Gap years: Voluntourism – who are you helping?
If you’re looking for opportunities abroad, check your skills match and you will be helping, rather than hindering, says Rose Dykins
Working with children in Cambodia has been a particular cause for concern
9:27AM BST 14 Aug 2014
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Volunteering placements abroad are a popular choice for gap years, but projects need to be chosen wisely or there is a danger participants may end up doing more harm than good.
Kristina is a friendly 19-year-old from the UK, who recently went on a volunteer placement in Cambodia.
“We were told it would involve a mixture of teaching and building water pumps for rural families,” she says. “However, during the placement, only two out of the 14 of us taught English. The rest of us literally dug a road. We moved piles of dirt for six weeks – and right at the end, a digger turned up and finished it in about half an hour, which was fairly infuriating.” The voluntary placement cost £3,500.
“Voluntourism” is big business these days, with well-meaning travellers like Kristina paying thousands of pounds to spend a short time working towards a cause in another country. But how can you be sure your money (and you) will be doing any good? And, more importantly, you won’t be doing any harm?
Working with children in Cambodia has been a particular cause for concern. Recent revelations about the widespread problem of fake orphanages in the country have called in question the validity of voluntary placements in children’s institutions. The Cambodian city of Siem Riep, with a population of 100,000, is now home to roughly 35 orphanages. And according to activist group Orphanages No (orphanages.no), 75 per cent of children living in Cambodian orphanages are not orphans.
“Our concern is that local parents have been told that their children will be better off in these institutions, so they feel it’s a sacrifice they need to make,” said Aarti Kapoor, regional program manager for World Vision’s Child Safe Tourism project (childsafetourism.org). “Children should certainly not be spending their childhood growing up in an orphanage if there are better alternatives.”
Kapoor believes that institutionalising children in this way puts them at a greater risk of sexual abuse and exploitation – including from tourists – and that supporting orphanages through voluntourism can allow that to happen.
Volunteers should also consider what practical help they could realistically offer in an orphanage.
Sallie Grayson from People and Places (travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk), a UK organisation that arranges overseas voluntary placements, said: “Volunteers should ask themselves 'do I have the skills to do this job?’
“ 'Would I be allowed to go and hug a baby at an orphanage in my own country?’ And we know what the answer is,” she said. “Why should we be allowed to go and use economically poor communities as our playthings?”
Child protection agencies and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) are increasingly expressing their opposition to orphanage tourism and, last summer, Responsible Travel, an umbrella group for ethically minded tour operators and hoteliers discontinued its orphanage volunteering trips.
“The only circumstances in which a voluntary placement with children could be considered is where it is a well-organised, professional placement with a volunteer who is vetted,” said Kapoor. “A qualified and experienced professional that works with children in their home country, and who is building the local capacity of staff. Children deserve no less.”
When considering any kind of placement, volunteers should ensure their skillset matches the requirements of the placement and find out as much as possible about the daily work they will be doing to ensure they can make a valuable contribution.
“The most important thing is to start with local community need,” explained Grayson. “Volunteers should establish that the project they are going to work with would exist whether or not volunteers were there. The volunteer programme should not be the driving force – it should be a support and add-on to the work that people are already doing day-in day-out on the ground.”
A reputable organisation should be able to tell you how the fees it charges are being spent, to show you its responsible tourism policy, and to put you in touch with ex-participants and locals on the ground. The good news is that people are increasingly holding these organisations to account via review sites and social media (see facebook.com/BetterVolunteering).
While the worst case scenario of irresponsible voluntourism could be inadvertently harming local communities, it’s worth remembering that the volunteers lose out too. But by asking the right questions and with enough planning, well-intentioned young people can be confident their skills will be put to good use.
see the full article on: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hubs/gapyear/11032507/Gap-years-Voluntourism-who-are-you-helping.html
Kapoor believes that institutionalising children in this way puts them at a greater risk of sexual abuse and exploitation – including from tourists – and that supporting orphanages through voluntourism can allow that to happen.
Volunteers should also consider what practical help they could realistically offer in an orphanage.
Sallie Grayson from People and Places (travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk), a UK organisation that arranges overseas voluntary placements, said: “Volunteers should ask themselves 'do I have the skills to do this job?’
“ 'Would I be allowed to go and hug a baby at an orphanage in my own country?’ And we know what the answer is,” she said. “Why should we be allowed to go and use economically poor communities as our playthings?”
Child protection agencies and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) are increasingly expressing their opposition to orphanage tourism and, last summer, Responsible Travel, an umbrella group for ethically minded tour operators and hoteliers discontinued its orphanage volunteering trips.
“The only circumstances in which a voluntary placement with children could be considered is where it is a well-organised, professional placement with a volunteer who is vetted,” said Kapoor. “A qualified and experienced professional that works with children in their home country, and who is building the local capacity of staff. Children deserve no less.”
When considering any kind of placement, volunteers should ensure their skillset matches the requirements of the placement and find out as much as possible about the daily work they will be doing to ensure they can make a valuable contribution.
“The most important thing is to start with local community need,” explained Grayson. “Volunteers should establish that the project they are going to work with would exist whether or not volunteers were there. The volunteer programme should not be the driving force – it should be a support and add-on to the work that people are already doing day-in day-out on the ground.”
A reputable organisation should be able to tell you how the fees it charges are being spent, to show you its responsible tourism policy, and to put you in touch with ex-participants and locals on the ground. The good news is that people are increasingly holding these organisations to account via review sites and social media (see facebook.com/BetterVolunteering).
While the worst case scenario of irresponsible voluntourism could be inadvertently harming local communities, it’s worth remembering that the volunteers lose out too. But by asking the right questions and with enough planning, well-intentioned young people can be confident their skills will be put to good use.
see the full article on: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hubs/gapyear/11032507/Gap-years-Voluntourism-who-are-you-helping.html
