Voluntary holidays

Such a nice resource.

Thanks Richard for an excellent answer, and for highlighting the resources – EthicalVolunteering.org is a superb website.
Hands Up Holidays puts a special slant on to volunteer travel, by offering trips that blend amazing sightseeing with a taste of volunteering (typically for about 1/3 of the total trip length).
We offer these inspirational, fulfilling trips in 32 countries.

Our idea is to give our guests a holiday, and allow them to “dip their toe into the waters” of voluntourism, discover how enriching and rewarding it is, and become inspired to become passionate advocates and donors of the project they assisted at (because lets face it, what most communities really need is cash, more than Jonny Foreigner’s unskilled labour when local unemployment runs at 60%!)..and also to volunteer for more substantial periods of time, either abroad, or we make it easy for our guests to do so back in their home community (London is ripe with opportunities: migrant communities desperate to learn English so they can find a better job, for example).

To summarise our Responsible Travel and Volunteering policy:
- Consultation with the local community is paramount – firstly, we ascertain if foreigners are even welcomed, and then we leave it up to them to tell us what would be of most benefit to them (we never impose on a community what we think should be done)
- We have committed, long-term relationships with all our Volunteer Project partners and communities
- We spend much time ensuring that the projects we work with are such that our guests can make a positive difference in anything from 3-5 days
- We require police checks to be done for any trip involving children (such as teaching), and for our orphanage projects, these are always ‘repair and renovation’ focused, thus freeing up the permanent care givers to care for the children, and avoid any risk of the children building up an attachment to our guests, which is very traumatic when our guests leave
- Our volunteer projects are designed so that even if you have no specific skills, you can make a difference, but if you do have specific skills, we will match those wherever possible and put you to good use!
- We include a minimum donation per person of £40, as well as being committed to putting at least 10% of our profits into further development work and environmentally friendly and sustainable carbon offset schemes (such as biofuels or efficient stoves)
- We include all the costs of materials used in volunteering in the price
- We only use local guides and are committed to mentoring promising young guides from the community, train them in good guide practice. Our local guides are on hand throughout the volunteering also, to be a liaison especially if English is not the spoken language
- We send each traveller a pre-departure pack, describing the destination country, its history, cultural norms, and general health and visa requirements. We also provide important practical information such as how to pack and dress appropriately, what to expect when encountering the local populations, how much money they will need to bring, etc.. We encourage travellers to try to learn a few phrases in the local language(s) before they arrive. Most importantly, we encourage all of our travellers to arrive with an open mind and to be prepared to have their world-views gently challenged by the new cultures they will encounter.

In terms of other operators in the “voluntourism” space, Different Travel is excellent, with fantastic vision and values, and Go Differently also have the right idea, and an ethical approach to their trips.

Yours in Adventures That Count
Chris Hill
Founder

Hello, I appreciate your article getting the Green Traveling word out to more people. It is so important for everyone to chip in and do their part...and have a fantastic adventure at the same time! I operate a Travel Blog website called The Get There Girls that posts Video Blogs and Picture Blogs of traveling adventures. I would love to feature green travel destinations and blogs to further spread this wonderful idea to more travelers. Please check out my site and submit your stories and I will post the best submissions! Thanks! -Ali

I found the article about choosing a good Voluntary Tourism company really informative.Congrats to the author

http://poovarislandresort.com/
webmaster@poovarislandresort.com

I was delighted to read the above article, and several others calling for transparency and an ethical approach to the management of the voluntourism industry.

My company, Track of the Tiger T.R.D. has been in business in northern Thailand for 22 years.

We came to realise that if we did not do something to protect the environment and the way of life of the rural and ethnic monority groups, we would not have a product to sell in 5-10 years time.

We started the VWB Initiative some two years back aimed at resolving what we saw as being the main problem - the fact that the minorities had no stakeholding or ownership - in the ecotourism industry. This led to them being exploited by various vested interest groups in tourism, and to their encroachment on the forest and watersheds.

Our pilot project, under which we are the appointed development partner by a particular village, is establishing the Pang Soong Nature Trails network, from which the villagers derive trail entrance fees and local forest guide payments (amongst other benefits).

Our programmes are open to paying volunteers and cost around US$60 per day for individuals (less for student groups). This covers transport, meals, acommodation, co-worker labour payments, a development fund contribution (for building materials) and a charge to cover the 3 staff who supervise the programme.

All charges are transparently displayed on our website in an itemised breakdown.

We have been approached by several of the 'big name' placement agencies, all of whom were apparently thrilled by the project , the scope of the work, its benefits to both host community and volunteers.

On their websites they all seemed to be pricing their combined voluntourist/soft adventure programmes at around US$100.- per day.

We quickly discovered to that they only wanted to spend 25% of this amount (US$ 25.-maximum) on the actual all inclusive programme cost (for any programme),and by their own admission and are doing this throughout the Thai and other markets.

