Location
  • Ghana
    • Accra
Length
1 to 52 weeks
Health & Safety

Program Details

Language
English
Age Min.
16
Timeframe
Short Term Spring Break Summer Winter Year Round
Housing
Host Family

Pricing

Starting Price
2070
What's Included
Accommodation Activities Airport Transfers Meals Transportation Wifi
What's Not Included
Airfare Travel Insurance Visa
Aug 03, 2023
Aug 23, 2021
48 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

At Projects Abroad, we’re passionate about travel with a purpose. Since being founded in 1992, more than 125,000 volunteers have traveled to over 20 destinations around the world.

Our programs will make you step out of your comfort zone and engage with your new friends from around the world. These are long-term projects, led by local people and aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. By taking part in our programs, even for a short time, you will be contributing towards a sustained effort to support the communities that host us!

Our most popular volunteer programs in Ghana include: Childcare, Teaching, Medicine, Sports, and Human Rights projects. Choose a project you are passionate about and whichever program you choose, you’ll be supported by our dedicated staff and partners.

Ready to make a difference? Follow the link below to visit our website.

Video and Photos

Impact

Sustainability

Travel with purpose! Projects Abroad champions responsible adventures, connecting you with communities through low-impact volunteer work. Ditch tourist traps, build rainforests, empower children, safeguard wildlife, and much more. Make meaningful journeys that leave a lasting positive impact - explore sustainable travel and become a global changemaker today!

Visit our website to learn more about our pioneering approach to sustainability.

Ethical Impact

Join Projects Abroad, a force for good connecting volunteers with communities. Build green futures, fight inequality, and empower locals on impactful adventures.

Visit our website to learn more about our impact worldwide.

Program Highlights

  • Choose a project you are passionate about that fits your interests
  • Select your own start date and duration
  • Get 24/7 support from the local staff and head office team
  • Make a difference where it is needed most
  • Have fun exploring the country and its culture over the weekends

Popular Programs

Building Volunteer Work in Ghana

Get your hands dirty and assist with hands-on construction work while volunteering in Ghana. Great for people who want to see a tangible result of their hard work!

Volunteer Football Coaching in Ghana

Live in West Africa and get coaching experience by helping local children improve their soccer skills.

Volunteer Teaching English in Ghana

Gain practical experience teaching English to children in the more rural areas of Ghana.

Medical internship in Ghana

Great opportunities for young adults aged 16 and over to gain practical experience in Medicine and Healthcare in Ghana. As an intern, you’ll have an opportunity to work alongside medical professionals in various capacities: general medicine, nursing, dentistry, public health and more.

Projects Abroad Ghana high school program

This summer, Projects Abroad offers exciting projects for 2, 3 or 4 weeks and involve teens in issues like Human Rights, Medicine & Healthcare, and Child Development.

Program Reviews

4.77 Rating
based on 48 reviews
  • 5 rating 83.33%
  • 4 rating 14.58%
  • 3 rating 0%
  • 2 rating 0%
  • 1 rating 2.08%
  • Impact 4.6
  • Support 4.7
  • Fun 4.6
  • Value 4.65
  • Safety 4.9
Showing 41 - 48 of 48 reviews
Default avatar
Deborah
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Everyone Needs to Volunteer Abroad

My experience with Projects Abroad in Ghana was amazing, fulfilling, surprising and well worth the $ and the time. I volunteered in 2006 when I was in my late 40's and Ghanaians and my host family created lasting memories for me. I have been back to Ghana several times and continue to find ways where I can be of service.

The best advice I can give anyone volunteering in a developing country is to remember, "it's not about you." Allow your hosts to lead and guide, and you will see how you can best contribute.

48 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
mhoffman
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Physiotherapy in Ghana!

As soon as I arrived in Ghana I was greeted by a staff member, very clearly marked as a Projects Abroad staffer, as well as, a few other volunteers who arrived on the same plane. Projects Abroad also provided me with plenty of contact information of staff members, just in case anything were to go wrong, a few weeks prior. This staff support continued throughout the 2 month trip. I was also very pleased to have weekly staff interactions during Tuesday night Quiz nights and during my outreach programs. I honestly could not have asked for a better accommodation. I stayed with Molly Yankey for my two month placement. She is the kindest and sweetest Host Mother in all of Cape Coast! She took care of me and my seven other roommates like we were all her daughters. She cooked to our preferences and always made sure we were well fed. Even having a roommate who was a vegetarian, she met her needs to the best of her abilities. I am so thankful for my placement at Miss Molly's because it also meant living with Esi and George, as well. They are like family to me now and I stay in contact with them, even a year later. The conditions were great, especially for being in a third world country. The running water would often not work, but that was only due to overall Cape Coast city problems. However, Molly always made sure to have water stored on hand so all 8 of the volunteers and the three family members could take showers and use water as need be. My project was with the Central Regional Hospital in Cape Coast and I worked as a Physiotherapist. I was able to work with my own patients, diagnose, and rehab with my own plan. Definitely an experience that I would not have been able to have in the united states without being certified. I was treated respectfully and always have plenty to do. Overall, I had an amazing experience with my placement and on top of that, an extraordinary time traveling all around the country of Ghana during the weekends. The price for the program was a bit lofty, but with how well the two months went and how well everything was taken care of, did I mention I contracted Malaria and the staff took me to the hospital and checked up on me for days after??, I am perfectly satisfied with how much I paid. I know I could not have had an equal experience going through a different program.

