We don’t claim to be trying to save the world, but to offer a responsible international experience with a positive local impact. We advocate working with local communities, making a long-term contribution, an exchange.
Since 2010, Freepackers has been working in close collaboration with numerous local NGOs in 36 destinations, all of which have been visited in person and chosen with care, ethics, and professionalism. Since its creation, more than 200,000€ have been donated to partner NGOs and more than 2,500 volunteers have collaborated in social engagement and eco-volunteering projects.
FREEPACKERS is registered as a Limited company in Barcelona – Reg. B67144766
The Freepackers Care association is registered in France (Somme).
I created Freepackers in 2010 to encourage young people to be internationally mobile, to inspire people to travel and gain meaningful international experiences. I personally took a 2 sabbatical travelling around the world, with a working holiday visa (WHV) and doing international volunteering.
My intention in creating Freepackers was to bring together a range of international projects to provide you with unique, enriching, and unforgettable experiences. Through this personal development, I also sought to transform your experience on the projects into a positive and sustainable impact on the region and the local community.
My career in figures: 15 years in the travel business, 30 international volunteering projects, 2 trips around the world, 52 countries visited, 2 Erasmus exchanges.
We visit each project and verify our partner organisations We have personally visited all the projects in order to fully understand their ethics, as well as the supervision provided and the values conveyed by the host organisation. We have weekly contact with our partner NGOs to ensure that each assignment is running smoothly. We know the projects and the NGOs personally. This is why we position ourselves as experts, thanks to our in-depth knowledge of the projects we offer.
Ethical projects that contribute to sustainable development Ensuring that projects are ethical means ensuring that they contribute to sustainable development. But what is sustainable development? In essence, it is meeting the needs of today’s society without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It is based on three pillars: social, economic and ecological. Our projects are integrated into one or more of these areas to ensure they have a sustainable impact. We have different project categories:
– Humanitarian: providing better future opportunities for local communities.
– Environmental: contributing to the conservation of ecosystems.
– Wildlife: acting for the protection of species.
We contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2015. Our humanitarian projects in communities contribute to providing “quality education for all”, for example, goal number 4.
Matching volunteer profiles with project needs Freepackers is an intermediary organisation. We act as a link between the local organisations and the volunteers. This link is made first of all through real guidance work, so that each volunteer can choose the project that best suits their needs.
We therefore research and analyse information from all volunteers to ensure that their preferences and skills are matched with local needs. Our experience and knowledge of the field allow us to give volunteers the best advice. We have been assisting volunteers on projects like these since 2014, and with every feedback we receive, we fine-tune our profiling analysis. We build your project by talking it through with you directly, by phone and by email.
Placements depend on the participants’ skills and profile. A telephone interview and an enrolment form (CV and covering letter) help determine what the volunteer’s assignment will be, ranging from childcare to the organisation of extracurricular activities and tutoring/assistance in schools for the most highly qualified.
A comprehensive follow-up process to support you throughout the project
In addition to the personalised and tailor-made work placements, we provide regular follow-up before, during, and after the assignment. A real framework to ensure the smooth running of the project.
Once the project has been chosen, we help participants prepare for their trip. We handle the documents required to enrol onto the project, and forward them to our partner NGO. We are always available by email, WhatsApp, and telephone to answer any questions you may have. We are as transparent as possible about the experience on site, so that volunteers know what to expect! Once on site, the host organisation takes over the logistics and answers any questions. Nonetheless, we regularly ask for news of each of our volunteers, directly from them and from our partner. We’re therefore in constant contact with the participants, who can reach us if necessary.
Until the very end of the assignment, we keep in touch with our volunteers, who send us their feedback and impressions. It is thanks to this feedback that we have been able to fine-tune our projects, our work placements, our follow-up, and therefore our expertise!
