Our Volunteer Program
- Short Term Workcamp, STW (13days)
- Very short term workcamos of 7days
- Long – Medium Term Volunteer, LMTV (1-12months)
- Group/Bilateral Workcamp. 10+ vols. (13days)
- Internship.
Areas of Interests
- Construction, Renovation and maintenance.
- Environment/Climate Change/Global Warming.
- Waste UpCycling
- Non formal education.
- Community development
- Culture exposure.
- Children with disability
- Creative arts and crafts
- Health & Sanitation
- Waste Management
RUCHI INDIA – LMTV Programme 2025 – Summary
| Theme | CODE | Project | DATES (DD/MM/YYYY) | Placement |
| Environment
| RC-MTV-ENV-1/25 | Environmental Education & Waste upcycling | Round the year | Open |
| RC-MTV-ENV-2/25 | Water Conservation | Round the year | Open | |
| RC-MTV-ENV-4/25 | Stop Climate Change | August-October | Open | |
| Education | RC-MTV-EDU-3/25 | Non-Formal Education | February – December | Open |
| Community Development
| RC-MTV-HEALTH-5/25 | Health and Sanitation (WASH) | Round the year | Open |
| RC-MTV-CD-6/25 | Women Power | Round the year | Open | |
| IVS | RC-MTV-CD-7/25 | IVS Programme management | June-October | Open |
| Agriculture (Food Security) | RC-MTV-AGR-8/25 | Natural farming | Round the year | Open |
Description of Middle & Long Term Projects:
General:
- RUCHI involves volunteers in its humanitarian activities to facilitate cross culture exchanges & promote international solidarity.
- Our LMTV projects are ongoing and are executed across North. India. We accept volunteers each month (preferably 1st Monday) check dates when applying. Volunteers can stay as long as they want up to a maximum of one year. The minimum period of staying is One Month.
- Volunteers will have to follow the organization rules and culture and work with other staff as a team.
- No special skills are required, except dedication and commitment to a social cause to help rural communities.
- Volunteers have to take care of their own leisure travel costs and all personal expenses during free time. Project related travel expenses using public transport shall be reimbursed within a fixed cap.
- Volunteers have to be 18 years or older, bearing good moral character and respect local as well other culture.
- Alcohol drinking and smoking is not encouraged in public and villages.
- Living conditions will be simple. Volunteers must be prepared to live in harmony with others and work as a team. Medical/Personal Insurance is the responsibility of the volunteers themselves.
- Volunteer behavior will directly reflect RUCHI image within community therefore good work ethics are highly desired and expected.
LMTV Programme:
We encourage volunteers to apply and contribute to international youth exchange and community development through Medium and Long term placements of durations varying between 4 weeks to 24 weeks. The volunteers under this programme are placed in on-going humanitarian local projects in rural or semi-urban areas. These placements are ideal to gain a deep understanding of grassroots situations while working with marginalized communities and contribute towards their uplift through self initiated micro actions.
In contrast to short term workcamps, the pace of work here is slow. Therefore, matching expectations of volunteers is a constant challenge. One has to realize that they cannot change the world in such a short time but the placement certainly provides satisfaction and contentment to have really contributed to a cause with some visible results.
We offer flexibility to join our programs, but to regulate and better coordinate project activities we expect volunteer to join on first Monday of each month. Initial orientation to volunteers will be provided at RUCHI office, desired project outcomes and volunteer’s role and responsibility shall be shared on arrival.
PARTICIPATION FEE: The participation fees are as follows:
Per month – Euro 420/- (Fee has to be paid in advance. The fee is worked out on monthly basis and not daily or weekly basis and hence it remains same even if one leaves the project a day or week earlier)
The participants are required to pay the fee to our bank account at least 15 days in advance. For a usual bank transfer it takes any time from 10-15 days to get the credit. The contribution covers all basic expenses, e.g. accommodation, gas, water, electricity, food, staff salaries and for materials used in projects/activities. Alcoholic drinks are not included. Alcohol drinking and smoking is not encouraged in public and villages.
Project related travel expenses shall be reimbursed to volunteer each month with a maximum cap of rupees 800. Leisure travel and personal expenses during free time are not covered in participation fee.
Why the extra fee?
RUCHI, like other NGO’s in India, is not financially supported by government to host projects related to IVS. Hence all projects are self funded with a participation fee. Given the remote location and various complexities we have tried our best to make it as affordable as possible for volunteers. Being a non-profit organization we emphasize on transparency, below is how we spend collected participation fee.
