BootsnAll Travel Community

static posted this in the 'travel news' thread, but I thought it deserved a stronger mention in this forum: The Guardian writes You're better off backpacking - VSO warns about perils of 'voluntourism'

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"The so-called "voluntourism" phenomenon has spawned ill-planned schemes that leave young people out of pocket - sometimes by several thousand pounds, even excluding the cost of flights to their chosen developing country - and do little to provide sustainable and well-targeted help for local communities, VSO claims.
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"While there are many good gap year providers, we are increasingly concerned about the number of badly planned and supported schemes that are spurious - ultimately benefiting no one apart from the travel companies that organise them"
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There are a lot of other good bits, so I do recommend reading. Many of us who frequent this forum touch on these topics.

This is interesting.

I think it shouldn't be all that surprising that people coming for two weeks without relevant skills are not going to be in a position to get involved in serious work. Maybe it is better that they are spurious than that they try to involve a revolving door of travelers in real aid projects (given that they don't end up harming the local community) - I think aid projects have enough problems of their own.

I also don't think Unicef and other organizations hold off on countries because there is a two-week volunteer camp going on.

My opinion is that there is a much larger problem about attitudes about aid work in general, like the ideas that a quick fix exists, foreigners can just come in and solve a problem that locals have not been able to, anything at all is better than "nothing".

These guys are making a documentary about "what works in international aid" - it doesn't get into voluntourism, but it's pretty neat (there's a trailer clip): Beyond Good Intentions

I have already edited my post a few times and so will add on here... By saying above that it's not surprising that a (more or less unqualified) two week volunteer will not be involved in serious work, I don't mean to imply short term volunteering is totally useless or shouldn't be done. In fact I think it's a positive thing if people gain the insight that these issues (poverty, illiteracy, development)are more complex than many people think they are.

The critique is good for volunteering abroad in general, but note that in the article VSO is specifically talking about teenagers on their gap year. Young people with probably zero work experience at all would be the hardest to sort usefully in a volunteer organization I think, because they would need more guidance.

I'm guessing older volunteers with more life experience -- paid job experience, other volunteering at home -- might be able to make themselves more useful, more able to think on their feet and sort themselves as to organizational needs.

There's also the issue of volunteers being used to do work that might be better done by local people.

Is the volunteer putting someone out of work and thereby really harming the community?

Just stirring the pot here a bit - but even when I was in the Peace Corps in Africa (89-91) people said that the PC teachers (I wasn't a teacher) were being used to keep wages down. There was a shortage of qualified teachers and the existing teachers said that if the wages were at an appropriate level that teachers wouldn't be leaving the profession - and more would be entering it.

Interesting isn't it - that we've had that same problem from time to time in certain Western countries AND solved it without international aid organizations rushing in to solve it for us.

I am concerned too - about that issue that foreigners come in and think they have the solution - only to create more problems down the line. Following the 2004 tsunami here - volunteers rushed in and built houses - while unemployed locals watched. Could they have not been hired to do the unskilled labor?

Just thinking out loud . . .

Couple of days back I read an article in which OXFAM was trying to give pointers to give aid for those in need. In general the bottom line was that economic rebuilding is the best way for people to stand on their own.

One of the things I have noticed while searching for some legit long term volunteer oppurtunity is that some of the org do not really want field volunteers...they want to get local hires or local volunteers. I think it also raises the awareness in their own community.

I def think that the Volutourism is fad and also people feel guilty for not giving back so they want to combine a vacation with some giving back.

The volunteers can help build the infrastructure, train the locals, hand over the reigns and then leave.

I recently read about the Fritz Institute where the former CEO of Fritz Logistics is helping the aid industry better manage their supply chain.

This is what makes me think these spurious programs might not be the worst alternative...I haven't done one of these package ones for 1500$ for two weeks, and I have no interest in it. But I think a lot of people who do those are not independent travelers and just would not go otherwise. [They also would not just donate $1500 to a cause instead]

I think all of us who have posted here have volunteered (in some form, not the high ticked packaged things) or spent a lot of time abroad ... so when these ideas come up, we can recognize that they make sense...but I think to many people, the idea that any volunteer help might not be good is totally bizarre and even insulting. But people who do go and volunteer somehow, I suspect, will be more likely to gain that perspective than those who don't.

