Voluntourism

By Hannah Brookes

Travel is a growing global market, becoming hugely popular as an industry, as our world becomes quickly more developed and accessible. People naturally want to explore our world more, but simultaneously do good whilst they travel, and to positively impact the places they visit (myself included). This has given rise to the ‘voluntourism’ industry.

Despite having gained negative connotations, the term voluntourism simply refers to the idea of merging volunteering and tourism together, and when done properly it is not a bad thing. There are, however, significant negative impacts associated with some voluntourism opportunities, typically those that have not been thoroughly researched or thought out. In this post I hope to give an overview of some of the main issues with some forms of voluntourism, followed by an explanation of how you can volunteer abroad in a useful, positive, and sustainable way. As I am limited to my own experiences, I am not going to write about issues (such as child exploitation, donation misuse and short-term solution programmes) that I don’t feel qualified to explain. It is up to you to do the appropriate research on topics such as these before you apply for a volunteering programme abroad.

Disclaimer: I am not at all condemning people who have done these types of volunteering in the past – it’s about learning so we can all make more informed decisions in the future. I also want to say that I am in no way discouraging people from volunteering abroad – I’ve done my fair share myself! Voluntourism can be an incredibly positive experience for everyone involved, as long as you have properly done your research, are aware of the potential downfalls, and are confident that your work will create a real, lasting, positive impact.

The Problems with Voluntourism

Hindering the development of the country by making it reliant on aid:

The objective of good volunteering programmes should be to help communities become self-sufficient. We should be aiming to reach a point where there is no longer a need for volunteers globally. Unfortunately, this is not an effective way for organisations to make money; ideally they would eventually become redundant – not the best business plan! As a result, many programmes are designed to make the communities they work with reliant on volunteers and unable to support themselves without aid. This is a win-win for the organisations, who continue to make money off well-meaning (typically) western volunteers, whilst simultaneously making sure that the community in question never becomes independent enough to not need the aid. Can you see the issue here!? Additionally, the shared experiences of ‘volun-tourists’ and the negative representation of developing countries in the media paints an inaccurate and damaging image of the developing world. This leads to a world view that depicts these places to be more deprived than they are, decreasing the incentive for investment and perpetuating the problem.

Inappropriate distribution and use of skills:

Oftentimes, people choose volunteer programmes based on their location and their enjoyability, rather than matching the suitability of the project to their personal skill set. This results in volunteers working on projects for which they have zero expertise. For example, a group of volunteers trying to build a school in Kenya, with no knowledge of construction. This could lead to the job being done poorly, inefficiently and slowly, whilst simultaneously taking away paid work from potentially better qualified locals. That is not to say that you can never be of any use if you aren’t trained in something, but rather that if you are not an expert, you should be under the supervision of a trained, paid, local worker, and that is not always the case.

The short term nature of projects:

A large majority of volunteer programmes are very short – some being only a couple of weeks or even a couple of days in duration. The short-term nature of placements means that the volunteers don’t have the time to become fully committed to, and invested in, the project and could also mean that they receive little or no training. The structure of most volunteering programmes is that volunteers come and go, but all work on one ongoing project. When there is a change of volunteers it is good practice for a handover document to be produced. This details the progress that has already been made on the project and what has been learnt by both the organisation and the local community, so that the new volunteers can pick up where the previous volunteers left off. Handover periods also include old volunteers saying goodbye, and new volunteers getting to know the programme and the people. On many short-term placements there isn’t enough time for: a) the volunteers to see the positive impact of their work and: b) the handover period to be completed comprehensively. For example, say there is a project to teach English at a school in Costa Rica and the volunteers are replaced every two weeks. Out of those two weeks, a few days would be dedicated to the volunteers settling in, getting to know the children and building rapport and relationships. They would then teach them the basics of English for another few days, before saying goodbye, packing up, and working on handover documents. Repeating this inefficient cycle means that very little time is spent actually teaching the children. This has a few knock-on effects. Firstly, the children don’t get to form proper long-term relationships with their teachers. Secondly, most of the contact time between teacher and student is spent relationship building, rather than teaching. Lastly, frequent handovers with poor documentation can lead to the children learning the same material in different ways, without progressing. This by no means applies to all projects – some organisations can get short placement times to work very efficiently, for example if the work is simple, or if it is mainly physical work with little relationship building involved. However, in my personal experience shorter placements often lead to ineffective and inefficient projects.

Top down rather than bottom up development:

Another problem with some volunteering programmes is the top down nature of their projects. In broad terms, a top down approach is when decisions about the work required is made by an external group, with little or no communication with the receiving community. This often results in the wrong aid being given to enable development. For example, a top down project could be an organisation trying to help food production in a small village by supplying them with new machinery. If the same problem was tackled with a grass-roots approach, someone may have found that the locals don’t understand how to use the machinery, or have any power source. They may discover that appropriate aid would consist of a workshop with an expert to teach them, for example, how to get better crop yields and how to stop their livestock getting diseases. These skills could then be handed down within the community, with no future requirement for external aid. A top-down approach, especially in instances where the aid organisations are based in a different country to that which is receiving the aid, also often have insufficient communication with the community they are trying to help.

Tips for Avoiding the Negatives of Voluntourism

Here are some tips that have aided me in the past, and will hopefully help you to select the right volunteering programme that is constructive and appropriate for you.

The first and most important tip is to do your research thoroughly! The points I have covered are relatively broad and general, but will hopefully provide some structure for your own research. It is your responsibility to make sure you are working on something that you believe will be truly beneficial.

Check your skillset is applicable to the programme you are applying to. In some cases, ask yourself if it would be more beneficial to just give money to local workers, or whether your knowledge or ability could be used for good during the programme. If a local worker could be employed to do the job, then maybe you should consider a different opportunity.

Consider whether you would be allowed/qualified to do the work you are applying for, in your own country. If you would not be qualified enough, or allowed, for any reason, then you shouldn’t do it anywhere else either, even if the overseas organisation would let you.

Think about your reason for volunteering. Are you doing it because you’re really passionate about the project, or for a more superficial reason? If you couldn’t tell anyone what you were doing or post anything about it to social media, would you still want to do it? If the answer is no, then maybe you should reconsider if volunteering is really for you.

Try to go for a substantial amount of time. The longer you volunteer for, the lesser proportion of time is devoted to hand over between different groups of volunteers, and the more in-depth the work can become. Generally, if the project volunteer times are long, it also represents a long term commitment on the organisation’s side, and therefore the long term impact of the work.

Try to choose a programme that has training before your departure, as well as encouraging you to take further action after returning home. These programmes are usually the ones that are genuinely invested in making a positive difference and trying to inspire change.

Lastly, look for programmes that are partnered with local charities and workers, to ensure you are helping them learn and grow, and not just taking away their jobs. This will also help make sure that your project is based on a grass-roots approach, and is relevant to the local community. If you are UK based, projects that are funded by the UK government are usually a safe bet. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) (formerly the Department for International Development) within the UK government funds a huge range of projects all over the world, and this is a good place to start looking. If you are aged between 18 and 25, you can volunteer on International Citizen Service (ICS) programmes; these are all funded by the FCDO.

To reiterate, I am not trying to discourage travel or volunteering in the developing world. Voluntourism can be amazing! If researched properly, it can have long term positive and sustainable impacts on communities, as well as providing you with a fulfilling experience and immersion into a new culture. This post is just to raise awareness about the potential issues, to highlight the importance of researching companies and organisations you’re looking to volunteer for, and to help equip people with the knowledge needed to create real change.