Travelling in the 21st century is undergoing a rapid change. With the advent of revenge tourism post-COVID-19, Indians from across the country are making plans to experience the joys of travelling. However, the flip side to this increased density of travellers is over-tourism, crowding and waste generation.
If you care about minimising your travel impact while still being able to enjoy your holiday, consider the idea of volunteer travelling. It involves travelling to a specific destination for an extended period of time and staying with the locals to assist them in bettering their community, whether it be by working in conservation, reforestation efforts or the educational upliftment of the local population, among other activities.
Here's our pick of the best volunteering opportunities you can take advantage of on your travels around India.
The motto of Spiti Ecosphere is to create a travel experience that is seamless for everyone involved, from tourists to locals as well as the surrounding areas. It is a social enterprise that aims to bring together and create avenues of economic empowerment for the local people who live in and work for the conservation of the Spiti Valley. It also doubles up as a travel agency, thus ensuring that trips to the valley are organised responsibly and mindfully.
Working with Spiti Ecosphere allows you to promote eco-tourism and see up close the efforts that go into the conservation of the region. Volunteers can choose to help in building greenhouses and solar passive structures, engage in day-to-day village activities like taking care of the cows and assessing wells, or work in the day-to-day administration of the Spiti Ecosphere office.
The Central Himalayan Rural Action group, popularly known as CHIRAG, specifically operates in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. It works closely with the local community to work on issues of agriculture, animal husbandry, community forestry and most importantly, soil and water conservation. It also helps in the development of the youth in the area by educating them about sustainable agricultural practices and also engaging them in volunteer work. This greatly helps in improving the quality of life of the rural population and in the upliftment of women and the poor.
Volunteers can choose to work in several areas ranging from health and education to geology and conservation. The website notes that individuals wishing to associate with them should write an email to the organisation about the skills they can offer, after which they will connected to the most suitable project.
The Sadhana Forest is an initiative that aims at forest and water re-conservation as well as sustainable living. Through indigenous plant restoration and water retention, it helps the cooperative community to grow their own food and prevent unnecessary migration to urban slum dwellings. Volunteers can engage in vegan community living, teach the youngsters of the community about ecological responsibility and experience the forest heritage of the area by living in a low waste forest campus. The program requires a minimum commitment of 4 days.
The Sambhali Trust was established in Rajasthan in 2007 and aims to educate, uplift and empower the women of the state through teaching, skill development and self-help groups. The name Sambhali itself means "strengthening of the deprived." They have a grassroots model which allows for overarching development, fosters community support and addresses discrimination against women from marginalised communities. Volunteers can choose to provide admin support at the offices of the trust, teach at the Primary Education Centres, work at the sewing centres or most importantly, provide support to victims of gender-based violence.
Originally established in 2003 by a small group from Comox Valley in Vancouver Island, Fertile Ground in Assam provides support to the tea farmers of Northeast India. Most of the farmers in this region have long been dependent on traditional agricultural practices for growing their produce, owing to a lack of development in the area. Fertile Ground aims to modernise their equipment and practice, all the while ensuring that organic farming practices are incorporated in the composting and mulching process of tea growing. They also aim to provide natural pest control and build organic farms for the tribal communities. It provides training resources to small-scale farmers to help in their growth and development. You can choose to volunteer in any of the above initiatives.