I also think voluntourism is going to happen, and better that projects be spurious than tour companies are pushed into trying to do real aid work for two week periods.

The attitude that "the third world is a sad place, they need any and all help from us they can get" negatively affects real aid and real policies that people support. I think people traveling and sometimes volunteering is a step towards more people realizing that attitude is wrong (and just like in the west, problems in other areas have real roots that are not fixed quickly or easily...and the fact that a two week holiday can't address them does not mean they defy any solution).

People also tend to group together gap year projects and large scale aid projects as "volunteering" ... but I think it is a bigger problem when multi-million dollar ngo or govt aid projects take that stance (we will just come solve it for them, we have the answers and they don't). If international aid programs come and do their own work and don't build local capacity...they will inevitably leave (or is it better if they are permanent fixtures?)... and then where are the local organizations (if they still exist and have not folded because who would fund their work when Unicef is there), and the jobs for locals that the international organizations provided?

I think people who travel (or volunteer) will have perspectives on topics like this that people don't will not.

quote:

but I think to many people, the idea that any volunteer help might not be good is totally bizarre and even insulting. But people who do go and volunteer somehow, I suspect, will be more likely to gain that perspective than those who don't.

Insulted only because they overvalue their "contributions". Maybe that makes me a volunteer snob.

Sorry, KateL57, but I'm more cynical about the short term, paid efforts and their impact on both the target communities and the volunteer's perspective. It seems to be that their motives are to service some bizarro mixture of selfish and clueless-but-genuine goodwill goals. The net outcome for communities in need is, in my not so humble opinion, negligible at best.

(Yes, there are anecdotal stories contradicting my grim analysis, but they are few in numbers. Animal-based charities seem to do better with short term, limited time line projects.)

Providing effective internationally is a difficult, complex task that requires significant consideration and planning. Poorly run efforts, many of which are boarder line scams, abound. Buyer beware.

From your posts, you seem to know this...but want to believe the best. I accuse you of optimism!

Well, I've been guilty of optimism before.

I'm not sure what you're saying about people being insulted - I wasn't implying that you personally overvalue your contribution or anything like that.

I just think in general, among people who have not volunteered and have no plans to, the concept of "it could do damage" is just not something they even care to make sense of. It doesn't mean that volunteers never make a difference. I just think people generally are unwilling to consider that it can have bad results - maybe they take it as something like "beggars can't be choosers". I think people who volunteer, even with i to i or whatever, will go and see that reality is more complicated than they thought. And they will not really get this from staying home.

I agree that the likes of i to i and cross cultural solutions are going to alleviate poverty in the countries they organize volunteer programs in. It would not surprise me if there are no measurable results at all - look at some of their programs. But my point is - there will never be measurable results from that type of program. And I think the situation - not the situation for paying volunteers who end up shelling out some money, but for the local communities - is worse if tour operators are put under pressure to, what, say to small local ngos "hey, give this gap year kid something useful to do for two weeks. he can design a business plan for a micro-credit recipient, can't he?"

If you think VSO is going to stop tour operators from operating volunteer vacations - more power to you for that. I think voluntourism is going to happen, and it's better as "real aid takes qualifications and time and local expertise - here's an example of why - so now, please paint this wall" than trying to incorporate unqualified people into projects that may actually be working.

I think people volunteer (and travel) for all sorts of reasons. I suspect lots of people do these voluntourism things because they want to do something somewhat useful and don't know that there are other options...

But...there are not always good options for two weeks. I also think people who do these programs in, say, Africa, are probably not the same people who would otherwise be going it alone. And I think going to a place that you previously thought of as mainly a setting that needed charity, and seeing that there are plenty of nice things about that place - is a positive thing that people will not get from staying home.

Don't take this personally of course. I have a lot to say on this.

Oh...I do agree that there are organizations which mislead people about what they will do and everything. This is, of course, bad - buyer beware, yes, all that.

But this is a separate issue from the whole question of what effective aid is ... I think it's an unfortunate mistake to look at voluntourism as the best example of aid gone wrong or something.

quote:

Originally posted by KateL57:
I think it's an unfortunate mistake to look at voluntourism as the best example of aid gone wrong or something.

