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Questions
5. Payment
- Why does African Intern charge for its placements and what will it cost?
- How do I pay for my Africa Intern placement?
- I am having trouble paying through paypal. What should I do?
- Can I or my donors get a tax deduction for my placement fee?
- If people or companies wanted to contribute to the cost of my trip can they pay you directly?
- Can I pay for my placement in installments?
- I cannot afford to intern. What can I do?
Africa Inters are generally placed with local organisations and projects that have limited resources, with internss a means for them to secure additional skills and expertise they would otherwise be unable to afford.
Africa Intern is an intermediary between the interns and the organisation, with our fee calculated on a per week of placement basis and covering research and administration costs; transfers to the host organisation; regular ‘health check’ visits by your named coordinator (the regularity of visits to be determined by the intern); accommodation for the length of placement and a donation to the host organization if they are a public sector or charity organisation.
Each individual placement will be priced differently according to the research required, the location and accommodation type. We aim to keep the cost to the intern to a minimum so that our placements are affordable. Please be aware that the cost of flights, visa to Ghana, food, travel and medical insurance and vaccinations is not included in this price.
A more detailed explanation of why a fee can be necessary for international placements comes from this book, except below:
From HOW TO LIVE YOUR DREAM OF VOLUNTEERING OVERSEAS
by Joseph Collins, Stefano DeZerega, and Zahara Heckscher (2002)
Prospective volunteers are surprised to learn that many programs charge their volunteers a fee to participate. At first, this can seem ridiculous - Why should you pay money to work for free? Aren't you already forgoing income you could be making? Here are a few things to keep in mind while trying to understand why the vast majority of programs charge international volunteers a fee:
- The local organisations and projects with which you volunteer overseas have limited resources and are seldom able to subsidize your trip or cover the costs of hosting you. (These costs include housing and transporting you, among numerous other things.) If they did have the financial resources to pay an international volunteer, it would almost certainly be more beneficial and cost-effective to hire a local person instead, someone who already knows the language and culture and is likely to stick around.
- Identifying appropriate host organisations overseas and working with them is time-consuming, takes resources, and requires an experienced and professional staff.
- The process of preparing, training, transporting, housing, feeding, and supervising volunteers is not cheap.
- The costs of recruiting volunteers, producing literature, answering the phones, sending mailings, developing a website, and interviewing potential volunteers are significant.
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How do I pay for my Africa Intern placement?
You can either pay online with your credit card once you receive an email from payments@ikando.org (please be aware that you do not need to be a PayPal member to transfer funds online, just click “use your credit card or bank account” below the login section) or you can transfer funds from your bank account to our account, the details of which are listed in the invoice you will be sent.
Ikando is a verified PayPal business member.
I am having trouble paying through paypal. What should I do?
To avoid problems paying through PayPal please ensure you do the following:
- remember to read the instructions carefully
- ensure you have enough credit to make payment
- remember you do not need to be a PayPal member to make a payment through PayPal, just click “use your credit card or bank account” below the login section.
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Can I or my donors get a tax deduction for my placement fee?
Ikando is a registered NGO in Ghana. To find out whether you can get a tax deduction for your placement fee we advise you to talk to your local tax office.
If people or companies wanted to contribute to the cost of my trip can they pay you directly?
We can provide your donors with letters confirming your receipt of their donation, but they cannot pay part of your placement fee directly to us. We can only receive whole payments. Please remember to include your name on the payment reference.
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Can I pay for my placement in installments?
Unfortunately this is not possible. We are only able to secure your placement if the payment schedule as outlined in your invoice is kept to. If you are unable to pay for the whole placement you can book a shorter trip and extend once in country (a small admin fee will be added to cover our admin and bank fees).
I cannot afford to intern. What can I do?
Unfortunately we need to charge interns to be able to continue the work we do. We do however have a limited number of free volunteer placements available. Click here for more information on these placements.
Couldn't find your answer in our FAQ category Payment? Please browse through our other categories listed below for the answer to your question.
Internships