Terms
Moving Mountains Trust is a charity that aims to relieve poverty; it provides grants, support and strategic advice to two independent NGOs, Moving Mountains Kenya and Moving Mountains Nepal, which both carry out the implementation of the programmes and projects in-country with fully employed qualified staff who have many years of experience in education, health, social welfare and community development.
Description of volunteer programme
Moving Mountains relies on donations from the general public to support its work, and it provides an opportunity for volunteers to engage with staff in-country and assist with some of the programmes it runs. Many group volunteering trips support a specific programme or project, while individual volunteering generally contributes to the ongoing annual cost of a programme.
For example our medical camps in Nepal fund the annual costs of running a clinic for one year including the salaries of two nurses, however a 3 week volunteering period in a school in Kenya will help contribute to a wider programme for early child development.
Role descriptions and the volunteers’ involvement
Volunteers can apply for roles supporting our educational programmes providing extra-curricular activities for children in primary or secondary school and in communities in the countries where we operate. The charity much prefers volunteers to spend at least a term working with beneficiaries, but the minimum time should be three weeks.
This might be working with early child development teachers in a nursery school or helping with a music or drama or dance programme outside school hours, or working with our football coaches to give children access to sport, or perhaps running a reading club.
We would encourage volunteer(s) to work with our own staff locally to provide something specific, for example putting on a school play or performance, and ensuring that everything contributes to an ongoing long term programme which is not reliant on the volunteer. In other words, a volunteer is contributing to something that already exists and working with existing staff, so that there is no potential feeling of loss or disengagement once the volunteer leaves. This is an important ethic of the charity – long term consistent support and development with familiar people to create a family identity. An engaged volunteer can become a long term friend and mentor to young people across many divides, ultimately breaking down cultural stereotypes and instilling a sense of equality and worth in everybody.
The aim is to keep children occupied and stimulated out of school, which will assist in their social development and prevent them from either going on the streets or into petty crime. Much of the time is spent informally, using creative or sports pursuits to help build self-esteem and confidence, communication skills and empathy.
Some volunteers engage in programmes to do with health and social welfare and those people will be supervised accordingly with medical professionals in-country, either Doctors or medical locums. Any medical volunteer must be either a professional or in active study of medicine or an associated degree course such as nursing, dentistry, physiotherapy, public health, obstetrics or paediatrics.
Our aim is to adopt a train the trainer approach as well, especially with regard to public health campaigns and teaching new techniques in physiotherapy for example. We actively welcome any volunteer with experience in managing people with special needs, and anyone who can for example assist with training sign language or specific methods for managing people who have defined physical or mental disabilities.
Finally we welcome volunteers who want to come and assist with a renovation programme on a school or establishment which provides benefit to beneficiaries, especially children who come from the streets. For example a rescue or feeding centre. We are always looking for willing groups to help raise funds and come to work with our staff in building or renovating something.
Recruitment and selection of volunteers
Moving Mountains Volunteers aims to keep the volunteer recruitment process as simple as possible and open to all those over eighteen years of age.
Prospective volunteers will be required to complete an application or registration form after which there will be an interview with one of the trustees which will include questions about past experiences and reasons to volunteer, as well as a discussion about expectations and realities and needs.
Moving Mountains will DBS check all volunteers working with children, except for young people in a school group who are supervised by school staff. The DBS check will not apply to medical students or professionals taking part in medical camps, nor will it apply to groups undertaking construction projects.
We reserve the right to refuse applications from people who have a criminal record. A criminal record is not necessarily a criteria for not being a volunteer, we will need to look at each case by case.
In all cases personal information will be shared with our staff and the provincial education or health officials, head teachers and teachers in-country who will be involved in your volunteering activity. This is an official requirement now in most institutions, and those people reserve the right to do a follow-up check on the experience and relevance of volunteers.
Equality statement
Moving Mountains promotes gender equality mainstreaming throughout all of its activities including volunteering and also a fair and non-discriminatory approach to recruitment of volunteers and staff. We are committed to ensuring equality of opportunity for all volunteers and beneficiaries, irrespective of race, gender, disability, belief, sexual orientation, age or socio-economic background. Volunteers will always be accepted on merit.
Training and development
Volunteers who are travelling overseas will always receive pre-trip advice in the UK followed by a period of settling in with our staff on the ground. Groups and individuals receive a number of emails and calls and meetings if possible to discuss preparation and things to do, covering everything from a simple to-do list to understanding the culture, the danger of stereotyping, the nature of ‘aid’ and ‘development’ and how Moving Mountains works. Once in-country this becomes part of a few days preparation during which the volunteer meets everyone and gets to know the area and the routine before actually starting.
During the period abroad, volunteers are encouraged to share their thoughts and feelings with the staff and also with the UK trustees and feel free to ask questions. We keep in touch to make sure the experience is matching expectations and also delivering the service to the beneficiaries. Sometimes things happen, like homesickness, which are quite normal to expect, but we do rely on an openness between everyone to make sure there is always good communication.
