Foreword by Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappeé
Acknowledgments
Our stories
How to use this book

1. International Volunteering: What Is It? Why Do It?
What is international volunteering?
The rewards of international volunteering
How volunteers contribute

2. Is Volunteering Overseas Right for You?
International volunteering: Is it for you?
Examining your motivations
Worksheet I: Things that motivate you to volunteer
To volunteer or not to volunteer
Action steps

3. The Big Picture: International Volunteering in Context
A brief history of helping
"Development" and the international volunteer
What is the path to development?
Obstacles to development
So what is a volunteer to do?
Beyond good intentions
Action steps

4. Choosing an Organization
Assessing your interests and personal needs
Special needs and considerations
Worksheet II: Assessing your interests and special needs
Digging deeper: Examining the values and philosophies of international service
Worksheet III: Questions to illuminate an organization's philosophy of development
Beyond your service overseas
Before you sign on the dotted line
Do the right thing
Action steps

5. The Ideal Volunteer Organization and the State of the Field
The ideal volunteer placement organization
International volunteering: State of the field

6. Doing It Without a Program
The pros of volunteering independently
The cons of volunteering independently
Getting organized to volunteer independently
Worksheet IV: Assessing your personal network
Making connections: "Networking" is not a dirty word
Arranging the placement before you go
Making it happen once you are there
Lessening the burden on your local international hosts
Action steps

7. Overcoming Financial Obstacles
Why pay to volunteer?
General suggestions for fundraising
The six steps of successful fundraising
Worksheet V: Figuring out what you will need and setting your budget
Develop a fundraising plan
The ABCs of creatively financing your international volunteer experience
Worksheet VI: Developing a fundraising plan
Sample fundraising plan
Sample fundraising letter
Basic principles of fundraising
Action steps

8. What to Do Before You Go
Obtaining a passport
Securing any necessary visas
Preparing for a healthy experience
Making your travel arrangements
Packing your bags
Money: figuring out how much you will need and how you are going to carry it
Educating yourself about the country where you will volunteer
Volunteering here before you go
Educating yourself about development
Learning the language
Communicating with home
Managing your expectations
Action steps

9. How to Be an Effective International Volunteer
Moving from culture shock to cultural integration
Five character traits of highly effective volunteers
Ten things effective volunteers do
Exercise extreme caution in friendship, love, sex, dating, and marriage
Self-Awareness and effective volunteering
Worksheet VII: Expectation analysis chart
Worksheet VIII: Skills inventory
Staying safe and staying healthy
Dealing with challenges in the field
Action steps

10. Staying Involved After You Get Back
Immediate re-entry: Hometown hero or stranger in a strange land?
Staying connected
Staying involved in the long term: Personal transformation and concerted action
Continue to seek knowledge
Worksheet IX: Deciding what I am going to share with others
International careers
Go forth and change the world
Action steps

11. The Peace Corps
The Peace Corps: An overivew
The pros and cons of the Peace Corps
Observations and commentary
The Peace Corps in the context of U.S. Foreign Policy
The Peace Corps as a public relations agency of the U.S. government: Image vs. reality
Many Peace Corps volunteers do make a contribution
Making your decision
If you do choose the Peace Corps

12. Organizational Profiles

13. Parting Words

Bonus Section A: Alternatives to Volunteering Overseas
Study abroad
Travel abroad
Work abroad
Doing good at home

Bonus Section B: Additional Volunteer Organizations Not Profiled

Index of Profiled Organizations
Region
Length of volunteer experience
Costs
Type of work
Couples, children, age, nationality, and degree programs

Survey for Returned and Prospective Overseas Volunteers
ww.Volunteeroversease.org ROVE: Returned Overseas Volunteers