Introduction to Our T&Cs

Agape Volunteers is a charity committed to work for the prevention and relief of poverty, the advancement of education and training, the promotion and preservation of good health for people in Africa by providing: grants, services and volunteers to those individuals in need and/or charities, or other organizations working to prevent or relieve poverty, advance education and training or promoting and preserving good health for people within Africa.

The work undertaken by our volunteers is invaluable and these aims could not be achieved without their help and support. Our volunteers are treated with the same respect and courtesy we give our employees and we expect to receive the same professionalism in return. Our volunteers are key in the continuation of Agape Volunteer’s work.

Recruitment Process

Agape Volunteers aims to keep the volunteer recruitment process as simple as possible and open to all those over eighteen years of age. Prospective volunteers will be required to complete the following:

• A volunteer application form including questions about past experiences and reasons for their wish to volunteer
• Where possible, a short interview will have been conducted by phone by your trip adviser.
• Agape Volunteers reserves the right to CRB check all our volunteers, without prior request or notice other than that given on this form.

Volunteer Roles

The roles of our volunteers will differ according to the specific projects that are applied for.

Project-specific information will be made available to prospective volunteers showing interest in these projects. Generally, we expect our volunteers to complete their projects with a respectful and friendly approach, maintaining a tidy living space and an open-minded approach to local customs and traditions.

Diversity policy

Agape Volunteers is committed to a fair, non-discriminative approach in all areas of its work. Applicants for volunteering projects are selected solely on a basis of their competence and will not be persecuted on grounds of age (once above 18), sex, gender, race, ethnic origin or disability.

Induction and Training

Induction and Training will be given before any project. Volunteers working overseas will receive an induction in the UK via an information pack and email correspondence followed by a project-specific induction and training once in their overseas placement. Any information or instructions given in these must be adhered to at all times.

Health and Safety

Agape Volunteers is committed to proper attention to health and safety. Agape Volunteers is responsible for providing and maintaining a safe and healthy environment for volunteers, in accordance with the organization’s policy and procedures. You are required to cooperate with Agape Volunteers to help achieve our required standards of health and safety. When Volunteering with Agape Volunteers, you have a duty to take reasonable care of yourself and others who could be affected by what you do or fail to do. Agape Volunteers holds the following levels of corporate insurance for all of its activities, both in the UK and abroad:

• Public liability insurance to £10, 000, 000 • Employers’ liability insurance to £5, 000, 000 • Professional indemnity insurance to £5, 000, 000

Travel

The volunteer is solely responsible for arranging and paying for their own travel, specifically including all airfares or other transport costs to and from the host country as well as any local transport costs. It is the responsibility of the volunteer to carry all necessary documents when travelling abroad. It also the volunteer's responsibility to ensure that they have the correct travel documents, including visas when travelling to or from our placements and whilst on placement. While Agape may advise the volunteer on required travel documentation, Agape Volunteers are not responsible for any supporting documents (including visas) necessary for the volunteer’s travel needs or other purposes. 

Agape Volunteers are in no way liable for the consequences of failing to independently verify the accuracy of the general advice provided in our literature. Agape Volunteers has no responsibility whatsoever for the direct or indirect communication of the volunteer with their given airline. Agape Volunteers is in no way liable for any missed or late connections between Agape Volunteers' transport and external providers, including airlines.

Extra trips (Agape Adventures)

In some of our destination countries, Agape Volunteers offers extra trips which are advertised under the heading of 'Agape Adventures.' The volunteer may avail themselves of the activities that are offered either in the UK or in their destination country at their own discretion. Agape Volunteers acts only as an agent for these trips. Any trips booked in the country are not related in any way to Agape Volunteers and Agape Volunteers bears no responsibility or liability for them.

Refund policy

You are entitled to a full refund of your programme and associated trip and insurance fees, provided you make this request within 14 days of paying your fee and provided you are not due to travel to your desired project within the next 45 days. If you book with less than 45 days before you travel, you immediately waive all rights to refunds of a programme, trip and insurance fees, without exception.

We also allow a refund of a programme fee and associated trip fee up to 45 days* before your given departure date (but outside the 14 day period listed above). This refund will be minus a fee of 4% of the programme fee that you paid. This is to cover the costs of the transfer of this money to ourselves and then back to you which is conducted by our merchant bank, PayPal. You may not receive all of your Agape Insurance premiums back if you ask for a refund, after the 14 day period outlined above, regardless of when you are due to travel. This is due to the underwriter's need to charge for the "time spent on cover" between you paying your programme fee and requesting a refund. The amount you receive will be determined mathematically by the underwriters and is non-negotiable. In order to request a refund, you MUST categorically state in a single independent e-mail to your trip adviser that you wish to cancel your trip, which must be received at least 45 days before you depart.

After this point (45 days before departure), your money will have been distributed to programmes, home-stays, transport individuals and documentation organizations. For this reason, after 45 days before your start date, no refund of any amount is possible for programme fees, associated trips or insurance.

