Volunteering abroad is a hugely popular way that people choose to travel the world whilst giving something back. Unfortunately after much reading I have learnt that not all volunteering opportunities benefit people, which ultimately means I have come to the conclusion that I simply don’t support volunteer tourism and that it is not how or why I want to travel.

Why I Don’t Support Volunteer Tourism

There are plenty of gap year volunteer programs out there to suit your skills and interests. You can do anything from teaching English as a foreign language in developing communities, to rehabilitating injured orang-utans in Borneo, to helping conservation work in vital ecosystems in Costa Rica. 

The trend of volunteer tourism (or voluntourism as it’s known) has come about partly through initiatives by well established organisations such as UNICEF and Save the Children. They raise money for programmes they have developed for orphans and vulnerable children. These appeals are generally effective because children do tend to arouse sympathetic reaction. The problem with many of these appeals is that they attracted increasing numbers of student volunteers, and despite their good intentions, are they actually providing positive results?

The Trouble With Voluntourism

There are a number of issues surrounding the subject volunteer tourism and all of these have confirmed my decision not to support these endeavours.

The Requirements

There are often no requirement for the people who take on volunteer projects to have any actual skills or qualifications in order to take on the tasks.

If you want to teach English then you will often need a TEFL qualification but this is not compulsory for every placement so you may actually find projects that you can simply walk into without proof of any actual competency.

However, community work (which may involve building and construction) does not require any qualifications or even previous experience. I find this unbelievable, would you really want to live in a house if you found out it had been built by a group of people who had zero building knowledge or experience? Yet it is thought to be perfectly acceptable that schools, clinics and even houses would be built for the needs of vulnerable people, where the only requirements are enthusiastic, energy and an open-mind.

When volunteering with animals you rarely need qualifications unless the project involves SCUBA diving and then you will be required to have the PADI Open Water Diving Certificate.

The strangest thing for me is that voluntary work involving providing medical care can be undertaken by people with no skills or experience. You could easily find a placement where you are working with professionally qualified people but assist them on projects involving children and the elderly. 

The Money Matters

Another reason why I don’t support volunteer tourism is that it is not cheap. You could pay as little as £500 but you could also pay anything up to £5000 if you wanted to spend a longer period of time on a project. However, even though these costs include accommodation and most meals it doesn’t include the expense of flights, visas or travel insurance. This means that for a simple 12 week placement you could actually end up spending as much as £10,000.

The question I have is where does all that money go? If you read any of the website for these voluntary organizations you will find that they all claim to charge a fee to volunteers in order to cover the overseas costs of volunteering and the costs of running the organisation in the UK.

The problem I have with all charitable organizations is that the people at ground-level are nearly always expected to work for nothing, whereas the more senior members are often paid salaries that are higher than average. I’m sure most of us would love to feel as though we are doing something amazing and giving back to the world, but if you are working I truly believe that everyone should be paid, not just those at the top of the pecking order. 

The Animals and Children

We’ve all seen the news, showing children and babies in horrendous conditions, abandoned and orphaned in developing countries. It is only natural for us to feel horrified and sympathetic to their plights but what would you think if you found out that not all of these children were abandoned or orphaned? Instead there have been documented cases of children across the world who are bought and placed in these places to look unfortunate and in need and this is why I don’t support volunteer tourism and the potential humanitarian issues it could cause.

There is also the issue that not all volunteers are checked for criminal records, which means that children are placed in harm’s way and could suffer in the most horrendous way. 

We all love animals and we’d all love the opportunity to get up close and personal to them, but this is the problem. Any organization that offers the opportunity for wild animals to be ridden or handled should (in my opinion) be avoided. The only people who should be handling animals are those with veterinary qualifications, not some random person who wants to cuddle a cute monkey or stroke a tiger.

The Impact

You may feel that by volunteering you are doing something amazing, but have you stopped to consider the lasting impact that you and your actions may be having?

Earlier in the post I mentioned how few voluntary organizations require qualifications or even experience when it comes to building or construction projects, however surely it would be better for the local community to be provided with the tools and training in order to do the work themselves, which would ultimately produce skilled workers who should then receive paid jobs.

When medical assistance is required I honestly feel that only qualified professionals should be involved. The training of medical procedures and techniques could be exchanged and passed on, which would actually have a much more positive impact than of those hopeful amateurs.

I truly believe that in order for voluntary tourism to have a positive impact on the world the organizations in questions need to change the way their programmes are run and made available:

• Projects involving children should only be made available to people who have identifiable professional qualifications and are adequately police checked to protect from abuse. 
• Projects involving animals should be lead by professional veterinarians and should involve as little physical contact as possible.
• Projects where medical care is provided should only be undertaken by medical professionals.
• Projects based around building and construction should be completed by people who have experience
• Projects should be a minimum amount of time – a week is not an adequate amount of time to learn, experience, achieve and make a difference.

I am almost positive that there are people out there who have taken part in these volunteer projects and have come away having had the most incredible experiences and do feel as though they made a real difference to the place, the people and the environment. However, for me, this is not necessarily enough and there are still too many reason why I just don’t support volunteer tourism.

What is your opinion on volunteer tourism?

Have you taken part and what was your experience like?

Let me know in the comments.