Join our Gap Year Projects and Expand your World Forever
Gap Years for all ages in 1 to 8 countries.
tick off your bucket list on your gap year with GAFV
We can plan your gap year with you.
All our gap years (all programs) include accommodation, food, 24/7 in-country partner support, visa support.
health volunteering
pre-med│pre-dental
teaching in schools
teaching│turtles
community│NGO
Sri Lanka Army Dental│Medical
health│teaching│wildlife
Maasai community
agriculture│reforestation
We provide a free, 45 minute, no obligation, Gap Year planning discussion*
Get your Gap Gear ideas straight with us
Many things contribute to an amazing Gap Year, and it’s important to have in mind what you’d like to do. Our practical Gap Year question checklist will help guide your thinking, which includes understanding the possible Gap Year costs, as budgets can easily get blown! Check out our Gap Year Prices here
We offer the flexibility to add or change projects, making a schedule that suits you, and our quarterly charging allows you to make itinerary changes without penalty.
Connect with us, and we will tailor your Gap Year with you.
Volunteer in 1 - 5 countries
set your own schedule (e.g. 4/7 days, am and/or pm)
include projects from medical support, through wildlife conservation, teaching.
experience local culture, and customs
learn to: play new musical instruments, cook, local dances, and crop planting.
For Sri Lanka, add courses such as TEFL, gain a driver’s licence and/or a pilot’s licence, get your PADI, or learning about coffee growing, picking, and roasting.
Add tourism activities
* We’ll give up to 60 minutes of our time to support your GAP Year decision making. Specific advice can only be given related to Gap Years with GAFV
Should you choose to do your Gap Year with us, that advice will continue throughout your time with GAFV
“Travelling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”
Ibn Batutta
Gap Year Ideas
Gap Year Asia
Country: Sri Lanka│Myanmar
Weeks: 13 - 52
Code: SL_GY_As
Project Description:
This programme can be tailored made to your choices, with volunteering across the variety of areas we offer, including teaching, working with turtles, supporting agriculture in villages, to supporting NGOs. You could also do TEFL training, and or hotel training, to learning traditional arts and crafts, and wood carving.
This programme is designed for:
people who want to experience life in another culture, and make a difference to their own life and those of others.
A Gap Year in Sri Lanka provides amazing opportunities on this island voted Trip Advisor’s top travel destination of 2019. There is the highest abundance of wildlife I have seen in Asia, aa well as vibrant festivals of all types. There are opportunities to learn new skills and crafts including scuba diving / passing your driving test / gaining your TEFL certificate / woodcarving / cooking / organic agriculture and preparing paddy fields.
Our project in Myanmar is based at a Buddhist centre, where you can teach a range of students English, as well as teach young people on a transition course at age 18 in a local town. You can also support habitat regeneration in this beautiful place, and it goes without saying that you will enjoy generous hospitality.
Gap Year Africa
Country: Kenya│Ghana│Uganda
Weeks: 5 - 52
Code: Ka_GY_Af
Project Description:
Kenya is an amazing place for a Gap Year, as we work with over 20 projects in different locations, from working with Maasai rangers in the Maasai Mara in wildlife conservation, to building bridges and charting routes through mangrove forests you are replanting for tourism development and turtle beach restoration.
You could stay on one project, or join more than one in Kenya, ad because we operate in 5 countries, you could this safe travel option for your too, knowing you’ll always be welcomed and supported by our partners wherever you go.
Speak with us and design your Gap Year
This programme is designed for:
people who want to experience life in another culture, and make a difference to their own life and those of others.
Gap Year Global
Country: Choose
Weeks: 5 - 52
Code: GAFV_GY_Gl
Project Description:
There are so many things to do in Kenya that you could move around the country volunteering on different programmes and with different communities.
Speak with us and design your Gap Year
This programme is designed for:
people who want to experience life in another culture, and make a difference to their own life and those of others.
with us, GAFV.Global, starts from
US $ 750 / month (US $9,000 / year) / $170/week
and includes accommodation, food, and 24/7 management and support.
According to comparison information, that price is significantly cheaper than the average cost of a Gap Year programme at
US $24,000 / €25,000 / £23,000*, and advice to budget for £500 - £800 per week*
*web accessed on 27th September 2022
(Additional payments apply depending on what you wish to add)
Jump to Gap Year Prices on this page
The average cost of a Gap Year
Gap Year Prices and Inclusions
These prices are what you will pay for food, accommodation, volunteering, support and management during your Gap Year.
