Getting Started

Choosing the Right Project

The first part of the project requires you to identify:

the COMMUNITY
the NEED in that community
the project GOAL (the impact of your service)

Picking a topic that you are interested in is very important. It's also important that your choice of project is meaningful to others.

Follow Your Passions

Think carefully about your own personal interests when selecting your community and need. For example; if you are scared of animals, then volunteering to work at an animal shelter may not be the best option for you, unless you are wanting to challenge yourself to overcome your fears.

Ultimately, you need to see this project through and demonstrate SUSTAINABLE action, so make sure you are happy with your selection.

Types of Goals

Some examples of goals may be:

to raise awareness
to participate actively
to research
to inform others
to create/innovate
to change behaviours
to advocate

Types of Service

When deciding your goal, you will need to determine what type of service you wish to take.

The four types of service are:

Direct Service - In this service type, you would physically get involved with helping out people, animals or the environment. For example: Walking dogs and cleaning their cages for a shelter.
Indirect Service - In this service type, you would not have direct contact with the individuals, animals or environment; but the work you do will still benefit them. For example: redesigning the website for a non-profit organization to generate more online traffic and financial support.
Advocacy - Through this form of action, you would lend your voice/s to speaking out on behalf of a specific cause; and ultimately create awareness about and support for that cause. For example: Creating a short anti-bullying film and educating fellow students about the effects of bullying.
Research - This type of action requires that you conduct research about an issue through varied sources, and data analysis. You would then need to report your findings to the policy makers within the community in order to encourage them to change their policies or practices. For example: conducting a study of food wastage within your school, and suggesting means to reduce waste, and recycle.

(IBO Projects Guide 2014, p 18)

List of Project Ideas

A list of community project ideas organized by type of service.
A list of project ideas organized by global context.

Finding Inspiration

If you are looking for inspiration/ideas, try some of these links:

If you are still stuck for ideas, speak to your homeroom teacher or supervisor. They should be able to help you.

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