What if your next career opportunity took you abroad?

Become a volunteer!

Being a volunteer with CECI means taking on a professional assignment alongside a local organization, collaborating with its team to advance its priorities, while engaging in a learning experience grounded in exchange and reciprocity.

Explore the opportunities on our portal and find the one that matches your expertise.

Our volunteer assignments are:

  • Available in Benin, Bolivia, Côte d'Ivoire, Guatemala, the Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, or virtually.
  • 12 months in duration for international assignments.
  • Designed to create mutual impact, benefiting both your professional development and our partner organizations.
  • Open to a wide range of professional backgrounds and areas of expertise, including entrepreneurship, communications, business development, finance, human resources, governance, technology, environmental sustainability, agriculture, and more!

Why become an international volunteer now?

To share your expertise where it can make a difference.

To broaden your horizons and transform your career.

To experience a truly unique professional opportunity.

To embrace a challenge that will help you grow both professionally and personally.

Our volunteering program at a glance:

1,130

volunteers

150

local partner organizations

7 countries

Benin, Bolivia, Côte d'Ivoire, Guatemala, Rwanda, Philippines and Senegal

Your experience with us

What does volunteering with CECI entail?

For CECI, international volunteering represents a professional and personal commitment through which individuals play a crucial role in enhancing the impact of partner organizations, contributing directly to their evolution.

Our approach to volunteering is based on exchange, sharing and respect, aiming to encourage intercultural collaboration.  For us, volunteering has to be synonymous with egalitarian relations. All parties involved on both sides identify and develop learning objectives and share the benefits of the process. Volunteering requires a critical thinking on the dynamics of international power.

Our ProgramCECI's Volunteer Cooperation Program (VCP) is a Canadian international cooperation program that stands as a leader in engaging Canadians in the fight against poverty.

It mobilizes volunteers to share skills and expertise with partner organizations, supporting their development and promoting mutual learning and the values of social justice, equality and inclusion. 

We aim to building fair and egalitarian societies by:

  • Enabling women to increase their income and financial control by entering employment or creating or developing a business, whether formal or informal.

  • Strengthening female leadership for environmental sustainability, climate change adaptation and community resilience.

  • Strengthening women’s rights, from a diversity and inclusion perspective.

Your involvement with local organizationsOur partners include civil society organizations, organizations, groups, private companies, governments and cooperatives that share our vision of equality.

Our volunteer assignments aim to respond to organizational development priorities defined by partner organizations, to amplify their impact on women’s economic empowerment. These development needs may involve changes in leadership, governance, processes, tools, or team management, impacting all organizational functions (human resources, communication, finance, programming, etc.). In order to meet these needs, various support skills are requested, such as advice, coaching, training and participatory animation, in addition to requiring specific expertise (technical skills).

Your expertiseWe are looking for people with different backgrounds and expertise. Whether you are a recent graduate, looking for a new experience or newly retired, you will find your place through this edifying adventure.

The profiles we are looking for cover a wide range of expertise: entrepreneurship, gender equality, rights and diversity, environment and climate change adaptation, business administration, project management, feminist studies, communication, social marketing, management, social innovation, sustainable development, web development, monitoring evaluation learning and many more.

Sample mandates: As a volunteer, you may need to help an organization develop an advocacy campaign, by collecting data and assessing the national context. You would then guide your colleagues in setting goals and creating tools, then support them in meetings with key actors of change.

Requirements to become a volunteer

To volunteer, you must:

  • Have a Canadian citizenship or permanent resident status and a permanent address in Canada.

  • Wish for a transformative experience and be sensitive to international issues.

  • Be available to travel internationally for the duration of the mandate (4 to 12 months), or be available a few hours per week to carry out a remote mandate from Canada.

  • Match one of the assignments’ profiles and be selected by a partner organization.

Our supportCECI takes the safety of volunteers very seriously and implements well-established safety protocols.

Dedicated offices and staff in all countries of operation ensure the health and safety of volunteers. 

In addition, CECI offers:

  • A pre-assignment training course. This training will help volunteers deepen their understanding of CECI and develop the skills and knowledge required to work during their tenure;

  • Support for visa and work permit procedures and related costs;

  • Reimbursement of vaccination costs approved by CECI;

  • Medical insurance and emergency support;

  • Support from a national team throughout the assignment;

  • Monthly allowances for accommodation and subsistence;

  • A return economy airfare between Canada and the assignment’s country;

  • A return report.

Types of assignments offered

International assignments

Join local organizations in Africa, Asia or the Americas to share your skills and co-create sustainable solutions for 9 to 12 months.

Contribute virtually from home

Take part in international initiatives from the comfort of your own home, with a flexible commitment of at least 5 hours a week for 4 months.

Study and get involved

Studying at a CECI partner university? Put your learning into practice with 3 to 8-month international assignments offered through our university partners.

Engage with your employer

Take advantage of a 2-to-4-week solidarity leave to enjoy an enriching experience with the support of your company. Consult your employer to confirm their participation in the program!

Grow through mentoring

Are you an entrepreneur? Benefit from a structured program that helps you clarify your vision, diversify your strategies and develop your international network, with no need for prior mentoring experience

Le volontariat avec le CECI

Volunteer with CECI to drive change, expand your horizons, and experience a transformative journey that creates a lasting impact.

Now it's your turn!

You can't carry out a voluntary cooperation assignment with us at the moment? No worries! Here are other ways you can contribute to change and get involved with us :

Our financial partner

CECI's Volunteer Cooperation Program is funded by the Government of Canada.