OUR VOLUNTEERS
Our volunteers are the heart and soul of EPAfrica. They’re involved in every aspect of the organisation, from running our summer programmes to fundraising, communications, finance and training.
There are plenty of opportunities available, both within East Africa and the UK. We aim to give our volunteers an opportunity to push themselves, take on real responsibility and experience grassroots international development and charity management at its best.
Volunteers in East Africa
Project Associates
Experience grassroots development at its best, spending ten weeks working with one of EPAfrica’s partner schools in East Africa.
Our Project Associates are the people who fulfil EPAfrica’s goals for educational improvement, through tailored investment programmes in the field.
No school is the same – our Project Associates have the flexibility and autonomy to focus on particular aspects of our model to do what’s best for their school.
This is not a holiday. It’s a challenge.
Summer Team
The Summer Team consists of two positions: Project Coordinators and a Project Manager.
Project Coordinators maintain both our pipeline of applicant schools and network of alumni schools. They provide pastoral support to Project Associates, provide advice on investments, and help train them in-country.
The Project Manager leads the whole in-country operation. They manage the Project Coordinators and act as a link between the Summer Team and the Board of Trustees.
Being part of the Summer Team provides the perfect opportunity to gain experience in people and project management within a development context.
Project Researchers
In parallel to deploying investment programmes, we continually need to review our work to maintain impact long-term.
We are therefore always seeking Project Researchers to understand the evolving needs of communities we work with, and answer key questions for EPAfrica’s future work.
Travel to East Africa is typically over summer, but research from the UK can be year-round to support our ongoing activities.
Through working with us, our Project Researchers benefit from decades of insights and first-hand experience from which to draw on.
Volunteers in the UK
EPAfrica is proud to be volunteer-run. We offer fantastic opportunities for ongoing personal development beyond our summer programmes. Our volunteers are supported with extensive training, our professional development programme and working closely with our knowledgeable partners.
From Communications, to IT, to Training, to Recruitment, our Central Charity has every position going. The Committee structure ensures that no matter your involvement, you’re directly tied in to everything going on in your committee. You’ll have specific responsibilities, while staying in touch with other EPAfrica friends across the UK, learn skills while seeing other positions you could grow into in the future, and make a clear contribution to the success of the summer projects in every role.
We structure our central charity roles around three levels:
- Trustees: Responsible for the charity’s legality, financial health, and risk management.
- Management Committee: responsible and accountable for the day-to-day operation of the charity. Usually these will be people who have previously held roles in the central charity before, and/or have experience from outside EPAfrica which they can bring to bear on their roles. Management Committee members report into their Trustee lead(s).
- Delivery Leads: responsible for specific tasks and/or areas of delivery. They are managed by the Management Committee member responsible for their area.