49 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
kristen
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Ghana-Orphanage Work

I was in Ghana for 2 weeks working at the kumasi childrens home. I lived with a local family that lived about a 45min away from the childrens home. I enjoyed myself VERY much and I am looking to go again in the future. When I first arrived I had no idea what to expect, the thing that hits you first is the heat! It was so hot already at 7am when I arrived. Then I took the extremely long journey to Kumasi, luckily the VIP bus had AC. The culture shock alone was pretty hard to deal with for a coupe days just because I wasnt used to having people swarm around me trying to help me with my bags or anything like that. My host family really made my trip, priscilla my house mother was great! The food is very very spicey so that was another challenge I had to deal with. A typical day for me started about 6:30am, where I would shower (with my bucket and cup because we had no running water in the house) then my breakfast would be waiting for me a the table, from there I would walk to my junction to catch my first tro to sofaline. Once there we needed to transfer to another tro that took us to the airport roundabout, once there we had about a 5min walk to the orphange. Class was usually started by the time we got there so I headed into my kindergarten class until it was time for their break, we would then take all the kids to the playground to play and socialize. After the break was over I headed to the newly put together disabled class because we felt that every child deserved to be in a classroom and learning. After we were all done for the day we would usually head into adum for some shopping at the supermarket, or to go to the internet cafe.
The entire time i was there i felt 100% safe, and if i had any problems the staff was there to help me out in any way

49 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Anjum
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Accra, Ghana - Work Hard, Play Hard in this City of FUN!

When I first got of the plane in Accra, Ghana, I could not have anticipated the profound effect this trip would have on me. The first experience that embraced me in Accra, ( besides the overwhelming heat which I wasn’t used to coming from Canada) was the warm welcome from Nyami, the driver that picked me up from the airport. He took those first few minutes to introduce me to the program, and what would then become a recurring theme throughout the trip, that famous Ghanaian hospitality. After finding out a bit about me and my aspirations, he quickly gave me a name day and introduced me to the jewels of interpersonal interactions in Ghana such as the tricky to get but fun to do snapping handshake. Despite the jarring differences I witnessed between Ghana and Canada, I quickly felt at home in Ghana because of my kind host family that I would be very sad to leave in 2 months.
My placement was at the Ghana Police Hospital where I was put on rotations through the various wards in the hospital, from the outpatient department or OPD ward (emergency ward), surgery, female ward, paediatrics, ob/gyn and the rest. I originally planned to stay only a month in Ghana, but after two weeks in the hospital, I quickly extended my stay by a month. Not only did I get to do some technical things I would never get to do in Canada (such as giving injections, assisting with IV lines, and following doctors on ward rounds), but I felt as if I was real member of the health care team by the level of respect given to me as if I was true colleague. The degree of professionalism as well as team work displayed by the employees of the police hospital truly made my short time there an enriching one. I got to see things I have never seen before such as c-sections, hysterectomies, hernia repairs, and amputations to name a few. I got to also read up and see patients who had diseases I had never come across and perhaps never come across again such as typhoid fever, malaria, elephantiasis, colon cancer, diabetic sores, gangrene, and much more. If you want to get in on the action, it all depends on the enthusiasm and dedication you show! You really do influence how your placement will go!
Those on medical placements also had a chance to participate in weekly medical outreaches to orphanages in the Greater Accra region. Here you got to realize the true impact of your volunteerism. Cleaning the scrapes and cuts of these children who would have a smile on their faces despite everything they had to endure taught me so much about what true perseverance and resilience is. It is not about what life hands you but how you handle it that develops and shows your character and what marks the difference between one who is happy and one who is defeated by life.
It wasn’t all work in Ghana! If there is one thing people in Accra know, its how to have to good time. With the various events to do after work from the weekly quiz nights at the Projects Abroad office in Pig Farm ( one of the numerous personality-filled neighbourhoods in Accra), to the ethnic restaurants, bars and clubs, there was always something to do! If shopping is your thing, the arts market, makola market and Oxford street were prime places to bargain and get deals. Weekends were filled with trips through the beautiful locales of the many regions of Ghana.
My two months in Ghana hold some of my most profound memories of my life thus far. This trip in Ghana fully immersed me in the culture and really showed me what it meant to be a Ghanian. The food was excellent, the people were fantastic, the work was rewarding and the time there was unforgettable. Ghana is a place full of untold beauty in not only the sights but the people. What you will take back home that will be the most important won’t be the souvenirs and the pictures but the experiences and the feeling that Ghana gives you. Ghana one love indeed!

