Volunteer work in Nepal for a fee or free

While searching on google, for volunteer opportunities in Nepal, I found only a few such opportunities and all of them required some kind of fee (From $200 to 400 weekly). I think its bit ridiculous that you are going to volunteer your work and you have to pay for the pleasure of serving them.

A foreign volunteer group goes hiking on the weekend

High Unemployment Rate

The unemployment rate in Nepal is 47 percent according to Wikipedia. Additionally the economic and political situation in Nepal is shaky. Now since the year 2010, labor unions have come into the picture. Although labor unions are good for workers in the sense that they are for worker rights and decent pay, they are not good in a sense that it makes business owners and management refrain from wanting to hire workers.

Labor Unions

As a result of union workers in companies in Kathmandu and various cities in Nepal, companies are not allowed to fire or layoff employees as you would expect in a free market country. Worker unions and political affiliations prevent a company from letting go of an employee without paying a huge fee to the worker. Normally this amount is around two years salary.

Volunteer work prospects

Therefore volunteering should be a good option. This should be good in a country like Nepal where the volunteer can get his or her work experience and the company can get the work done for a relatively low cost. Ideally I am certain companies would much rather hire a full time employee but because of the above mentioned reasons in the recent couple years 2012 - 2014 companies are reluctant to hire a stranger. Also nowadays there are hardly any job opportunities advertised.

I am in the process of finding some good volunteer opportunities in Kathmandu and the surrounding areas. I have come across many volunteers mainly from the Peace Corps but also some that they found themselves. Some possibilities where you may be able to find volunteer opportunities within Kathmandu are at a Buddhist monastery, private hospitals, schools and at local Hotels.