Volunteer in Spain

Animal Care in

Animal shelters play an important role in protecting lost and abandoned animals in Barcelona, but often they can be overcrowded. As a volunteer on this project, you’ll support the shelters to cope with the significant number of animals and improve the conditions for these cats and dogs.

Volunteer support is crucial in playing with the cats and dogs to keep them active and healthy, so they can be adopted or re-integrated with local families. Your core role is to walk and play with animals so they have time out of their enclosures each day. You can also help with cleaning, feeding and raising awareness in the community about animal abandonment.

The long term aim of volunteering with animals is to have them ready to be adopted. That means they should be healthy, happy and appealing for local families who come into the shelter looking to adopt.

You will be working alongside local volunteers as well as shelter staff to support their day-to-day tasks. Your duties will vary and depending on your skills and the length of your stay.

All dogs in the shelters are fully vaccinated. This project has a minimum duration requirement of 2 weeks.

Creative Technologies in

A unique volunteer project that involves using your creative and digital skills to help Barcelona NGOs develop their online presence and boost their charity initiatives. Volunteers with a range of technical skills and expertise can make a significant difference in helping important local causes gain much-needed exposure. These kinds of professional skills are often unaffordable for non-profit NGOs, but can make a significant difference for them.

As a volunteer in the Creative Technologies project in Barcelona, you will be able to support NGOs with different social and environmental focuses, such as:

• Social inclusion programs for people with cerebral palsy or other motor and mental disabilities
• Artistic and/or cultural sharing projects for lonely elderly residents in suburban quarters
• Post-school education courses for children of migrants and other ethnic minorities
• Environmental awareness projects in urban contexts
• Accompanying programs for migrants who are in Barcelona with the intention of relocating or receiving support before proceeding to the next stage of their journey

Volunteers with a range of skills can assist on the Creative Technologies project, for example:

• Experienced website developers can help build or update websites incorporating relevant content and media to support charitable initiatives.
• Graphic designers can help to create a range of marketing materials, which could include flyers, print advertisements, website content, social media posts or logos.
• Volunteers with experience in videography or film can create promotional videos, and those with photography skills can help NGOs document their activities and provide images for social media and marketing material.

NGOs generally won’t have the necessary resources available, so you’ll need to bring your own laptop, design software (Adobe Creative Suite or equivalent) and/or camera equipment. Please ensure you include all relevant qualifications and/or experience in your application for the program.

Marine Conservation in

Environmental forecasts are painting a bleak picture for the long term health of the ocean, and it’s predicted that by 2050, there could be more plastic than fish in the sea. Marine Conservation volunteers in Spain have the unique opportunity to provide support to underwater clean-up efforts that reduce ocean pollution and conserve marine life.

As Marine Conservation volunteer, you’ll be based at a local dive club, using and improving your scuba diving skills while being actively involved in restoring the natural state of the marine ecosystem of Catalonia and the wider Mediterranean. You’ll help to collect trash from the sea, log information on items collected, learn more about the marine ecosystem and how to protect it and observe and identify fish. If you’re volunteering in summer, you can also help children from disadvantaged backgrounds to dive and learn about helping the environment.

All volunteer efforts on the project work towards the vision of healthier oceans, thriving ecosystems and a clean coastline. You don’t need to have prior diving experience; however, you will have to gain dive certification before engaging in any underwater conservation activities.

The Program Fee covers the cost of the required online and in-person training, the use of full scuba equipment and volunteer supervision from an experienced dive instructor. For safety, all diving is weather dependant. Volunteers are required to be flexible if diving cannot be carried out due to bad weather.

All volunteers complete internationally-recognised CMAS diving certifications. The diving certification you complete will depend on your current diving experience and the length of your stay. The courses range from Open Water Diver through to Advanced Open Water Diver, and specialties such as marine ecology and fish identification.

When applying for the Marine Conservation project, please note any current dive certifications you have. If you do have certifications already, you will need to send a copy of these along with your diving log book through to our local team in Barcelona prior to your program starting. All volunteers are also required to provide a medical certificate which clears you for diving.

You can choose to give back on this project for 1-12 weeks.

Special Needs Support in

For people with disabilities, individualised care can make a huge difference to helping them live meaningful lives. However, that care can be hard to come across. As a volunteer on the Special Needs Support project in Barcelona, you’ll be based in centres that care for individuals with a wide range of physical and mental disabilities.

The aim of this project is to help provide one-on-one care for people with special needs, many of whom are adults, enabling them to be more integrated within their community and to live a less stigmatised life. You’ll be helping a team of local staff and volunteers, assisting in activities such as arts and crafts, physical therapy, exercise and activities including swimming or walking dogs. Volunteers also help with operational tasks such as preparing food, serving meals, cleaning and helping with personal hygiene.

This project is well suited to compassionate, patient and caring people. As the education system is not set up to accommodate those with special needs, your time on this project will be both rewarding and highly valued by the local community.

You’ll be working closely with the local placement staff, so you’re not required to have previous experience working or volunteering with disabled people. This project has a minimum duration requirement of 2 weeks.

Youth Support in

There is a growing poverty divide in Barcelona, and those who grow up in underprivileged communities don’t commonly have access to support services that exist in other parts of the world. Volunteers on the Youth Support project you can help forge meaningful connections with young people and help give them tools to break the cycle they were born into.

After school centres aim to provide a safe, supportive place for students to be productive with their free time, and volunteers play an important role in fostering an inclusive environment for all who want to attend. You’ll help with personal development and establishing life skills that can change young people’s expectations for themselves and their futures.

Youth Support volunteers assist students between the ages of 5-18 with homework, organising activities, teaching English, mentoring and simply spending time with the young people who attend the centres. During school and summer holidays, you can also help with trips to the beach or on summer camps outside town

You’ll work closely alongside the organisation staff and other volunteers to promote better outcomes for young people in Barcelona. This project has a minimum duration requirement of 2 weeks.