volunteer Morocco

In close collaboration with our partner NGO in Morocco, we at Love Volunteer offer placements where volunteers can work with children or on community or environmental projects in this fascinating North African country, a place with a long, varied history and hospitable people.

No matter what your background, almost certainly, you as a volunteer have a great contribution to make. Volunteering can amount to the perfect gap year transition before embarking on a university degree. For other volunteers, their stint in the field falls between jobs or during a career switch, as it can be the ideal way to gain a new perspective on life. Equally, volunteering can form an alternative to the standard holiday. By volunteering in Morocco, one gets to savour a different culture and to form bonds with people who genuinely need help and support.

Volunteering in Morocco brings both challenges and rewards. Besides environmental work and community projects, volunteers are required for teaching projects where their pupils – from poor backgrounds – in many cases have learning difficulties. Without the help that volunteers provide, their prospects would be far more limited. Enriching the lives of such people is what volunteering is about.

Lying in Africa’s northwest corner, across the Gibraltar Straits from Spain, Morocco has its own very distinct Arabic culture. With coastline on the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, it lies between Algeria and the Western Sahara. The population of Morocco is a little over 32 million. Volunteering in Morocco, besides being culturally stimulating, also provides an excellent opportunity to improve one’s French and learn some Arabic.

For more information about travelling in Morocco check out Lonely Planet's Guide.

Start and Duration

Volunteering in MoroccoVolunteer placements in Morocco can be from one week up to twelve weeks. The arrival point for all Morocco programs is Rabat.

An airport pickup is not included, but taxis can be very easily arranged at Rabat-Sale airport for about US$30. For those flying into Mohamed V Airport in Casablanca, a train runs every half hour and takes 1h 50 minutes to Rabat Ville Station. Train tickets from Casablanca to Rabat cost about US$10. We realise this may sound a little daunting, but it really is very easy!

Volunteer Requirements

Volunteers are required to speak another language besides English, ideally French, Morocco’s second language, or Arabic. A measure of experience in the field in which they are volunteering is also sought. Lastly, initiative and self-motivation are essential.

Project Descriptions for Morocco

Language Courses

Besides the Arabic class during orientation, volunteers are at liberty to arrange classes at one of two local organisations.

Program Costs

Love Volunteers is a not-for-profit organization and is one of the most affordable ways to help out in a developing country while being immersed in the local culture.

Fees for volunteer programs in Morocco start at about US$415 (€313) per week, which includes accommodation, three meals a day, orientation and 24/7 in-country support.

Other volunteers periods available. Please, contact LoveVolunteers for pricing of other periods.

A Love Volunteers registration fee of US$235 (approximately €170) is charged in addition to the program fees and covers any placements you undertake for twelve months from the start of your first placement. The fee is refundable if you choose not to volunteer more than three months prior to the start of your initial placement. This fee ensures 24/7 pre- and post-placement support from Love Volunteers, checking and vetting of local organisations, a comprehensive information pack, as well as administration and marketing costs. Given Love Volunteers is a not-for-profit organisation we also ask volunteers to cover any bank charges incurred by international money transfers.

Food and Accomodation

Volunteer in MoroccoParticipants are accommodated with host families within close proximity of the volunteer program. Previous volunteers have given glowing accounts of their time with their host families. Please note that a private room is not guaranteed.

Host families provide "half board": breakfast and dinner. Lunch is not included; however, eateries including international and Moroccan restaurants as well as fast food outlets, pizzerias and cafes are within a short distance of most placements. Moroccan cuisine is colourful, sweet, spicy and rich. The national dish is couscous – finely ground semolina usually served with vegetables and beef or lamb or chicken. Some of the more delicate traditional dishes include Bastilla, filo dough stuffed with almonds, eggs and chicken, seasoned with parsley and onions and topped with cinnamon and icing sugar. The Bastilla is the masterpiece of Moroccan cuisine and like many Moroccan dishes combines sweet and salty flavours.

The universal drink is mint tea, made with green tea, fresh mint and a lot of sugar. There are delicious sweets and desserts, using such local ingredients as honey, almonds, sesame seeds and dates. Mescouta, for instance, are date cookies and m'hencha, rich almond pastries.

Orientation

Volunteering in MoroccoUpon arrival in Rabat, volunteers are briefed regarding the country of Morocco, the program and what it consists of, as well as the proposed schedule for the volunteer’s stay. Safety advice is given, and, in addition, there are sessions on gender dynamics, and on the history and geography of the country. An Arabic lesson lasting for about one hour and half is also included to equip volunteers for rudimentary communication when out and about. Orientation lasts between 2 and 4 days.

A Typical Week

The working week runs from Monday to Friday. Work commences around 9.00 and there is a lunch break at about 12.00. The normal finish time is about 16.00. Participants therefore have the entire weekend free to explore Morocco’s cities and other sites.

Volunteering in MoroccoEvenings are free, and while volunteers are asked not to stay out till late, thus causing their host families to be concerned, the early evening is available for exploring the city of Rabat, with its Medina, cafés, and shops. During your time off, you could choose to go and haggle in the markets, be energetically scrubbed in a hammam (traditional Moroccan communal bath house), or savour a tasty tagine (fruity meat stew), or even go on safari into the hinterland.

Weekends are an opportunity for travel further afield, for example to the imperial cities of Fez, Meknes, Marrakech and Casablanca. Rabat itself is home to royal palace and to the thousand-year-old Qasbah Oudaya, a picturesque beach-side settlement, as well as the beautifully maintained Chellah Gardens, containing an ancient necropolis and other ruins.

About the Country

Host and Volunteer in MoroccoThe Kingdom of Morocco – a country a little smaller in terms of land size than Spain – has a culture so distinct, visitors never forget their time there. This Muslim country is a land of considerable tolerance and modernity, while having ancient origins. Monuments abound which acknowledge the legacies of the Arabs, Romans and Europeans. Although Arabic is the chief official language, French is very widely spoken.

The ancient cities of Marrakech and Fez are great favourites, as is Casablanca on the coast. The more remote town of Chefchaouen in the Rif Mountains is a good place to gain a flavour of rural Morocco. There are also popular seaside fishing villages, Asilah and Essaouira, enjoyable in summer but a little bleak in winter.

Further south lie the High Atlas Mountains with abundant trekking routes linking Berber villages. The highest summit in all North Africa (Jebel Toubkal) awaits more energetic travellers.

Marrakech is a bustling city famous for its labyrinthine souk. Outside the city is the area known as La Palmeraie, where a number of activities are available, including quad biking, hot air ballooning and off-road karting. The Western Sahara is the place to go for camel-rides and Landrover safaris.

Agadir is one of Morocco’s beach resorts. One of this town’s attractions is the Medina Polizzi, a market which was fairly recently – but very attractively – constructed. Also at Agadir there are Kasbah ruins to climb to, from where a gorgeous sea view can be enjoyed.

Fez, formerly Morocco’s capital, has the world’s oldest universities, the Islamic madrasa of Al Karaouine within the mosque of the same name, founded in 859. The old part of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and consists mainly of a huge medina, thought to be the world's largest car-free zone in any town. What visitors must be mindful of are the mules and donkeys transporting goods through the extremely narrow streets. Train travel in Morocco is very comfortable and inexpensive. Both 1st and 2nd classes are great to travel in. There are train lines connecting the following cities: Marrakech-Casablanca-Rabat -Fes-Oujda and Tangiers. In Morocco temperatures in summer – from June to September – are high, while winters can be quite cold.

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