Our History
Where It All Began
Globalteer was set up to fill the gap that our founder, Jim Elliott, saw in the world of international volunteering. Jim had volunteered, both through a large, for-profit company and at a local NGO he found directly, and he felt that both of those experiences could have been much better. Jim’s vision was to create a not-for-profit organisation that created deep relationships with local, responsible NGOs, to create placements where volunteers could have a real impact, whilst receiving the support that they needed.
Whilst living in Cambodia, Jim also saw a need for community projects that supported the education of children in rural Siem Reap province. So, he set to work and founded the Grace House Community Centre, to offer free supplementary education to more than 250 underprivileged children in three rural villages. Jim moved to Peru a few years later and, seeing a need for a similar project here, he and his wife founded Picaflor House supplementary education programme under the Globalteer banner, and the charity and its initiatives have kept growing ever since.
Where We Are Now
From our initial focus on volunteers, Globalteer’s work has expanded, including developing our own initiatives. Grace House, Globalteer’s first project, is now managed independently and has grown into a well-respected, holistic community project and model for many new NGOs. We now operate in Peru as well as Cambodia, running projects focused on education, community development, gender equity, sports, health and nutrition, child protection and animal welfare. These programmes have a direct impact on the communities we work with and are designed to help us work towards our mission of empowering communities through better opportunities and care for people and animals in need.
Alongside our own initiatives, we continue to support selected partner projects in nine different countries (throughout Latin America and Southeast Asia), with volunteers and financial contributions. We choose to partner with sustainable and responsible development projects that work towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals and where volunteers can make a real difference.