Additional activities, such as learning wood carving, musical instruments, PADI will incur additional cost.
| Month | Gap Year Sri Lanka (12 Calendar months) |
Gap Year Myanmar (13 x 28 day months) |
Gap Year Kenya (13 x 28 day months) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $879 | $949 | $1,009 |
| 2 | $849 | $879 | $939 |
| 3 | $849 | $879 | $939 |
| 4 | $829 | $879 | $939 |
| 5 | $829 | $879 | $939 |
| 6 | $829 | $879 | $939 |
| 7 | $799 | $879 | $939 |
| 8 | $799 | $879 | $939 |
| 9 | $799 | $879 | $939 |
| 10 | $799 | $879 | $939 |
| 11 | $799 | $879 | $939 |
| 12 | $799 | $879 | $939 |
| 13 | $0 | $879 | $939 |
| Total | $9,862 | $11,199 | $12,229 |
Questions to consider before booking your Gap Year
Do I know how long I want to go?
Does it have to be for a year?
I need a company that is flexible.
Can I start anytime?
I need a company that has flexible start dates.
Why might going with a company be better than just planning a year or a few months away myself?
Knowing that I have local partners and managers by my side supporting me sounds good.
I read about floods, and wildfires in Europe and the USA.
Will I be able to move to a different part of the country if something happens where I am?
I need a company that has a good network of opportunities in the country that I am going to.
I don’t think that I can just do one activity for a year?
I need a company that can provide a variety of activities where I am going.
I’m not keen on my Gap Year being like a full-time job. I may as well saty at home.
I need a Gap Year company that allows flexibility in the work I plan with the communities I go to.
Who will help me with the visas?
I need a company that not only sells Gap Years, but manages them too.
What’s my budget?
I need a company that will work with me so that there are no unexpected or hidden costs.
Do I want to pay for the year, or quarterly?
I want a company that gives me that choice.
Shall I go to one country, or more? And can one company support that?
Shall I volunteer; do an adventure holiday; go for a break with a plan I can make when I arrive; or can I do a mix-and-match to suit me?
Shall I do a course whilst I am away?
Am I going to carry on doing my job? Do I have a ‘work from home’ job that allows me to travel too?
GAP Year FAQs
What will I be able to do on my Gap Year?
Our programmes are varied - you could work in nature conservation, removing invasive plants that limit grass growth for wild elephants, work with turtles, propagate coral as well as plants for butterflies. You could support NGOs by offering admin skills, language teaching to staff, analysis, report writing, and fund raising. You could get involved with organic agriculture, to support villages to produce fertiliser, grow gliricidia, and produce eco insecticide. You could teach languages in schools (German, French, English are needed) , villages, and monasteries, and also put in the infrastructure for toilets and bio-fuel. You could paint murals. You could carry out research in conjunction with universities, support suicide prevention programmes, offer medical admin support, or teach hotel management and catering skills to young people.
You could stay in one country, or go to many.
You could do activities such as walking, white water rafting, and go to festivals. You could be a tourist and simply enjoy being in another place.
What hours would I have to put in?
You could work a 3, 4, or 5 day week, just in the mornings, just in the afternoons, or any other combination depending on what you wanted to do. You could work a 9-5, with a week off in every 4.
It’s your Gap Year. That’s entirely up to you. We construct a programme to suit you, to help you to acclimatise, get to know your new environment, and to make the most of your time. And it’s flexible.
What else could I do for my own development?
You could study and online course in almost anything, from accountancy to graphic design. We would always recommend a 120 or 250 hour TEFL course, which are recognised globally, and could help you to get a job to continue travelling.
Will I need special visas?
Yes, in most countries you will need a special visa to volunteer. We shall arrange that for you.
Where would I stay?
In Sri Lanka you would stay at the HQ of GAFV, at the Fig and Gecko Hostel
In Myanmar, you would stay at a monastery.
In Kenya you will stay in homestays. In Uganda in a staffed house.
In Ghana you would stay in hostel accommodation that is managed by the medical NGO there.
However, whichever country that you go to, you can always stay in a hotel, and we would negotiate the best price for you.
What food would I eat?
In Sri Lanka at the Fig and Gecko, we cook international food, as well as Sri Lankan food, as most of our volunteers, and interns, want variety, not rice and curry three times a day as most Sri Lankans eat.
In other countries, you will eat local food.