Change the world by changing minds. Help AFSers and your community appreciate and celebrate cultural differences.
Volunteer
Join a movement of active citizens helping people and communities learn to live together
AFS transforms volunteers into global citizens and changemakers
We call that the #AFSeffect!
Create change
Create community
Join a global community of change-makers and people like you. Serve as a change agent in your community.
Create yourself
Develop practical cross-cultural skills and find your place as a global citizen, leader and changemaker in your community.
Create future
Lead diverse teams at home or around the world and promote inclusive societies for sustainable development.
How to become an AFS Volunteer
Sign up as a volunteer
Fill up the online registration form. Should you need to know more details on volunteer with AFS Malaysia, please contact Kuhan Kandiah from People Development Department at [email protected].
Meet AFS volunteers
Find out more about us and what volunteering with AFS is all about. Then together we can clarify the best role for you based on availability, and what you want to learn and do.
Get trained
Receive basic training to be an AFS Volunteer, including What Every AFSer Should Know About Intercultural Learning™, to prepare for an engaging, meaningful volunteer assignment.
Begin your journey
You will have an amazing time no matter what you do for AFS. You’ll meet interesting students, make friends from around the world, work with passionate volunteers and gain intercultural and other skills that will last a lifetime.
Every volunteer makes a huge impact at AFS
Support
- Match AFS students with host families
- Help host families get to know their AFS student
- Be a liaison for host schools
- Introduce international students to your community
- Check in with students or host families regularly to monitor programs
Plan
- Organize orientations for study abroad and hosting programs
- Arrange awesome social events and cultural trips
- Bring host families together to share experiences
- Set-up information sessions for students, families or volunteers
Train
- Guide AFSers and others through intercultural learning journeys
- Introduce students to your country’s culture
- Facilitate learning through creative activities
- Share your own global experience and cultural insights
Manage & Lead
- Launch community projects helping others learn how to respect, appreciate and value other cultures
- Serve on local AFS groups and boards
- Learn how to manage local volunteers
- Inspire others to serve their community
Engaging with my community; meeting people from around the world
“For you now have the power to play a part in the realization that peace can come through understanding and through friendship the world over.”
— Stephen Galatti
Challenge yourself while supporting others
By volunteering with AFS you can:
- Work closely with experienced volunteers to find creative solutions
- Take on challenging situations for personal growth
- Polish practical skills to gain a competitive edge at school or work
- Train to become an intercultural learning facilitator
- Learn how to make better decisions and solve problems
- Develop leaderships skills you will use forever
- Be connected to a global network of volunteers, families and communities
- Gain or improve foreign language skills
- Help enrich your local community
- Develop an intercultural understanding and communication skill
AFS community changemakers in action
Be inspired by innovative AFS changemaking, social impact and community service projects that use intercultural learning activities to address local challenges and bring diverse communities together.
Meet AFS volunteers and their projects
“The AFS experience has given me the desire to be a part of creating a world where people, irrespective of race and religion, have the posibility to live in peace - free from the fear of violence and without discrimination. It is for this reason that my journey with AFS has not ended.” - Hajah Fatimah Mohamed, Returnee, Malaysia to USA
Meet AFS volunteers
-
Sudha Ashvinder: The Italian Job
I left for my exchange when I was in Form 4, which was at the age of 16. Although my program was only for two months, but I lived… -
Hosting Enriches Our Family Life
By: Prem Kamal Bin Radzi Raju It all started when my wife was introduced to AFS programmes by Dato’ Haji Mohamed Radzi bin Manan, a former State Executive Councillor of… -
Learn while exploring a whole new world
1: Can you introduce yourself and where you went for your AFS exchange experience? I’m Tiffany Chin (19) from Selangor and I recently came back from Switzerland (AFS SUI YP…
Sign up
Volunteers all over Malaysia work together as Chapter Volunteers and with partnership with the National Office to deliver AFS programmes and services. Volunteers are equipped with handbooks and attend local AFS training to ensure they develop the necessary skills to carry out their responsibilities to the highest standard.
AFS Mission
To engage Malaysians to embrace our differences and celebrate our commonalities through committed volunteerism for a united Malaysia.
AFS supports UN Sustainable Development Goals
AFS believes the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) #4 and #16 provide a roadmap to help make our world a better place for all people.
Global Goal #4:
QUALITY EDUCATION
Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning
Goal #4 focuses on the knowledge and skills needed to promote “sustainable development” and “sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.
Global Goal #16
PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS
Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies
Goal #16 has three main objectives: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Empowering people of all ages to respect and appreciate differences
AFS is an inclusive community of global citizens committed to fostering intercultural learning as a powerful peace-building tool. Through AFS study abroad and changemaking programs, our volunteers help students, young adults, families and others take their first steps to becoming global citizens.
Resources and Good Reads
Volunteer Voices
This volunteer-driven blog is a platform where AFSers exchange ideas about their local and global changemaking and social impact activities. At the start of every dream, change and impact, there is a good story.
Connect: Intercultural Insights for Global Citizens
This digital magazine explores intercultural and global citizenship education, voluntarism and social impact, through articles, interviews, and learning tools created by respected thought leaders and experts.
AFS Perspectives: Helping the world learn to live together
Written by AFS experts from around the world, this blog champions diverse perspectives about culture and education, inspiring readers to become intercultural leaders of their communities.
Intercultural Learning (ICL) for AFS & Friends
Series of insightful and concise essays on key intercultural concepts based on research and practical experiences. The series is produced by AFS education experts for anyone studying about or working with intercultural topics.
The Volunteers: Americans Join World War I, 1914—1919
This Curriculum for secondary school educators takes a unique approach to volunteerism, intercultural competence and global citizenship education, since the volunteer efforts of young people during World War I until today.