49 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Mel
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Loved it and did not want to leave

I loved the program I did, however we had a few problems with the local orphanage staff, as it appeared that we were not wanted there, and were essentially overstepping boundries. The children were great, and we had a lot of freedom to interact with them and do activities with them. Or course you get what you put into it. The second part of my placement, was more what I was interested in, and was very interesting being involved in the day to day running of program, as we had local staff input, but the majority of time, we had the freedom to implement project which we thought would be beneficial. Hosusing was basic but provided us with the necesseties, and the other volunteers were great, there was always something going on every night.

50 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Paige
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

The best explorience ever!

Projects Abroad volunteer programs allow participants to EXPLORE a new country and EXPERIENCE a new culture. Participants live in a host family, therefore they are fully emmersed into the new culture. One will make friends with other volunteers around the world. For a third world country, the housing is fairly comfortable. The staff is very friendly and helpful before the trip, during the trip, and after the trip. A typical day of the program I participated in (they have many different options but I did Care and Community)a volunteer would do a variety of work. In the morning we would paint a school. We got many breaks to play with the students, and had several games of soccer (football). Lunch would be delivered to our place of work. There was always enough food to keep you satisified, and water to keep you hydrated. After lunch we would go to the orphanage. There we would play games with the children, talk to them, help with chores, homework

48 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Roxy
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

2 week high school special care program in Ghana

Going to Ghana and doing the care program was an amazing experience. We got to see what the Ghanian culture was like as well as help out with the kids. I was stationed in Akuapem Hills and i stayed with a host family in Kwamoso village. In the mornings we painted a school and in the afternoons we went to a day care. On the weekend we visited cape coast. We went to the slavery castle and did the canopy walk which was awesome! The people were so welcoming and friendly and you get to meet other volunteers from around the world. My time spent in Ghana really opened my eyes up to just how great it feels to help others in need. I recommend that anyone who is debating on going GO!

57 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Katharine
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Projects Abroad Ghana!

Most days we would wake up at about 7:00 am, although most of us were up before that because of the chickens. We would have breakfast and head off to work at the Jr. High where we were painting and plastering. Often, we would get to talk to the students there and they were able to teach us some Chi and just talk and tell us about their lives. This was really cool and gave all of us a true look into their culture. Then in the afternoon we headed home for lunch in our village where we would play with the kids there on their break. Then we headed off to the Daycare or Orphanage. It was great to be able to play with all of the kids and help them with their english. One of the coolest things was in our village, we got to watch the kids do their play and one night we walked with them to get our bathing water. It was incredible to see these tiny boys and girls carrying extremely heavy buckets on their heads, we even got to try in and it was not easy! We really had no difficulties. No one got sick due to the food, I actually really really miss it, and wish we had it here! I feel like this trip was worth it, I worked for three years to be able to afford it. Those two weeks were worth every single penny I earned. I felt like I got to experience the culture, and live life. Everyone in Ghana was so friendly and the host family was amazing, I brought everything I needed, and I felt safe all the time. Normally I feel nervous in new settings, even hotels. The first night we were there, I didn't even think about the fact that I was staying in a unknown country, with people I didn't know, and in a room that didn't lock. I was completely at ease. The thing that I found amazing was the fact that I slipped into the situation so easily. I didn't feel out of place at once, not even on the first day! I loved this trip. I grew so much, I feel more mature, and I feel like I have a better understanding of the world around me. I'm no longer as naive about things as I was before. I have more pacients, and I feel like I'm more willing to work hard without complaint. There is so much more I could write about, I could probably write a novel! I will say, the most difficult thing for me was watching the kids not eat sometimes. One night a little girl was telling me about how she was so excited to get dinner, she went home and about five minutes later came back crying saying that her mother could not feed her. And I couldn't do a thing about it. The next night we had chicken, (often the kids would ask for our plates to clean them) when a little girl came to me asking for my plate I handed it to her, she ripped the ketchup and chicken bone off of the plate and ran in the corner and started eating the bone. This was an extreme wake-up call for me, even if the kids are happy all the time, they still have hard lives. I want to help change that. I don't like the fact that I have all the food I want, and they sometimes don't have any. That was my only issue with the trip, and it had nothing to do with the organization. Only the poverty. Overall I had an incredible time, if I could go back this second, I would.
Thanks!

50 people found this review helpful.

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