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Creativity as a Classroom
We’re looking for enthusiastic volunteers to join our after-school arts program. Activities include theatre, painting, and arts & crafts using recycled materials, guided by experienced local coordinators and artists. No experience needed—just energy, openness, and a willingness to connect with children and practice English through creativity, movement, and fun.
12 hours of help per week
Arts: Help with painting, graffiti, sculpting or drawing.
Social Work: Help with volunteer work in local projects and communities.
Teaching Sports: Teaching or assisting the host, guests, or local communities in practicing sports or physical activities.
Teaching Languages: Teaching a language to the host, guests, or local communities.
Amount: R$ 75 Per day
Fee pays for: Benefits for travelers, Materials for volunteer activities, and Donation to project
Description: We ask for a nightly contribution equating to the price of a cheap hostel. Funding for these projects is very limited in Rio, and this contribution makes the project possible. 62,5% - House Rental, maintenance, cleaning, utility bills, taxes and furninshing 25% Salaries and free accommodation for our permanent team of cleaners, maintenance, administrator and teaching coordinators. 12,5% Classroom materials and snacks.
3 days off per week
Private Room: You will have a bed in a private room. In other words, a room just for you.
Shared Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other travelers.
Discounts on Tours: Get discounts for tours and excursions around town.
Free Laundry: You can use our laundry room freely.
Free Tours: We’ll take you on tours and rides around town. For free!
Free Hiking Tours: We’ll take you on excursions and hikes around town. For free!
Free Parties: Get free entrance for the best parties in town.
Free Events: Get free entrance for the best events in town.
Surfboards: You can use our surfboards as much as you want.
Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.
Certificate: Get a certificate of completion after you finish your experience.
Fast Internet Access: High-speed internet for you to work remotely
Dedicated Workspace: Specific space for you to work remotely
Beginner English or Beginner Portuguese
Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers
Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa
We are Comunidade Rio Flow, a community-based social project in Rio de Janeiro that brings together local residents, Brazilian team members, and around 15 volunteers from Brazil, South America, Europe, and beyond, sharing a home in Vidigal, 5 minutes by moto from Leblon and Ipanema beach.
https://www.instagram.com/comunidaderioflow/
We work in collaboration with five local partners in Vidigal and Rocinha, including the local council in Vidigal (Associação de Moradores) and our partner NGO, Ser Alzira da Aleluia (CNPJ: 06.065.394/0001-42). We run free educational and social programmes for children, teenagers, and adults.
The project began with a simple idea: creating genuine cultural and linguistic exchange between favela residents and people from around the world interested in slow travel and contributing to the communities they visit. What started as a small volunteer house with a handful of weekly classes has grown into a long-term programme working closely with local NGOs, educators, and artists across Rio.
Outside the projects, volunteers spend their free time exploring Rio together—beaches, hiking, live music, football, waterfalls, cultural events, and everything that makes the city one of the most exciting places in the world to live.
As tourism continues to grow in Vidigal and Rocinha, two of Rio’s most visited favela communities, we aim to support cultural exchange and community development that help long-term residents benefit from these changes rather than be displaced. We are inspired by the story of Seu Antônio, the co-founder of the NGO attached to our house. Born in the 1940s in a wooden house on the same site as our house, he became the first Black man from the community to attend university, later becoming an engineering professor.
A standard volunteer week involves around 12 hours of project work, with the
option to contribute more. Every Monday at 13h, the whole team meets to discuss the week ahead and reflect on the previous week.
At the heart of our work is a language education programme delivering around 25 hours of classes each week across five locations in Rio, running after-school programmes for children and teenagers, as well as adult evening classes.
We teach English and Sports through classroom learning, conversation, sports, arts, games, and cultural exchange. Our high volunteer-to-student ratio allows us to create personal, interactive, and highly conversational classes. Our goal is to make language learning feel less like a task and more like a meaningful social experience that students look forward to each week.
Its important for us that we provide classes of the same quality of better that would be available in the rest of the city. Every class is attended by an experienced coordinator who provides the continuity for the students and track their progress. And each month our students are excited to meet new volunteer assistants arriving with fresh ideas and energies.
In response to growing demand and the large number of Spanish-speaking volunteers joining our project, we recently launched Spanish classes for children and adults.
The project is led by James and Victor, supported by a team who live and work in the community year-round. Our co-founder Victor arrived with just a few words of English and now speaks fluently. Today he helps lead the community and plays a central role in creating the welcoming atmosphere that makes the house feel like home for volunteers.
One thing that makes our community feel very different from a hostel is that most volunteers stay for around a month. In a hostel, you can meet amazing people, but they’re often checking out two days later. Here, people have time to get to know each other, build genuine friendships, and add their part to our story.
Most volunteers are between 18–35, but if you are older you are so welcome, and more often than not become a much loved part of the community. People come from all over—different countries, cultures, studies, and life paths. Some are students, others are teachers, entrepreneurs, artists, engineers, or just people taking time out to travel. Everyone brings different experiences, perspectives, and stories.
What brings people together is inclusivity and openness. People just showing up willing to get involved in a community project, learn from others, step outside their comfort zone, and really make the most of their time in Rio—waking up, heading out, and exploring the city together.
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We follow standard house rules that you would expect when living respectfully together with friends.
Many worldpackers have been applying to this position recently. The host will probably not be able to respond to all of the applications, so we recommend that you also apply to other hosts in our community and not just this one :)
