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Building Volunteer Work in Ghana

Get your hands dirty and assist with hands-on construction work while volunteering in Ghana

Destination

Ghana

Age

16+ y/o

Minimum Stay

1 week

Start Date

Anytime

Accommodation

Homestay

What’s Included

24/7 Support

Round-the-clock support on the ground and 24/7 back up from our global teams.

Accommodation & Amenities

Clean, safe, and welcoming accommodation. A home away from home with comfortable amenities.

Activities, Training & Equipment

All programme activities and equipment, including training and workshops from experienced professionals.

Certification

Certified record of service hours, workshops, and activities for your CV.

Request Info

Starting at £1,420 for 1 weeks

Flexible 0% Interest payments

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Trip Overview

Build a brighter future

Work alongside local experts to plan, prioritise, and build classrooms, homes, and essential facilities for disadvantaged communities.

Develop key construction skills

Enhance your practical construction skills, teamwork, problem-solving, and adaptability while contributing to valuable community projects.

Experience entirely new things

Find out how people live differently around the world, try your hand at a new career, and have an immersive learning experience unlike any other.

Experience Ghanaian beauty

Live in the beautiful Akuapem Hills and stay with a local host family, explore traditional street markets, and visit important historical sites.

Build lifelong connections

Whether with your host family, community members, or other volunteers, you’ll share the experience of a lifetime and make unbreakable bonds.

What you need to know

Overview

Not afraid of hard work and getting your hands dirty? Then our Building Project in Ghana is for you! You don’t need experience, as our supervisors and local masons teach you everything you need to know. This is the perfect placement for anyone who wants to help using their own hands.

Construction volunteering in Ghana is also a great project for those who are interested in construction but it is also beneficial for those who are looking to add skills and experience to their CV. Volunteering on a Building Project in Ghana shows you are dedicated, hard-working, and adaptable. These are all skills you can apply to any job you pursue.

Our Building Project in Ghana is available to join at any time throughout the year. We encourage you to stay for as long as possible. The longer you stay, the more progress you make, and the more likely you are to see the final results of your work.

A Day in the Life

The tropical Ghanaian climate is hot and humid with the temperatures reaching over 30 degrees at midday. Because of this, you’ll start your work day at 8.30am and end around 12.30pm, with a 15 minute break around mid-morning.

Each morning, you’ll wake up in your host family’s home and put on old clothes you don’t mind getting dirty. To get to the construction site, you’ll catch a tro tro or a shared taxi.

Depending on the building progress, you might dig and set foundations, use a press to build bricks out of mud and water, mix cement using shovels, build walls brick-by-brick or assist with the construction of the roof. After the construction is done, you can plaster and sand the walls, paint the walls and design murals, or help with landscaping in the garden. In the afternoon, you can choose to relax or help out with community initiatives such as the reading club for children or sports activities.

In your free time, you can visit Cape Coast and learn more about the country’s history of slave trade by visiting the castles and museums in the area. With warm weather year round, Ghana is also perfect if you’d like to spend the day relaxing on the beach or exploring one of the many national parks.

Aims & Impact

The aim of this project is to build important infrastructure in underprivileged communities. In the past, we have built classrooms, accommodation for school teachers, homes, toilet blocks, libraries, bookshelves and more.

Many Ghanaians in the more rural areas live on less than one dollar a day, which means that many families struggle and live in inadequate housing. We have been building sturdier homes for families who cannot afford to build their own.

Public schools also do not receive sufficient funding so there is a limited number of classrooms available. Many of these classrooms are split between two classes. This can prove quite challenging for the teachers and students who are sharing this small space. To improve the learning environment for both students and teachers, we have been helping with the construction of new classrooms.

Through your volunteer building work in Ghana, you’ll provide communities with better-quality homes and the children with safe schooling environments. This will encourage learning and promote a sense of pride in their school.

