Health and Wellbeing. Students will also learn about the ethical best practices used to set up international developments like these, including the importance of ensuring these projects are led by the local community.
Based in Nepal’s second-largest city, Pokhara, students will contribute to hands-on community development efforts and learn about social issues in Nepal. You will work alongside local community members to identify where their challenges are and provide support accordingly. Through this, you are able to contribute to a sustainable development and empowerment plan aimed at providing greater opportunities for Nepali people.
Visit some of the Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries in the region, including Tal Bahari Temple, a sacred site located on a tiny island on Phewa Lake, and the World Peace Pagoda, a hilltop Buddhist monument dedicated to inspiring kindness and consideration throughout the global community. You will have the opportunity to participate in a cooking class and learn how to make a popular dish in Nepal, Nepali dumplings, also known as momos.
Journey to the Annapurna Sanctuary, a site of religious significance for many local communities. You then start your trek to summit Poon Hill, also known as the Annapurna Sunrise Trek, known for its unique biodiversity and diversity of cultural communities that speak their own distinct languages. It is home to the world’s largest rhododendron forest and the world’s deepest river gorge both of which you pass on your trip up to the Sanctuary. During this trekking portion of the trip, overnight accommodation will be provided by the many Nepali tea houses along the trail, allowing for an authentic Himalayan trekking experience.
During your time on the program in Nepal there will be plenty of opportunities to learn more about the Nepalese culture, helping you kickstart your journey toward becoming a global citizen.
*This overview is an example of the activities and project work that students might get involved in on this program. More specific details of the program are finalised several months before each start date and can be discussed further with your GVI Programme Coordinator. The overview shown here has been followed by our staff and student groups in the past.
General | Groups |
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A rest and relaxation activity/excursion | |
24/7 backup and support | |
A dedicated trip co-ordinator | |
Access to local medical facilities | |
Comprehensive health and safety procedures (Emergency Action Plans and Risk Assessments) | |
First aid equipment | |
All meals | |
Group leader and teacher | |
Highly experienced and well qualified GVI field staff | |
In-country transport is arranged | |
Pre-departure information | |
Up-to-date safety and country information |
Not included | Groups |
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Pre-departure withdrawal insurance | |
Travel insurance - unless otherwise stipulated | |
Medical insurance - unless otherwise stipulated (medical aid details will need to be provided) | |
Flights - unless otherwise stipulated | |
Personal kit | |
Visas | |
Vaccinations | |
Additional spending money |
‘If only every student could do this. It changes your life in all the right ways,’ says Chris Heritage, parent of Luke Heritage, one of our teen volunteers who has participated on two GVI programs, one in Costa Rica and another in South Africa.
We are a parent-run organisation that is incredibly serious about health and safety, and increasing the impact, as well as the long-term career benefits of our programs. Our programs help young people develop the skills to select a career path that is personally fulfilling, and live a life aligned to the well-being of our planet and the global community.
GVI is a proud member of the Gap Year Association.
Ken and Linda Jeffrey, whose son Sam volunteered with GVI in Thailand, talk about how the experience affected Sam. He also went on to volunteer with GVI again in South Africa. ‘I know it sounds like a cliche but in a sense, he did go away as a boy and he came back as a young man. Both of us could recommend GVI without any hesitation to any other parent thinking about exploring an opportunity for their children to explore the world and to see different parts of it.’
Download the Parent Pack and learn more about:
Our staff: All our projects are run by staff, selected, vetted, trained, and managed by our central office.
Health and safety: Our safety practices include a child and vulnerable adult protection policy and high participant ratios.
Staying in touch: See what’s happening on base, by following a hub’s dedicated Facebook page.
Free parent consultations: We would love to talk to you about exciting opportunities available for your child.
