Rio carnival float preparation volunteering in Brazil

We believe that travel can change lives! Travelling can change you as a person and, if done responsibly, can have a profound effect on the people that you meet and the places that you visit. We want as many people as possible to experience the heart and soul of another culture in the way that we have, and in doing so, help them to make a positive and lasting impact on our world.

Rio de Janeiro is renowned for a variety of things, such as having the largest football stadium in the world or hosting one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, but most people see it as the capital of Carnival. The annual Carnival celebrations in the Brazilian capital are the most extensive in the world and are held just prior to the Roman Catholic abstention period lent. Samba Schools are the heart of the celebration and you could be joining one of them on their mission to create the best show and help them put it into practice.

As a volunteer on this project you will find yourself making costumes and decorating big Carnival floats, while meeting the locals and living the real Brazilian life. The Carnival Preparation project is a true cultural experience and gives volunteers the opportunity to learn about Samba music and dance, be part of such a fascinating Brazilian tradition and experience Rio de Janeiro at its best, while helping the locals achieve their goals.

You’ll stay in a shared room in a locally owned guesthouse ensuring that you directly support the local community while you’re there. You’ll also be supported by your local in-country coordinator; Felipe who with his team is best placed to understand the specific economic, social and developmental needs of Brazil.

On average 48% of your placement fee is distributed in-country for the services included with your placement (i.e. Local support, Food, Transport & Accommodation) meaning that the local communities are directly benefiting from your travels to their country. The remaining funds are required to cover the administration costs associated with sourcing, training, marketing and coordinating your travel experience.

We do not give a financial contribution to this or any of our projects as we believe that money is rarely the answer to complicated development issues; if it was, the poverty problems in the world would be getting better! Short-term aid relief can cause aid-reliance and financial instability and the corruption seen in many developing countries means the guarantee of your money going to the heart of the cause is massively reduced. From our experience (and by learning from our mistakes) projects benefit far greater more from a sustainable framework to ensure they develop rather than short-term financial aid relief.

If money is paid directly to projects then they may become dependent on that income. If that country or project becomes unpopular, or through restrictions in the opportunity to travel to that country, the money dries up and they are no longer able to continue with their work. Supplying projects with enthusiastic volunteers creates a constant supply of helpful hands and as they are not reliant on an income can continue without the assistance of the volunteer travellers, although significantly slower in achieving their goals.

Instead of giving money direct we operate a grants scheme from our Helping Hand Foundation. This is designed to allow all our partner projects to submit applications for funding to achieve a specific objective. In 2007 we have supported a number of partner projects including the installation of 20 toilets at a school in India, the construction of a community centre in Brazil and providing a radio communications unit for a turtle conservation project in Costa Rica.