Not ready for a solo trip to India? Bring your people with you. Volunteering with friends, family, classmates or colleagues gives you a shared adventure and a shared purpose, and the work often goes better with a team you already trust.
Here is what makes a group volunteer trip special, and how to plan one.
1. You make a difference together
Two heads are better than one, and a whole group can do even more. Working side by side, you swap ideas, share out the tasks and support each other on the harder days. A group can run several activities at once at a children’s center, or repaint a classroom far faster than one volunteer could.
You also see a different side of each other: who stays calm when a lesson goes off script, who can get any child laughing, who carries the paint tins without being asked. Groups often go home closer than they came.
2. You still meet people from everywhere
Traveling as a group doesn’t mean traveling in a bubble. In Delhi, you share the hostel with volunteers from our other projects, and in Jaipur our volunteer house brings together people from around the world. Add the local staff, your coordinator and the people at your project, and your circle grows quickly.
3. It’s a learning trip for everyone
A trip with friends usually means late nights and lazy mornings. A volunteer trip has more shape to it: weekdays at your project, for three to six hours a day depending on the program, with evenings and weekends free to explore. You learn to plan activities, handle surprises and work across a language barrier, and you have each other to talk it all through with at the end of the day.
4. Some programs suit groups especially well
Most programs can take a few friends at once, and some lend themselves to teamwork:
- Construction and renovation, Jaipur: repairs, painting and murals at schools, community centers and clinics, where a team gets a lot done.
- Two-week mini break, Delhi and Agra: eight days with children, a guided tour of Delhi and a day at the Taj Mahal, all planned. Apply together and we keep you together.
- Childcare and elephant rescue: 15 days across Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, with the trains, guides and sightseeing arranged, for groups who want to travel as much as volunteer.
- Street children, Delhi: the program a group of students and teachers from a school in the Netherlands joined in 2017. Read their story.
5. Memories you share for years
Trips with friends are fun. A trip where you also work hard, eat at the same table most evenings and share an overnight train is something else. Years later, your group will still be retelling the stories: the class that finally sang the alphabet song, the haggling in the bazaar, the first sight of the Taj Mahal.
How to plan a group trip
- Check ages first. Everyone must be 17 or older on the start date, and under-18s need a consent form signed by a parent. Some programs, including teaching and childcare in Jaipur, special needs care and the medical internship, are open only to volunteers aged 18 and over.
- Agree on dates. Delhi programs start on two Sundays a month and Jaipur programs every Sunday.
- Apply together. Tell us who is coming when you apply, and we will place you together wherever we can. Ask us about group prices: the discount depends on the program and the size of your group.
- Sort the paperwork early. Each person needs travel insurance and, for work with children or vulnerable adults, a criminal background check issued within 12 months of the start date.
Organizing a trip for a school? Read our guide to school group volunteering trips. For any other group, email info@volunteeringindia.com with your numbers and preferred dates, and we will help you plan.