We won’t sugarcoat it — traveling abroad is usually a complex process that carries an element of risk. But this is exactly why we’re passionate about providing extensive support throughout the process as well as the highest safety standards during the in-country phase. We believe that volunteering abroad should not only be impactful, but an enjoyable experience that carries as little risk as possible. This is exactly how we’ve been able to maintain our reputation as the most highly respected volunteering organisations in the sector over the past two decades.
All of our programs have short-, mid- and long-term objectives that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). This enables us to report on our collaborative impact across the world in a streamlined manner, measuring which UN SDGs we are making a substantial contribution to. Furthermore, this will help our local partners and communities measure and visualise their contribution to the UN SDGs.
Prior to your arrival on base, you will be educated about the UN SDGs. Then once you arrive on base, you’ll learn about the specific goals we have in this particular location, our various objectives, and also clarification of how your personal, shorter-term involvement contributes to these.
Our aim is to educate you on local and global issues, so that you continue to be an active global citizen after your program, helping to fulfil our mission of building a global network of people united by their passion to make a difference.
Early Childhood Development and Education
We support several educational facilities for young students in Nepal. GVI participants contribute by assisting with improving the infrastructure of learning environments, developing educational resources and assisting students to achieve their learning objectives. Subjects we support include English language learning, maths, science and computer skills. For younger students we facilitate arts and crafts lessons to promote fine motor skills development. Sports lessons help gross motor skills development, teamwork and a healthy lifestyle.
Preventative Healthcare
Our public health participants work with local partners in setting up and implementing health and hygiene practices across sites within the community. Based on the needs identified by the community, we assist children and adults through fun, informal educational workshops. GVI participants support health in Nepal by leading workshops on a wide range of topics, including WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene), road safety, puberty and menstruation, waste management and self-care.
Women’s Empowerment
Staff and participants who contribute to our women’s empowerment program in Nepal participate in a number of educational and professional development workshops. Lessons cover topics such as English language, maths, resume writing and alternative income generation. We support women’s health workshops and address issues like self-care and family health. We also work with local partners to raise awareness of issues such as human rights and human trafficking.
Women’s empowerment workshops provide a social outlet for many women and assist them in building a network within the community. The workshops also assist in developing English skills, which can open the door to potential work opportunities, particularly in tourism. These learning opportunities also build confidence in the women of the community.
With our partner SASANE, our participation in the Sisterhood of Survivors (SOS) programme gives women in the community an opportunity to practise their English and presentation skills. The funds we pay to participate go towards training women to become paralegals. We also facilitate workshops with the SASANE team that focus on English and personal development skills.
Construction
Our construction volunteers assist with refurbishment and improvement projects within the community. We aim to improve the facilities for students and teachers. We particularly support semi-rural government schools just outside the city. They’re small, usually less than 100 students, and are frequently under-staffed and under-resourced. All work depends on the needs of the community at the time and can include: building desks for students and teachers, making storage units and shelves for the classroom, and developing waste disposal areas. Other examples include creating handwashing stations to support health programs and general classroom refurbishment.
We also aim to provide economic support. All construction resources are purchased locally and local people are employed to work with us. If we are working in a village, we purchase supplies from that village, where possible. To support the community businesses, we have our lunchtime meals in one of the village cafes.
All of these initiatives offer support to the community and local partners, and address many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, such as Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 3: Health and Well-being, Goal 5: Gender Equality, and Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.
GVI Pokhara long-term objectives:
1. Support students to reach learning goals appropriate to their age, grade level, or individual needs.
2. Support the community with improved facilities, with an emphasis on educational facilities.
3. Increase the knowledge and understanding of health in the community, with an emphasis on prevention, and developing health-related skills such as emergency first aid.
4. Increase professional and vocational skills held by women in the community, through education and empowerment.
Below is a list of core ethics and best practices we believe are essential to the operation of high quality, ethical volunteer and sustainable development programs. We believe that all responsible volunteer and sustainable development operations should focus upon these principles. If you are considering volunteering, these are some of the key considerations you should question, to ensure that your time and money contributes towards positive change.
