Volunteer Programs in Rural Areas, Swaziland

Share your knowledge of healthy eating, cooking methods, and the impact of good nutrition on childhood development and growth by interning in Swaziland. The project supports vulnerable children from low-income communities by growing their own produce and eating healthily. This internship will give you an amazing opportunity to learn about the challenges facing poorer communities when it comes to nutrition, how different cultures view food, and the approaches undertaken to educate and overcome these. You will participate by using your skills to assist the overstretched staff in developing materials they can use long after you have returned home. Interns should be studying nutrition or a health-related topic or a professional in the fields of nursing, health promotion or health, or alternatively a dietitian. You should be comfortable working closely with a local staff developing the program as well as contributing your ideas and experiences to help staff and community members. Please bring a laptop to work on training materials, research, and your final presentation.

Experience hands-on field research related to the conservation of savannah ecosystems in the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly called Swaziland). Although savannahs are well-represented in African conservation areas, they are subjected to increasing degradation as a result of human influences, including land use and climate change. Well known for large charismatic game such as elephants, rhinos, and lions, there are a variety of smaller species that are threatened and are arguably more critical to the functioning of savannahs. Depending on priorities and active studies at the time of participation, volunteers may study vegetation, bats, hyenas, small predators (like mongoose, genets, and jackal), rodents, ungulates (such as giraffe and antelope), reptiles, birds, and other plant and animal life in Eswatini’s Lubombo Conservancy. They will examine the interface among commercial agriculture, rural communities, and protected areas in this Southern African region and learn from our experienced conservationists. They will be based at our Savannah Research Centre and camp in the private Mbuluzi Game Reserve, working at the Mlawula Nature Reserve and Hlane Royal National Park located nearby.