Cultural Awareness Training

When you choose to volunteer abroad, you know the country you'll be traveling to is different from home. To prepare you for this experience in a new country with a different culture, we've put together in-depth cultural awareness training for you. We want you to feel and be prepared before you arrive in destination. It's all included in your fee.

What is cultural sensitivity and awareness?

Cultural sensitivity is knowing and understanding that cultures are different and accepting that difference. Every country has its own traditions and cultures. Being culturally sensitive and open to cultural differences will make your time overseas more interesting. You’ll get to explore and learn about a culture different than your own while gaining a new perspective.

A Projects Abroad volunteer playing cards with her host family in Mongolia

Why do you need cultural awareness and sensitivity training?

Going into a new country can be a bit of a shock sometimes. You may not expect everything to be as different as it is. You may feel out of place or unsure of what you’re doing there. This is called culture shock.

Volunteer training for cultural sensitivity can change culture shock to cultural curiosity. And of course, we all want to be curious about our new destination without being held back by the overwhelming feeling of how new everything is.

That’s why we do our best to ensure that you’re prepared and as familiar with your destination as possible. That way you can focus on making a positive impact right from the beginning. You’ll be able to learn and explore your home away from home to the fullest.

Local Filipinos perform traditional songs and dances at the Sinulog festival in the Philippines

How our free cultural awareness training works at Projects Abroad

With our free volunteer cultural awareness training you don’t need to worry about feeling out of place when you arrive and start your volunteer project. We prepare you for your destination in a fun and interactive way using a digital travel diary. Once you’ve got access to your diary, we take you through our five-step online program to help you familiarize yourself with the culture of that specific country before you leave. These are:

Travel Mindset - Here, we introduce you to the open-minded attitude that is essential for traveling abroad
Cultural Shock - This part of your Travel Diary explains why cultural shock happens and how it may affect you
Cultural Diary - The Cultural Diary lets you in on the social norms, traditions, and what makes your destination different
Cultural Awareness - In this section you’ll do fun, interactive puzzles and quizzes that verify your understanding and the cultural differences you just learned
Before You Go - In this last chapter, you get to reflect on the new knowledge you gained and how to act on it

You can access your travel diary through your personal MyProjectsAbroad page once you sign up. For now, get your explorer’s hat on and have a look at the cultural training teaser.

The map of your Travel Diary for cultural awareness

More about our free cultural awareness training

We hope our teaser got you excited for your volunteer journey ahead. After completing our full Travel Diary, you'll have received a proper introduction to the countries culture. You'll even be familiar with some basic phrasings in the local language and a few interactions.

This will make you feel especially included when you stay with your host family. You’ll be able to interact with them because you already understand their culture. You may even recognize some of the things they do or say because of your cultural awareness training. This will make your time there more enjoyable.

Traveling to a new country can be scary sometimes. With the support of our staff, along with the cultural and sensitivity training we offer, you’ll find yourself transformed by travel.