We want to constantly develop our own understanding of ethical best practice. In so doing, we aim to provide an exemplary industry standard for other education institutions, international development organisations, and social enterprises. Our Badge of Ethics stands for the drive to always do good, better. Find out more, click on the Badge below.
We aim to design all our projects in collaboration with local organizations and communities and ensure that they are locally driven.
We aim to clearly define short-, mid-, and long-term objectives with sustainable outcomes for all our projects.
We aim to track, record, and publish the impact of each of our projects.
We aim to build in-country capacity by assisting local organizations in becoming self-sustaining.
For each local organization we work with, we aim to have a plan in place for withdrawing support responsibly.
We aim to ensure that every participant is assigned a clear role and that they are fully trained and supported to carry out their work by specialized staff.
In all our actions we aim to respect the skills and efforts of all and seek to protect the rights, culture and dignity of everyone who engages with GVI.
We work to ensure that credit for the results of any project, along with any data collected, research conducted, or Intellectual Property developed, remains the property of local organizations.
We do not condone and aim to withdraw support of orphanages and residential care centers.
We will live by our Child Protection and Vulnerable Adult policies.
As an organization, GVI is committed to striving toward best practice, and to educating both our potential participants, our partners, and the world at large about them. Both the volunteering and sustainable development sectors are increasingly, and rightly, under scrutiny. Many recent local and global articles highlight poor practices and questionable ethics. GVI is widely recognized for striving to apply global best practice in the volunteering, education and sustainable development sectors throughout our operations by reputable organizations such as ChildSafe.
However, global best practice is always evolving and we dedicate both time and resources to engage with internationally respected experts and learn from the latest research to ensure our programs both fulfil their potential to create maximum positive impact, and minimise their potential to create unintentional negative impact. Along with and as part of the sustainable development and volunteering community, we are constantly learning and applying this learning to practice. We do not always get everything right, but we seek feedback from our community members, partners, participants and our staff, and react accordingly. We know are already doing a great job, and feedback we have received confirms this, but we aim to do even better and are continuously refining our operations to improve upon our already excellent reputation.
We don’t support the use of wild animals for entertainment purposes. This includes riding animals, having them perform tricks, feeding or bathing them or getting close to them to take photos
We don’t encourage, support or allow the rearing of “orphaned” wild baby animals kept at a “sanctuary”. The conservation value of these types of programs is negligent and would only ethically be used in extremely rare cases
When wild animals are restricted for conservation purposes we follow the guidelines of Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA), approved by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.
We ensure that the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare are followed. These include the freedom to express normal behaviour and freedom from distress, discomfort, hunger, thirst, fear, pain, injury or disease.
We ensure that conservation efforts are also always locally led, that community needs are front-and centre of any conservation effort and that our participants, projects and partners work to increase local community engagement in local conservation efforts.
We don’t offer any veterinary programs or animal rescue and rehabilitation programs. We don’t allow participants to do any work they would not be able to do in their home country.
Each one of our initiatives is aligned to objectives set by a local organisation or professional. Our staff and participants work to support these local actors in achieving their specific goals.
Our participants don’t replace the staff employed by local organisations. Rather, they support currently employed staff with achieving their objectives. Our goal is always to increase local capacity to address local problems.
Participants require training and support to ensure that they carry out tasks correctly. Our staff provide this training and support so that local staff can focus on what is truly important to their organisation at the time.
If you’d like to find out what the experience of joining a GVI project is really like, simply contact us and we’ll put you in touch with one of our many Alumni.
We’ll try to match you to an Alum based on your location, nationality, age, stage of academic career, gender, and program interests. This allows you to gain insights into the experience that is most relevant to you.
Depending on your location you might be able to speak to an Alum over the phone or online, or meet up with them face-to-face at a coffee shop nearby. We also run a series of small events around the world where you can speak to GVI Alumni, Ambassadors and staff members.