To fully understand Freepackers, it is necessary to understand the nature of our activities. We are a small organisation of 10 staff members who provide quality NGO placements in the field and country of your choice. The fees we charge ensure that the most complicated parts are dealt with for you, such as finding the local organisation, the application, preparing for the project, and communicating with the local teams.
Freepackers takes the stress out of the logistics of a project abroad and allows you to concentrate on getting the most out of your experience. The high-quality service we provide does result in higher rates, justified by personalised support, a project that includes accommodation, airport pick-up, help with obtaining a visa, language courses, constant on-site supervision and much more.
In addition, Freepackers has long-standing relationships with partners who regularly host international participants. This means that there is always a position available for you, whatever your profile and travel dates. The projects have been visited to ensure they have a real impact and reliable, experienced, local teams. We travel the world to find the best projects and only work with trustworthy people who are known to the whole Freepackers team.
Our focus is on learning and exchange projects. Anything to do with rescue, helping people in danger or emergency aid is beyond our limits. We do not claim to be eradicating poverty, injustice or inequality. We just want to help make the world a better place, by taking targeted, local action at our level.
Each project is selected according to strict criteria to ensure that financial contributions have a lasting impact. The projects we support must employ more than 50% local staff, and demonstrate a system of co-management with local communities.
To guarantee your safety, we have to apply a fee structure that allows us to mobilise professionals (biologists, nurses, masons, architects, etc.) to supervise you, assist you 24/7, guide you in your tasks, manage the projects and ensure that the objectives set are achieved.
The more advanced the project, the more resources it requires (vehicles, telemetry, in vitro analyses, vets, caretakers, etc.), the financing of which will be reflected in the cost of the programme. The cost of living in your chosen country also determines the logistical costs. For example, a programme in Australia will be more expensive than one in Thailand.
Finally, the donation part is used to provide sustainable aid to local populations and structures. Over the last ten years, we have donated over €1 300,000 to our partner NGOs. So your contribution doesn’t just fund your project, it also supports all the projects set up by Freepackers. It’s a great way to make your humanitarian trip even more meaningful.
Setting off alone or in a group on a volunteer project requires substantial resources. Unlike a tourist trip, travelling with an impact requires logistics, supervision, equipment and serious structure. Paying for a humanitarian trip can be seen as an obstacle, which is why Freepackers is committed to helping you.
Since its creation, Freepackers has been constantly on the lookout for all the financial aid available for international mobility. Our aim is to make international mobility accessible to as many people as possible and to provide information on all the resources available to help you achieve this.
Freepackers also provides invaluable information on grants, mobility subsidies and, above all, the possibility of reducing the cost of your project if you go on a humanitarian project of general interest. This is the role of our association, Freepackers Care, whose aim is to help you fund your humanitarian trip.
Financing a humanitarian trip is an integral part of the project. Like field experience, it’s a learning process. You have a goal and you need to find the means to achieve it. The good news is that it can be done! The keys to success? Anticipation, planning, research and perseverance.
We send hundreds of students and young people on projects every year, and we help them all find the resources to make their dream come true.
So why shouldn’t you?
As you can see, the prices we charge are due to the real need to finance the programmes we support. In exchange, here’s a summary of the Freepackers guarantees:
We are an independent organisation and receive no support from the state or our partner organisations. The long-term future of Freepackers therefore depends solely on the financial contribution of the participants.