Partner organisations
Moving Mountains Trust runs its programmes through the NGOs in Nepal and Kenya and those NGOs come under the law of the country they are registered in, so therefore any volunteer is required to abide not only to the law of the land but also by any specific rules around the NGO. For example there are specific laws regarding child protection in Kenya and Nepal which, although similar, are not exactly the same as other countries.
Adventure Alternative supplies all of the logistical side to any trip in-country and it has the vehicles and staff to manage transport and also extra activities like treks or safaris. As a partner Adventure Alternative funds the management and administrative costs of Moving Mountains. Many of the staff of Adventure Alternative were once beneficiaries of the charity and in some way are involved with both organisations.
The volunteer agrees to comply with the partner organization’s code of conduct at all times and will respect the agreement in place between the partner organization and Moving Mountains Trust. You agree that Moving Mountains Trust is not liable for any actions or omissions of any partner organization.
Volunteering conditions
In Kenya we have our own guesthouse in Embu where volunteers will live, and in Nepal accomodation is in lodges owned by villagers. Generally a volunteer might find that he or she is sharing the guesthouse with other volunteers or medical students, plus our staff. The staff manage the house and prepare meals. The volunteers will have their own room and private space with wifi in most cases, electricity, clean water, showers and a communal bathroom, beds with bedding provided and a living area with television and so on. Laundry is done regularly and the house is cleaned regularly.
There are house rules which are mostly common sense and relate to respect for other people living there and respect for the neighbours.
During the days you will be helping in a variety of different places. Sometimes it will be in a school classroom, but often it will be in a place which we use regularly for our programmes, for example a local Scout centre or rescue centre, the guesthouse sometimes if the activity is with a small group, outside in a garden area or on a makeshift pitch, or sometimes in someone’s home. For medical activities we tend to use the facilities of local clinics or hospitals, but sometimes the medical camps are held outside in open areas.
All these places are safe but are likely to be quite basic. There may not be electricity everywhere or a clean flush toilet. It will be important to visit these places during the settling in period so you are familiar with everything and you know what to bring. For example drop toilets are common and it would be a good idea to always bring toilet paper in your bag and wet wipes and sanitary products.
We have a zero tolerance policy towards activities like taking drugs, being drunk or drinking in front of children, smoking in front of children, swearing at or in the presence of children, or acting in a way which affects the rights of any child. Your actions and words can be extremely influential and we do ask that you respect the role that you have.
Support and supervision and day-to-day management of the volunteers
Volunteers are never far from someone who is either an employee of Moving Mountains or a local person involved with the school or the clinic or the institution. Initially you will be working with adults in your role, assisting and learning, but over time you may have more responsibility and opportunity to develop your role and feel more comfortable with the place and the people. How you decide to manage the activities depends very much on you and the staff deciding what is best. You should not do anything that you feel uncomfortable or unsure about, and neither will the staff let you into a situation that compromises the safety of you or the beneficiaries.
In each location we do have staff on hand all of the time, there is no situation where a volunteer would be left completely alone or isolated for any length of time. Sometimes staff are called away for personal reasons and they also have their own lives to live, but you will always have access by phone or whatsapp to other staff.
Moving Mountains Trust and its partner organizations reserve the right to remove the volunteer from the programme at our discretion. Whilst we would aid the volunteer to return home we are not legally obliged to do so.
Health and Safety
Moving Mountains is responsible for providing and maintaining a safe and healthy environment for volunteers, in accordance with the organization’s policy and procedures. You are required to cooperate with us to help achieve our required standards of health and safety and you have a duty to take reasonable care of yourself and others who could be affected by what you do or fail to do.
Travel
The volunteer is responsible for arranging and paying for his or her own international travel to and from the host country. The volunteer is responsible for having all necessary documents when travelling abroad, including visas and travel insurance. Moving Mountains will advise on what is needed but is not responsible for any supporting documents (including visas) necessary for the volunteer’s travel needs or the direct or indirect communication of the volunteer with their given airline.
Moving Mountains Trust are in no way liable for the consequences of failing to independently verify the accuracy of the general travel advice provided in our literature and is in no way liable for any missed or late connections, including airlines.
Extra trips (Adventure Alternative)
The volunteer can easily go on extra trips which can be organised through the local office of Adventure Alternative, for example treks or safaris or sightseeing trips. Moving Mountains Trust may acts only as an advisor for these trips. Any trips booked in the country are not related in any way to Moving Mountains Trust and Moving Mountains Trust bears no responsibility or liability for them.
Image rights
Moving Mountains Trust has no right to use images and feedback from volunteers unless given permission to do so, and trustees may ask for such permission from time to time. Images might be used for website materials such as testimonials or descriptions of volunteer trips.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales and the jurisdiction of UK courts only.
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