Opportunities to Work and Learn in Africa.

October 13, 2007 3:53 AM

Looking for environment/ecology volunteering opportunities in Africa.

A friend has recently graduated from a biology degree in the UK, and is looking for unpaid work/internships in Africa next year that could use some scientific expertise. Possibly leading into a career in environmental management or sustainably development.

I'd also like to know whether a biology degree, with a slant on ecology, is a useful thing in Africa, or whether they are ten-a-penny and you have to start doing drudge work whether you've got one or not.

Thanks for your help.

posted by greytape to education (3 comments total)

You could keep an eye on the jobs section at Pambazuka news - volunteering opportunities get posted there.
The bigger programmes like UN Volunteers tend to want a bit of experience as well as a degree, and iirc VSO is similar. It's a bit of a cost/benefit conundrum for lots of small organisations, as volunteers require a fair bit of input, and the emphasis is shifting towards developing local skills where possible for many agencies.
I'm fairly out of touch with the sector these days (and have never worked in Africa), so do take the above as bloke-on-the-Internet level advice.
posted by Abiezer at 6:46 AM on October 13, 2007

Humana is a good place to check out.
posted by anadem at 1:59 PM on October 13, 2007

that was supposed to be a link: http://www.humana.org/

(It's not personal experience, just what I heard when a friend was looking for Africa volunteer work.)
posted by anadem at 2:14 PM on October 13, 2007