Activities

In Ghana, you’ll help with the construction of classrooms, toilet blocks, libraries, or homes. During the project, you will:

An important part of building volunteer work in Ghana is to prepare building materials.

Prepare building materials from scratch using available resources

Build or renovate classrooms and community buildings

Add finishing touches to the buildings you construct

Painting fun and educational murals is part of building volunteer work in Ghana.

Improve the learning environment for children by adding educational murals to classroom walls

Your building volunteer work in Ghana will be split into three areas:

Create homemade bricks used for construction

You will learn new building techniques from local builders when arriving in Ghana. Instead of regular brick and cement, you’ll prepare your own materials used for construction. We’ll teach you to create environmentally friendly bricks using mud and some water. This involves applying the mud mix to a press and squeezing out excess water to give the brick its shape before leaving it out to harden in the sun.

Get your hands dirty with building and renovation work

You’ll build classrooms or community buildings from the ground up by digging and preparing the foundations before starting on the structure. After the foundation is built, you’ll assist with laying mud bricks one by one and quickly construct the walls of the new building. A new classroom usually takes around one month to complete.

Finalise building work with a few finishing touches

A building is not complete until the final touches have been added. With the guidance of the local builders and your supervisor, you’ll help turn this building into something special. You’ll plaster the walls with a steady hand, assist with the laying of flooring, paint the walls and spend time landscaping or beautifying the outside areas. To help improve the learning environment for the students, you’ll also paint fun educational murals on the walls. This can be anything that will stimulate and excite the children such as ABCs, 123s, and colours.

Map & Location

Formerly called The Gold Coast, Ghana became an independent nation in 1957, and the first African country colonised by Europeans to achieve independence under majority rule. Still famed for gold and cocoa production, it’s a treasure trove of cultural and natural experiences.

Explore lush rainforests, cascading waterfalls, and golden beaches or get stuck in to the lively music and dance scene. With a rich mix of languages and traditions, its people are known for their warmth and hospitality.

Akuapem Hills

About 90 minutes north of the capital, Accra, lie the quiet and tropical Akuapem Hills. Known for their lush greenery, cocoa farms, and charming villages with traditional architecture, the hills are a perfect escape from city living.

You’ll never feel more welcomed than in the heart of the Ghanaian countryside and you’ll have access to all the essential amenities. Plus, Accra is well within reach for a day trip if needed!

Food & Accommodation

Immediately feel at home with a supportive and welcoming local host family. We’ve vetted each family to guarantee you get everything you need for a wonderful stay. This includes a comfortable bed, three daily meals, fresh drinking water, and daily transport to and from your placement, arranged by our team.

Your host family’s home will be clean, safe, and secure, and they will welcome you as one of their own from the moment you arrive. Absorb the local culture, enjoy their incredible home-cooked food, and build a lifelong connection during the course of your stay.

You’ll stay with other Projects Abroad participants on your travels. If you share a room, we will match you with someone of the same gender and age. Whether you go it alone or with friends, you’ll have the time of your life.

Free Time and Leisure

Volunteering in Ghana is an ideal way to explore this colourful West African country. There’s a huge variety of different activities to do while you’re there, giving you plenty of exciting ways to spend your free time.

Music is a central part of Ghanaian culture. In the bigger towns, especially Accra, you will hear some great live bands and have some memorable nights out. Evenings spent at buzzing restaurants will also give you a taste of some of the delicious local cuisine.

For a look into Ghana’s history, you can tour the slave forts of Cape Coast and visit museums. Nature lovers will relish trekking through the rainforests of Kakum National Park or Mole National Park.

We run a wide range of projects in Ghana so there’s sure to be other volunteers there during your trip. This means you can explore the country solo or connect with other volunteers and travel as a group.

Your Arrival Made Easy

When you arrive at your respective airport, a member of Projects Abroad staff will be there to meet you. You can find more detailed information on arrival airports, orientation, and visas on our Ghana Arrival Procedures page.