Frequently Asked Questions

At this time, volunteers must commit to a minimum of two months of service. Our experience has shown that when volunteers serve for less than two months, the impact of their assignment is not as sustainable and volunteers often depart feeling frustrated at the length of time it takes to adapt to a new culture and build relationships with the NGO staff. For shorter volunteer and travel opportunities, please refer to AJWS Service Delegations and Study Tours.

There is no program fee to participate in AJWS Volunteer Corps. AJWS pays for volunteers’ airfare and provides emergency evacuation assistance and medical referrals through International SOS. Volunteers are financially responsible for health insurance and in-country cost-of-living, including housing, food and local transportation. These costs vary greatly based on location of service.

Volunteers can apply for funding from AJWS to help cover their room and board. The funding will usually cover a portion of a volunteer’s room and board expenses. AJWS staff will be happy to provide the application for funding upon request after a volunteer’s location of service has been confirmed.

Applicants to AJWS Volunteer Corps do not apply for a specific placement, but for the opportunity to be placed with an AJWS partner NGO. AJWS matches a volunteer's credentials, language ability and interests with a partner organization's specific requests and needs. Placements are not arranged until after the volunteer has been accepted and commits to participating in the program.

We frequently place couples in volunteer positions together. Please complete separate applications and indicate on your respective applications that you are a couple and would like to be placed together. Depending on professional backgrounds, interests and NGO needs, couples may be placed at the same NGO or different NGOs in the same location.

Sometimes volunteers bring their children on a Volunteer Corps assignment. It is the responsibility of the volunteer to make arrangements for school and/or care for the children while the adult(s) volunteer for a full work week. AJWS does not pay for airfare or provide International SOS coverage for family members who are not volunteering.

Yes. We happily accommodate interfaith couples provided that one partner is Jewish.

No. We accept applications from Jewish individuals of all nationalities and appreciate this diversity in our volunteers.

AJWS places volunteers with a broad range of professional backgrounds and skill levels. Please refer to the “Eligibility” page for a list of the general skill sets requested by our partner NGOs. If you don’t see your area of expertise or have further questions, please contact us at 212-792-2888 or volunteer@ajws.org to discuss your circumstances.

Fluency in Spanish in required for our placements in the Americas. In some cases, an applicant who is proficient but not yet fluent may be eligible if s/he commits to language training at her/his own expense.

Of course! With the exception of placements in the Americas and some parts of francophone Africa, all assignments only require English language abilities.

Volunteers can obtain housing with private kitchens so that they can cook their own food. It is difficult to obtain food products that are certified kosher in most locations, but vegetarian ingredients can be obtained easily in most locations.

Yes. AJWS informs NGOs that volunteers are not required to work on Saturdays and Jewish holidays.

Following acceptance to the program, AJWS staff matches each volunteer with a partner NGO which has requested that volunteer’s skills. The partner NGO proposes a workplan, which the volunteer, the AJWS Program Officer and an NGO staff member then discuss over the phone. AJWS creates a Memorandum of Understanding for all the parties to sign. Two weeks after the volunteer arrives, s/he and her/his supervisor update the workplan.

During the placement process, AJWS staff take a volunteer’s placement preferences into consideration and try to accommodate them whenever possible. However, placements are also made based on the needs of our NGO partners, so we ask volunteers to be as flexible as possible with regard to location of service, allowing us to make sure that their skills are utilized as fully as possible.

AJWS asks NGOs to assist volunteers in locating and securing housing. AJWS country representatives may also assist in this process. Usually volunteers live in rented apartments with running water and electricity; sometimes accommodation may be in hotels, hostels, as a boarder in a family’s home or in a home stay. Air-conditioning may be available. In some cases, a volunteer’s accommodation may be secured before s/he arrives, and in other cases, a volunteer may stay in a guest house or hotel for a few days while choosing where s/he would like to live. AJWS staff will help to ensure that these arrangements are made. Volunteers are responsible for all costs related to their housing.

AJWS provides a number of avenues of support for volunteers: AJWS staff members in New York and AJWS country representatives are in constant contact with volunteers throughout their placements. Volunteers are responsible for locating social support networks through colleagues at their NGOs and other people they meet in their area of service. Depending on location, volunteers can also serve as a support network for one another; AJWS provides the contact information for all volunteers in the same area.

Of course! We encourage volunteers to travel following their service rather than during the middle of their assignments.

AJWS supports established, grassroots, community-based NGOs. Currently we do not fund individuals to begin start-up projects.

You should apply for Volunteer Corps if you can provide skills training and technical consultancy, or if you can provide support services to an NGO for a minimum of two months. You should apply for World Partners if you are interested in long-term volunteer service combined with study and reflection. Some applicants may qualify for both programs and should consider current program locations of World Partners, length of commitment and level of interest in the educational component to help them decide in which program they would most like to participate.