We are very happy to present you the workcamps that will take place in Switzerland and abroad this summer. Participate in a volunteer project and contribute to social justice, peace and society!
There are more than 300 workcamps around the world. Here is a selection of some volunteer projects available at the moment. If you want to check out all the workcamps taking place abroad, have a look at the Workcamps search engine. You can filter by date, country and topic. If you would like to participate in a Workcamp in Switzerland, you will find all volunteer projects in this list.
If you want to read more information about the Workcamps you can find here the conditions, costs and the registration process. In addition, we organise monthly online information events about the Workcamps – sign up for one!
If you have any questions you can write to placement@scich.org or call us on 031 381 46 20.
WORKCAMPS ABROAD
AUSTRIA: Renovation and Gardening at Waldorf School Schönau [16 – 28 July 2023]
Description: During this camp, participants will help the local community in Schönau an der Triesing, lower Austria, by renovating and gardening at the Waldorfschool. Apart from supporting school renovation and gaining hands-on experience on gardening, you will have a chance to participate in workshops that will focus on environmental issues, sustainability, nature conservation and the history and the values of the Service Civil International (SCI).
Type of Work: Every summer a new part of the school building and the garden is renovated. This year the plan is to paint the classrooms, to do some gardening, wood work, other building and renovation tasks.
BELGIUM: Cultural activities with asylum seekers at the Rixensart Center [09 – 29 July 2023]
Description: The Centre for asylum seekers in Rixensart is an open centre for people who have asked for asylum in Belgium. Its main tasks are to feed, accommodate and provide social and medical aid to asylum-seekers.
Type of Work: The volunteers will propose activities for the residents of the centre (children, teenagers and adults): creative workshops, pastry workshops, choir, environmental awareness and healthy eating, vegetable garden, swimming pool, outdoor games, sports, visits…
CATALONIA (SPAIN): Recovery of old roads and dry stone building in an unusual valley in Pyrenees [25 September – 05 October 2023]
Description: This year, the Vall de Siarb shelter will host a camp on territorial conservation. The group of participants will collaborate in the cleaning and recontruction of the old rural roads of the valley, collaborating with the Road Museum project that was created by the entity. Participants will be able to enjoy a unique natural environment in the valley of the High Pyrenees.
Type of Work: We will be working on restoring and improving old roads: cleaning paths, rebuilding dry stone walls, placing stones and improving trail marks with paint. We will spend the working hours (4 hours/day) in nature, surrounded by forests, fields, etc. The work is mostly manual and physical.
DENMARK: Build-It Festival 2023 [28 June – 21 July 2023]
Description: The Build-It Festival is a unique and interesting event that combines hands-on building activities with a focus on sustainability and environmental awareness. By giving attendees the opportunity to learn new skills and create something from recycled materials, the festival not only provides a fun and creative experience but also helps promote the importance of reducing waste and conserving resources.
Type of Work: The aim is to help create the best possible Build-it Festival. The volunteers will be setting up the festival by sorting wood, moving materials around, and making signs and decorations for the festival. You will also be working in the building area, bar, outdoor kitchen, dishwashing area, toilets, sleeping area, and music stage.
FRANCE: Boquen community life and restoration in Brittany [24 July – 04 August 2023]
Description: The Cultural Association of Boquen organizes meetings in different places on social themes and concerns that challenge us. Secular and independent from denominations in its approach, the association is enriched by philosophical reflections and great spiritual traditions.
Type of Work: 1- Repair of an old well 2- Fitting out the meeting room so that it can be used by association from neighboring villages during the winter : peinting the ceiling and the bottom of the outside wall 3- Lime pointing of old stone walls.
GERMANY: Nature Lovers Island in the Berlin Environs [03 – 14 July 2023]
Type of Work: You will contribute to sustaining the ecosystem of Liepnitz island and the forests around the island. You get to help the local foresters with various environmental works in the woods. Next to that, you will also help with renovation and construction works on the island and in the forests around the island. Possible tasks include removing bushes and invasive small tree species, helping sustain the ecosystem of the moors, collecting rubbish and wood, repairing tasks and so on.
NETHERLANDS: Emmaus [13 – 27 August 2023]
Description: Emmaus Communities around the world enable people to move on from homelessness, providing work and a home in a supportive, family environment. Companions, as residents are known, work full time collecting, renovating and reselling donated furniture.
Type of Work: This project will take place in cooperation with Emmaus Haarzuilens where the volunteers will live and work together with the residents of Emmaus. The work will include picking up second hand goods together with the Emmaus residents, sorting them and placing them in the shop. Also, the volunteers will help with gardening and other maintenance work on the grounds of the community and help in the kitchen as well.
PORTUGAL: Castro of the Three Rivers [10 – 21 July 2023]
Description: Castro dos Três Rios is located in Parada de Gonta (Tondela, Viseu), in Beira Alta Region, Center of Portugal. The project aims to carry out a detailed study of the archaeological site, with a view to clarifying fundamental questions, such as the definition of its chronological features, and the way in which its occupation evolved in historical transition moments.
Type of Work: At the archaeological site, the group of volunteers will be divided in two teams, each being responsible for excavating an area of 16m2. Always accompanied and guided by the director archaeologist and his monitors, each team will carry out, with scientific rigor, all stages of field work, namely, excavation, field records system, treatment and study of the data obtained.
SLOVAKIA: Lukovistia [10 – 17 July 2023]
Description: The Association NOX ET SOLITODO was founded to support and initiate artistic activities in the village Lukovistia, the place where Slovak pt Ivan Krasko was born. One of the first activities of the association is the renovation of the historical building of the school. The main aim is to create the Regional Art Center.
Type of Work: Help with renovation of the old school building. Volunteers will help with easy demolition work, cleaning the walls and cleaning building material and area around the historical building. Volunteers will help also with environmental work, such as building fence of the tree garden and cleaning the forest.
SPAIN: Casa Samuel (Salamanca) [31 July – 13 August 2023]
Description: Caritas Salamanca has a safe house for people with HIV, where it also offers to cover basic needs and the ability to start a process of personal recovery that allows achieving the maximum possible degree of autonomy. Participation as a volunteer is performed in the guesthouse for AIDS so the possibility of living a volunteer experience in a social project is offered, approaching a concrete reality of exclusion, of some HIV-positive persons.
Type of Work: Accompanying the residents: from everyday living in the guesthouse, to city walks or performing various steps. Participate and encourage the various activities of leisure time that are developed from the House, encouraging everyone and helping those having greater difficulties (being in a wheelchair or walking with difficulty). Collaborate in the maintenance and cleaning of the guesthouse.
SWITZERLAND: Chestnut forest preservation in Misox (Soazza GR) [06 – 19 Aug 2023]
Description: The aim of Fondazione Mont Grand is to enhance the landscape of the mountain pasture of Mont Grand near Soazza, where groups of houses are scattered here and there. The foundation takes care of the characteristic sparse chestnut woods, maintains the historic buildings, provides knowledge about biodiversity and cultural history through educational activities and is committed to sustainable tourism. The chestnut forests represent a traditional form of land use that was widespread until after the Second World War and has since been largely abandoned.
Type of Work: The volunteers take care of the chestnut forests. The work mainly involves grass cutting and haymaking between the trees. Sometimes it can be a bit repetitive but the result will make you feel satisfied. Under certain circumstances, it may also be possible to carry out other landscape conservation work, such as clearing the bushes, collecting stones, etc. Be aware that the work is physically demanding and that the land is very steep!