Which nobody here has done.

I'm not saying people here have done that, but it seems like criticism in this area in general takes that tone. It's fairly easy to find articles condemning voluntourism, or pointing out something fairly superficial, but harder to find articles pointing out serious problems in the way people look at aid in general. My comments are not only a response to the specific individuals posting in this thread.

This article is focused on "gap year students get taken advantage of by these programs, and they should get something for their money, in the form of being able to make a real contribution". That may well be a useful point, and it may be true that people pay without thinking or asking, or are misled sometimes.

But the article says very little about the actual negative effects that aid programs can have...and they can have negative effects...but some of the same ones that voluntourism can have, so can aid projects.

It seems like the focus of this article is that gap year companies are bad because they do not give volunteers their money's worth - and to me that is a misplaced focus. I think that makes it very easy to single out voluntourism as a negative example, and lets others off the hook.

In my opinion the root of the problem is not voluntourism, but people's attitudes about these things...and I think people traveling and volunteering too are how those attitudes can change, more than any other way.

quote:

Originally posted by KateL57:
I suspect lots of people do these voluntourism things because they want to do something somewhat useful and don't know that there are other options...

What are these other options you speak of?

Well, in the light that voluntourism is not just short-term volunteering, but paying an intermediary organization to arrange something (I don't think it's always 100% clear what exactly counts as voluntourism).

There are resources where local ngo's directly put their info, as in "contact us if you can volunteer, we typically look for these skills". Sites like www.volunteersouthamerica.net, www.independentvolunteer.org, and www.idealist.org have these (though idealist now seems to get the intermediary organizations too). I don't think it's always black and white and these will always be "better" than the pay-an-organization variety, but you're in contact with the organization itself.

If you want to meet local people there are sites like www.couchsurfing.com and www.hospitalityclub.org (you're not really volunteering at all except in the sense that you'd likely participate by hosting or meeting up with visitors to your home). And with www.wwoof.org, you "volunteer" on organic farms in exchange for room and board.

I think anyone who has had worked/volunteered with non-profit organizations can notice that they are not necessarily always "well-planned" either - the fact alone that you're not paying an intermediary organization doesn't mean you should assume this work will always be good for the community and other work bad...and in fact I've seen organizations that most would in fact consider "voluntourism" which were somehow non-profit officially.

But these are what I am thinking of as alternatives that people are aware of. Without the budget to advertise that voluntourism organizations (and apparently, VSO) have, people just aren't aware they are options.

quote:

Originally posted by AltoClariTone:
What are these other options you speak of?

You don't always need an organization to sort things out for you. You can just go places and pitch in where you see a need. If you can't find a need, well . . . you just aren't trying.

Children in orphanages always need someone to play with and perhaps a cheap simple toy. Beaches in many undeveloped countries need someone to pick up the trash that floats in. Animal shelters almost everywhere need someone to help clean out cages and feed and care for the animals. Libraries need people to reshelve books. Old people might need an errand run for them.

After the 2004 tsunami here I went to a hospital to help out. It was crazy, nothing was organized (disaster planning isn't a huge idea here)- but there was plenty do. Sometimes all I did was carry around trays of water to give to whomever wanted/needed some. Sometimes nurses needed someone to carry this or that here or there. People needed directions to the ER or to X-ray or whatever. Trash needed to be taken out. Traffic and parking needed some direction. A few people needed transportation - and I had a car. Possibilities were endless.

Generally, if you keep your eyes open and have a helping mindset - you will find something to do. Where would you volunteer at home? Doing what? Might there be that same kind of need in another country? Half the fun might be finding it and becoming a more resourceful person.

Disclaimer: I've got nothing against organizations who help people find volunteering opportunities. SOME of them do a great job and for relatively /unresourceful/timid/shy/introverted people they can provide that connection that they might not otherwise make.

Kate,

Thanks for plugging my site; but its .net not .org

www.volunteersouthamerica.net

Steve

(offending link changed)

Thanks static. Also I wrote those in a hurry and there were actually commas in the links so I just took those out (referred to elsewhere I think)...still in a crunch for internet time - but will be back to add more here soon.