Australian Volunteers International is committed to work towards a peaceful and just world. It achieves this by providing opportunities for Australians to volunteer to live, work and learn in partnership with people of other cultures.
Volunteers contribute to developing communities and bring a reciprocal benefit to Australia.
Our history The concept of volunteering, of offering a hand to help those in need, is not new - it's one of the most positive and enduring aspects of the human spirit. For many thousands of years people have been contributing their time and effort for the better of the community in which they live. Over recent decades our concept of community has expanded, largely thanks to advances in telecommunications and transport, and our world now extends far beyond our doorstep. This shift has seen the emergence of international volunteering - putting your hand up to support people living in other countries, from our nearest neighbours to those at the farthest reaches of the globe. The idea of international volunteering first emerged in the mid-1900s, and Australia was one of the first countries to embrace the idea.