Unemployed graduates offered paid volunteer work abroad

Graduates struggling to find UK jobs will be paid to volunteer abroad, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has confirmed.

The scheme, run in conjunction with expedition company Raleigh International, will pay for 500 young people to visit Borneo, India, Costa Rica or Nicaragua, according to The Times.

They will spend 10 weeks abroad, working on community and environmental projects such as building schools.

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National Union of Students president Wes Streeting praised the initiative as “creative thinking”, which would allow graduates to gain valuable new skills, but the Taxpayers’ Alliance referred to it as “a headline grabber” for the government.

Raleigh International projects usually cost £3,000 per person. Participants in this scheme will need to raise £1,000 themselves and tke care of the appropriate vaccinations.