An international scheme will begin in Keighley next month, which offers a unique opportunity for volunteers to live and work with another young person from a developing country.

The project, entitled the World Youth Millennium Award Scheme, is run jointly by Voluntary Service Overseas and the Prince's Trust, and partner organisations in developing countries. Participants will be placed in international pairs within a group of 18 people, half from the UK and half from Thailand.

This will be the first time such a project has been run in Keighley.

Each volunteer will spend the first three months in the area carrying out practical volunteering work, with projects already lined up at the Woodville horticultural centre and Hardcastle Craggs, in Hebden Bridge.

For four days each week the pairs will carry out work and the on the fifth day the team will meet as a whole in an educational activity day. After three months, the group will repeat the experience in Thailand.

The World Youth Scheme will pay most of the costs, although participants are asked to raise £500 from their communities before the programme starts. The Thai volunteers are due to arrive in Keighley on August 21.

Karen Todd, who participated in a similar scheme in Penrith, said: "It was a very rewarding and beneficial programme, which brought a lot to the communities in which we lived."

Organisers of the scheme are also looking for host families to house the pairs of volunteers for the three-month period.

Anyone wishing to participate in the scheme should contact project supervisor Dominic Charkin on 01535 692909 or e-mail him at dom.charkin@mailcity.com.