Why volunteer?

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WaterAid/Brendan Foster

Get involved

Do you want to be part of something incredible? At WaterAid, we’re proud to work with a community of amazing volunteers – and we’d love you to join us.

From helping out in one of our offices to joining a local group, becoming a speaker or cheering on our brilliant marathon runners, we have a whole host of opportunities available for you. You'll meet like-minded people, develop excellent skills and gain valuable experience.

Whatever you decide to do, you’ll be joining a global network committed to one thing: reaching everyone, everywhere with clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene, within a generation.

What our volunteers say

Penelope at the Speaker Network event at St Edmund Campion school in Maidenhead. January 2020 Penelope is a Speaker and festival volunteer. During the pandemic, she has delivered a Zoom talk to a Scout group, where she shared our hygiene messages and updated them on our COVID-19 approach. Image: WaterAid/ Oliver Dixon
Rosie, a Volunteer Speaker in the Speaker Network “I became a Speaker to help share the fantastic work that WaterAid does across the world; there is nothing more inspiring than hearing an individual speak with passion." - Rosie, WaterAid speaker Image: WaterAid
Kate, a WaterAid university volunteer at Southampton University. "I have really enjoyed raising money for such a good cause with my peers in events that we can enjoy as well." - Kate, university volunteer. Image: WaterAid
Elizabeth, a WaterAid volunteer for the Speaker Network. "Undoubtedly the best thing about volunteering for WaterAid is the tremendous support and positive feedback that everyone that works at WaterAid gives to us volunteers." - Elizabeth, WaterAid speaker. Image: WaterAid
Sophie, a volunteer for WaterAid at Glastonbury 2017. "I’d really recommend volunteering at Glastonbury for WaterAid – not only is it a really worthwhile thing to do, but it’s also enormous fun." - Sophie, festival volunteer. Image: WaterAid
Will, a member of a WaterAid local group "The events we have organised tend to be great fun in their own right. Its also given me a great chance to become friends with people from different walks of life." - Will, local WaterAid group. Image: WaterAid

Read the blog from our volunteers

Why we don't send volunteers to projects

We believe it is vital that each community take responsibility for constructing, maintaining and managing their project themselves – receiving specialist support and training from our local partner agencies in the region.

Because the communities we work with are often in very remote areas, any visit would also require detailed planning and use valuable staff time and resources. Out of respect for the communities, we do not encourage self-funded trips to our projects either.

If you would like to see examples of our work, we do have many real life stories showing how clean water and sanitation have changed the lives of people around the world. For further information on volunteering overseas, you may like to try VSO.