Volunteer in Cambodia

While visiting the Angkor temples

If you want to volunteer in Cambodia while visiting Angkor Wat, you have plenty of opportunities to do so.

There are numerous NGOs in Siem Reap if you’re interested in a volunteer vacation, and most would be glad if you helped them out by volunteering your time or by giving some sort of donation.

Many who visit this town quickly realize that although the tourism industry is booming, not everyone is benefiting from it.

Volunteering for one day or even a few hours will let you help the less fortunate (most of which are children). Plus, it will also let you glimpse life behind the tourism world.

It’s somewhat tricky to find a legitimate organization through online research. How do you determine whether the organization is valid and really benefits the people they claim to help? Should you join a large international organization or a small local one? If you're volunteering for an extended period of time, should you choose a paid volunteer program or arrange everything yourself?

There are several resources that you can look into prior to coming to volunteer in Cambodia that will help you answer these questions.

Ethical Volunteering – a good read for anyone interested in volunteering abroad. It lays out some important questions about volunteering.
Women on the Road – an excellent page about a volunteer vacation in general (where you pay money to work) with links to other volunteering resources.
Singing Tree Café – a café in Siem Reap that doubles as a community center for volunteering opportunities. They also list volunteer organizations that they recommend.

Preparing to volunteer in Cambodia

To get you started, below you'll find some organizations that you can look into. They are all located in Siem Reap or near Siem Reap, so you can be sure to have the best of both worlds: a vacation and a giving of service to others.

Some of the NGOs listed below have excellent information about themselves on their website. I recommend future volunteers read through them in detail, because knowing as much as possible about your organization will only benefit the both of you as you’ll find out which organizations match your interests the most and could use your skills most effectively. By ensuring a good fit, you get the satisfaction that you've helped as much as you can, while the NGOs and its people benefit by being helped in the most effective way.

You can contact each organization for possible volunteering opportunities and details about volunteering for a few hours, weeks, or maybe even months.

Volunteer organizations in Siem Reap

Here are some organizations that arrange volunteer programs regularly.

While the organizations listed above are actual organizations that you can volunteer with, there are other organizations whose main function is to allocate volunteers to the appropriate NGOs. If you choose to volunteer through these companies, you usually have to pay for the entire program in advance and the price usually includes room and board. Costs vary, and they also depend on the length of stay.

Some of the companies that place volunteers in Siem Reap are:

Globalteer
WLS
United Planet

So in short...

Volunteering can be a life changing experience, and it usually is, no matter what you end up doing. However, it is still worth it to find NGOs that fit your values and interests the most so you know that your help is going towards the most appropriate needs and is providing benefit to all.

At the very least, it is helpful to know what you’ll be doing when you volunteer so that you can come prepared and be ready to contribute as much as you can.

Note: Although the NGO list on this page is compiled with care and caution, please do your own further research about your organizations of interest. This list only serves as a starting point of the types of organizations available in Siem Reap.

If you are an NGO and would like to be listed on this page, please submit your information here.

Where would you like to go now?

Go from Volunteer in Cambodia to Siem Reap Town for a brief overview of the town

Go from Volunteer in Cambodia to Holiday In Angkor Wat (homepage)