Volunteers who are under 18 years old will be required to provide IVHQ with parental consent and two character reference letters in order to participate on the program, and may be asked to provide additional documentation to the local team. All volunteers are required to have adequate volunteer travel insurance and provide a criminal background check to IVHQ’s local team on arrival in Lima. Additional requirements apply for Medical volunteers, please read the project description below.
Fluency in Spanish is not a prerequisite for the IVHQ Peru - Lima volunteer program, however on certain projects, such as Teaching English and Medical, volunteer work will be restricted with limited language ability. We recommend that volunteers take advantage of the very affordable language lessons offered exclusively to IVHQ volunteers by our partner staff in Lima. Past volunteers feel that taking these lessons help immensely with day-to-day volunteer work and communicating with local people. Volunteers interested in taking Spanish lessons can arrange these directly with the local staff once in Lima. Below is an outline of the various Spanish requirements for each placement:
Community Support and Construction and Renovation - Volunteers participating on the Construction and Renovation and Community Support project in Lima can have little to no Spanish speaking ability, but must be fluent in English. If volunteers have no Spanish, they must be prepared for some language difficulties at their placement and be willing to take the language lessons offered by the local staff.
Animal Care Project - Volunteers under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a guardian on this project. If volunteers have no Spanish, they must be prepared for some language difficulties at their placement and be willing to take the language lessons offered by the local staff.
Teaching English - Volunteers who wish to participate on the Teaching English project must have at least a basic grasp of Spanish. Many of the children and adults in the classes only have a very basic understanding of English, and volunteers should therefore have a basic grasp in order to help manage the class. A list of common classroom vocabulary is provided to volunteers before they arrive in Lima.
Medical Placement - Volunteers who wish to participate on the Medical project must be confident in their conversational Spanish, with a view to interacting conversationally and professionally with patients.
Free Interactive Volunteer Training - All volunteers are encouraged to complete our interactive pre-departure training, which is available exclusively to registered IVHQ volunteers. The training is designed to build an understanding of important aspects that need to be considered before embarking on an IVHQ program. It helps volunteers to prepare in the right way by providing advice on what it takes to be a safe, responsible and valuable volunteer. Try a sample of the training here.