- Food, accommodation and logistics of volunteer during workcamp.
- Project setup costs. (material and logistics cost)
- Running the camp. (wages of professional like mason, carpenter, plumber etc and training local youth supported by us.)
- Office running/admin expenses. (Internet, photocopy, stationary, electricity, phone, salaries, office equipments, tools and rent etc.)
- Supporting small community project.
- International travel costs to annual global conferences and membership fee for networking.
Visa:
All volunteers are required to get Indian visa to enter the country. As per the new regulations an employment visa is required for their placement with Indian NGOs. For details kindly refer to www.indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa. RUCHI will be happy to assist you with required documents.
RUCHI Short Term Work Camp – 2025
(Code: RC)
| Code | Project / Theme | Location | Theme | Dates 2025 | Max. Places |
| RC-01/25 | Holi – Festival of Colors | Solan-RUCHI | FEST/CUL | 03/03 – 15/03 | 10 |
| RC-02/25 | Tibetan Culture & Social Development | Dharamshala & Solan | SOC/CUL | 10/03 – 22/03 | 10 |
| RC-03/25 | Women Power | Baddi/Bandh | SOC | 30/06 – 12/07 | 10 |
| RC-04/25 | Tibetan Culture & Social Development | Dharamshala & Solan | SOC/CUL | 07/07 – 19/07 | 10 |
| RC-05/25 | Natural Farming | RUCHI Bandh | AGR/SOC | 14/07 – 26/07 | 10 |
| RC-06/25 | Tibetan Culture & Social Development | Dharamshala & Solan | SOC/CUL | 21/07 – 02/08 | 10 |
| RC-07/25 | Climate Justice- Be a climate hero | Bandh | ENV | 28/07 – 09/08 | 10 |
| RC-08/25 | Tibetan Culture & Social Development | Dharamshala & Solan | SOC/CUL | 04/08 – 16/08 | 10 |
| RC-09/25 | Waste UpCycling | Bandh | ENV/SOC | 11/08 – 23/08 | 10 |
| RC-10/25 | Tibetan Culture & Social Development | Dharamshala & Solan | SOC/CUL | 18/08 – 30/08 | 10 |
| RC-11/25 | Waste UpCycling | Baddi-Bandh | ENV/SOC | 25/08 – 06/09 | 10 |
| RC-12/25 | Tibetan Culture & Social Development | Dharamshala & Solan | SOC/CUL | 08/09 – 20/09 | 10 |
| RC-13/25 | Diwali – Festival of Light | Solan-RUCHI | FEST/CUL | 13/10 – 25/10 | 10 |
| RC-14/25 | Women Power | Baddi-Bandh | SOC/EDU | 10/11 – 22/11 | 10 |
| RC-15/25 | Natural Farming | Baddi/Bandh | ARTS | 08/12 – 20/12 | 10 |
General Information:
- All Short Term Camps (STC) last two weeks with fixed dates and led by a RUCHI Team Leader.
- Every project has an extra fee to cover their living and working costs. Volunteers take care of their own travel costs and bear all personal expenses during free time and leisure visits.
- Volunteers have to be 18 years or older and be prepared to live under simple conditions.
- No special skills are required; one has to be open minded and willing to adapt to challenging conditions.
- Volunteers’ contribution is always recognized and appreciated but they will have to accept the fact that they cannot change the world in two weeks.
- Volunteers must be willing to understand and respect local as well each other’s culture.
- Volunteers must be prepared to live in harmony with others and work as a team.
- Working hours will be 5-6 hours, 5 days a week.
Why the extra fee?
RUCHI with other NGO’s in India is not financially supported by government to host projects related to IVS. Hence all projects are self funded with a participation fee. Given the remote location and various complexities we have tried our best to make it as affordable as possible for volunteers. Being a non-profit organization we emphasize on transparency, below is how we spend collected participation fee.
- Food, accommodation and logistics of volunteer during workcamp.
- Project setup costs. (material and logistics cost)
- Running the camp. (wages of professional skilled mason, carpenter, plumber etc and training local youth supported by us.)
- Office running/admin expenses. (Internet, photocopy, stationary, electricity, phone, salaries, office equipment, tools and rent etc.)
- Supporting small community project.
- International travel costs to global conferences and network membership fees.
All project descriptions in the files attached
