Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation

Volunteers should be willing to work for at least three months on activities that are helpful to ITFC (see suggestions below). Please contact us (info@itfc.org) at least 2-3 months in advance if you are interested in working as a volunteer. We charge foreign volunteers (those from outside East Africa) for accommodation (see fees, under foreign students/researchers).

3 new volunteers have just joined ITFC (June 2010);

New requests will only be considered from December 2010 again.

Interns are usually students who require a few months of practical, hands-on experience working in an organization, to fulfill their study requirements. Interns should expect to pay their own costs, including food, board, transport and insurance (see fees, which depend on whether you are Ugandan or foreign national).

We need to reorganise our small, specialised library: we welcome an intern

from library studies to come work with us for 2-3 months

Suggestions for volunteer work

NOTE: ITFC cannot provide opportunities for volunteers to work with gorillas or other primates

Website content and development
Writing popular summaries of completed research projects for the website
Developing projects for environmental education (local people as well as tourists)
Library organisation (requires experience in library management )
Map making (requires GIS experience; layers are available, but need checking and updating)
Media and public relations (e.g. writing media stories about ITFC's work)
Teaching basic English to local ITFC staff
Teaching basic computer skills to local ITFC staff
Preparing database of the herbarium (botanical background essential)
Developing complete plant list for Bwindi and Mgahinga, incl. synonymy (botanical background essential)
Developing ecotourism activities (e.g. nature trails)
Training community members (e.g. as nature trail guides)
... and we are open to other suggestions too

Click here for a list of 'What to bring' for a stay at ITFC.