The short answer
Four weeks of volunteering with The Power of Sports costs between €850 and €1,390, depending on the country. You arrange your own flight and insurance.
Prices per country
Choose a country, see what it costs
All amounts are the programme contribution for four weeks. If you stay longer, a fixed amount per week is added. Click through for the full programme.
Indonesia€850 / 4 weeksextra week €180Nepal€850 / 4 weeksextra week €180Curaçao€980 / 4 weeksextra week €190Ghana€980 / 4 weeksextra week €210Argentina€1,030 / 4 weeksextra week €180South Africa€1,245 / 4 weeksextra week €210Costa Rica€1,295 / 4 weeksextra week €255Saint Lucia€1,390 / 4 weeksextra week €250
In South Africa you pay €170 per week from the thirteenth week instead of €210. Prices as listed on the programme pages; check there for the latest figures.
Included
What is included in the price?
The contribution is designed so you hardly have to arrange anything once you’re there. For every country:
- Accommodation for the whole period
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Airport pick-up and drop-off
- Introduction and tour on arrival
- A dedicated coordinator at your project location
- Visa advice and help with the application
- Social activities with other volunteers
- A group chat with everyone leaving at the same time
- Contact with your coordinator and former participants before departure
Arrange yourself
What else to bear in mind
- Your flight
- Travel and cancellation insurance
- Visa costs and any vaccinations
- Spending money for trips and personal expenses
- In Argentina and Costa Rica a Spanish course of €100, free if you stay ten weeks or longer
Minimum stay
Why four weeks, and not shorter?
4weeks
Because shorter trips mainly benefit the visitor, not the children. The first week goes on arriving, getting to know the area and settling into the group. Only after that do the children recognise you, do you know how a session works there, and can you really add something.
For a child who looks forward to your session every week, a volunteer who disappears again after ten days is not a help but a disappointment. Our local coordinators build programmes that keep running, and that only works with people who stay long enough to become part of that programme.
As far as we are concerned, four weeks is the minimum for that to work. And it’s good news for you too: almost every participant says afterwards that it only really clicked in week two or three.
Price differences
Why one country costs more than another
1
Local costs
Accommodation and food simply cost more in Saint Lucia and Costa Rica than in Nepal or Indonesia. You see that difference reflected directly in the contribution.
2
Size of the project
At one location you work with a small team and a handful of schools, at another with an organisation that reaches hundreds of children a week. More structure means more fixed costs.
3
What stays local
Part of your contribution goes directly to the project: equipment, salaries of local coaches and the daily activities. That share differs per country.
Where does your contribution go?
The Power of Sports is a non-profit foundation (an ANBI charity in the Kingdom of the Netherlands). We are not profit driven: whatever is left after the cost of your stay and support goes back into the sports projects themselves: into balls and equipment, into local coaches who can make a living from it, and into children who otherwise wouldn’t play sport.
That is also the difference from a commercial travel company: they sell you a trip. We ask for a contribution to keep a project running that you are part of for a number of weeks.
Frequently asked questions
Just one more thing
Can I stay longer than four weeks?
Yes. Four weeks is the basic stay the prices are based on. Every extra week costs the amount shown on your country’s card: from €180 in Indonesia, Nepal and Argentina to €255 in Costa Rica. In South Africa it gets cheaper from the thirteenth week.
Do I have to arrange my own food and accommodation?
No. Accommodation, breakfast, lunch and dinner are included in the price for the whole period, in every country. You are also picked up from and taken back to the airport.
How much Spanish do I need for Argentina or Costa Rica?
You don’t need to speak Spanish to take part. In both countries you can take a Spanish course for €100. If you stay ten weeks or longer, the course is free.
Will I be on my own out there?
No. At every project location a dedicated coordinator is your point of contact. Before departure you get his or her contact details, plus those of former participants, and you join a group chat with everyone leaving at the same time as you.
From experience
Read how others got on
Almost two hundred participants went before you and wrote down what they experienced, including what they wish they had known beforehand.