Agape Volunteers are in no way responsible for refunding flight, private insurance, equipment and travel costs. This information regarding refunds is provided and agreed to (a) when you apply online (b) when you agree to the terms on your PayPal invoice (c) when you sign your volunteer policy. It is not your trip adviser's responsibility to provide any further information or warnings regarding our refund policy.

*The period of up to 45 days before programme start where a refund (minus 4%) can be given is applicable to all Agape Volunteers’ destinations except Tanzania. If you book a programme in Tanzania, unfortunately, no refund whatsoever can be given past the 14 day period detailed above.

Programme fees

Programme fee revisions are not applicable to volunteers who have already paid their fee before the revisions take effect. Programme fees are due 60 days prior to the beginning of the volunteer’s programme placement in normal circumstances. Failure to make this payment can result in a loss of volunteer placement. Programme fees are not transferable to other persons.

Change of dates and duration once registered and a full placement fee has been paid but before they begin their trip with Agape Volunteers, the volunteer is entitled to change their start date and duration once, at no additional cost, other than the cost of additional weeks in country (if any). If they need to change their start date or duration a second time they will be required to pay an administration fee of £50 for each change they make.

Drug and alcohol use

The volunteer must abide by the rules put in place by Agape Volunteers, any Agape Volunteers partner organizations, volunteer placement institutions and host-families in regards to alcohol consumption. Drug use (unless prescribed by a doctor) is strictly prohibited and will result in instant dismissal from the programme without any refund for programme fees, travel or other expenses.

Partner organisations

A small number of Agape Volunteer’s programmes are not directly owned or fully funded by Agape Volunteers. This can include home-stays, placements, staff, infrastructure and registrations. The volunteer agrees to comply with the partner organization’s code of conduct at all times and will respect the agreement in place between the partner organization and Agape Volunteers. You agree that Agape Volunteers is not liable for any actions or omissions of any partner organization. A full list of partner organizations is available on request.

Image and naming rights

Agape Volunteers reserves the right to use feedback and images provided by volunteers for website materials such as testimonials, promotional videos, posters, television commercials and any other form of advertising. To the full extent permissible at law, all representations, terms, warranties, guarantees, or conditions whether implied by statute, common law or custom of the trade or otherwise, including, but not limited to, implied warranties and guarantees, are excluded. Agape Volunteers does not warrant or make any representations regarding the correctness, accuracy, reliability, or otherwise of the materials in this site or the result of their use.

Removal

Agape Volunteers and its partner organizations reserve the right to remove the volunteer from the programme at our discretion. Whilst we would aid the volunteer to return home we are not legally obliged to do so.

Personal risk

The volunteer acknowledges and accepts the responsibilities and risks associated with their agreement to travel to, temporarily live in and provide volunteer services in a developing country. Such travel and volunteer work can be often hazardous and involves a certain degree of risk, inherently dangerous activities and personal perils to the volunteer, both foreseen and unforeseen, all of which are fully accepted by and solely assumed by the volunteer. Therefore, Agape Volunteers including any and all of its employees, managers, directors, shareholders, host families and host country partner organizations are not liable, to the maximum extent of the law, for any loss or harm the volunteer or associates may suffer, including but not limited to loss caused directly or indirectly by:

• Personal injury; • Emotional injury; • Death; • Illness or disease; • Damage to or loss of property; • Hostage situations; • War or terrorism; • Natural disasters; or • Any ‘Act of God.’

Liability and indemnity

Notwithstanding anything else contained in any agreement, the liability of Agape Volunteers to the volunteer shall not in aggregate exceed the amount of the placement fee paid by the volunteer.

The volunteer agrees to indemnify Agape Volunteers against any and all liability which Agape Volunteers incur arising directly or indirectly out of, or in connection (in any way) with, the volunteer’s travel to, living in and providing services in the volunteer’s nominated country.

Personal and property insurance

It is a mandatory requirement for all volunteers to hold a certain level of both personal and property travel insurance. Agape Volunteers is proud to be the only volunteer organization to provide a bespoke travel insurance policy as standard to all volunteers. You will have received an e-mail about this when you applied. Whilst we cannot insist that you take our own policy, we can insist that any replacement policy must fulfil the following criteria, which are covered as standard in our own policy:

Medical £2,000,000 Exposure to Biological fluids £5,000 Needle Stick (HIV Compensation) £10,000 Cancellation or Curtailment £5,000 Missed Departure and delayed arrival £500 Delayed Departure £100 Personal Effects £2,000 Medical Equipment £2,000 Personal Liability £1,000,000 Legal Expenses £25,000

The volunteer is solely responsible for evaluating and determining the type, extent and levels of any insurance coverage they need or desire for their planned volunteer travel period. Any advice given by Agape Volunteers or any member of staff should not be taken as final and we will not be held responsible for events that should occur from the taking of this advice.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales and the jurisdiction of UK courts only.