As a long established tour operator we know that this mark up is well over the top. 15 -30% is the norm in our industry.

The burgeoning voluntourism industry, one that has the potential to do such an enormous amount of good for both the receipient host communities and the volunteers themselves (throughout the less developed world)is in grave danger of being irrevocably damaged by these shysters.

I believe that the media needs to expose these practices, and that the mainstream tourism industry has a definitive role to play here. Major operators should be establishing a voluntourism product section within their operations the cost of which can be absorbed under the marketing budget.

The tourism industry can afford to promote voluntourism programmes adding just a small service charge (if need be) as they will gain a great deal from:

(a) The pre and post voluntourism project activities their clients book - where they will generally spend more because of the 'feel good factor'.
(b) The image building benefit their involvenment gives them.
© The contribution to sustaining (indeed improving) the tourism product they sell.

Potential clients (volunteers)should also be able to book direct - perhaps using a system we have designed where instead of paying an agent's commission they pay the same amount into the VWB Development fund - ensuring a level playing field for the tourism industry who should be an integral part of the supply chain, and giving the client the option of going direct.

All voluntourism providers should be required (or morally compelled) to provide:

(a) Clear detail of exactly how each client's dollar is to be spent.
(b) Full detail exactly what work the client will undertake and how that work will actually benefit the host community - and the volunteer.

I welcome comments from individuals on this subject and on the operating model that we have developed. See www.voluntourists-without-borders.com for detail.

Shane K Beary
Track of the Tiger
& The VWB Initiative

Hi,

Organisation for Responsible & Community-based Tourism (ORCBT) is an NGo working in this area. Various volunteer opportunities are available with the organisation with member base in many countries. The organsation's website is www.realitytourism.org and there is work available on various community-based projects. I find it a very good idea to work with locals and experience real culture at the same time.

I see Steve of www.maketravelfair.com has kindly already mentioned us at Your Safe Planet so I'll take the opportunity to mention Blue Ventures, a volunteering organisation run by people for whom Steve and I both have a lot of time and respect.

Blue Ventures takes volunteers to Madagascar to be involved in projects that are wholly benefitting the communtiy without profit for the owners of the organisation, yet ensuring operations are sustainable. Furthermore, they have developed their own carbon balancing initiative; money from their scheme (ALL the money) goes to funding fuel efficient stoves and renewable energy for villages in the local area. I believe this is the future of carbon balancing - putting money directly into local projects that reduce CO2 emissions at a grass root level, meaning the donor/traveller sees exactly where their money is going and knows it is directly impacting carbon emissions.

Blue Venture have done a lot to renew credibility in an area of tourism that has been abused by too many companies aiming for financial targets rather than results from research and volunteer projects - although great to see so many listed here that are striving for similar goals as BV. The challenge is now making sure these kinds of organisations have a louder voice than those competitors who simply have larget wallets.

YSP is going for a different approach in utilising the man power and resources that are lost in the traveller who does not have the time or money to commit to a full project such as that offered by Blue Ventures - we pick up the stragglers! By offering every traveller the chance to see a local project first hand and donate whatever resource they can - time, money, attention - they gain more from their experience and still give something back. The most valuable asset gained by the traveller is awareness of the challenges faced in the communities they visit for such a short time. Increased awareness opens eyes to global issues as well as local and is more likely to have an impact on behaviour. If we want to encourage people to live and travel more responsibly they must first gain awareness.

By the way - CONGRATULATIONS to Hands Up Holidays who were also finalists for the TravelMole responsible tourism website of the year award.

Sally
Founder
Your Safe Planet

The issue of standards within the volunteering industry has attracted media interest and was featured on Radio 5 at the weekend.

The link to listen to the interview can be found on this hyperlink.

Makes interesting listening and features Kate Simpson (www.ethicalvolunteering.org), Tom Griffiths (www.gapyear.com) and Michael Amphlet (www.questoverseas.com).

Also Tourism Concern together with concerned organisations are producing a Code to improve standards across the board.

Cheers,

Mike

www.quest4change.org

sallie grayson
people and places
volunteering with integrity

The recent purchase of one of the largest UK providers of “meaningful travel” by First Choice serves to underline that volunteers constitute a rapidly growing number of travellers.
It is incumbent on those of us involved with this market to provide guidelines to potential volunteers to help them make the right choices, for themselves and the communities who would host them. I, therefore, welcome your forum!

The primary reason for founding our organisation – we wanted to address the extant chasm between marketing and reality; a chasm that results in “armies of well-meaning idealists forcing their world view on developing communities”. In such an environment, there is plenty of opportunity for both travellers and hosts to be disappointed – volunteers find themselves doing something other than what they’d hoped and expected to be doing, and host communities are regularly being asked to subsidise the presence of the volunteers – whether they’re any use or not.

The term ‘ethical’ should remain far more than just marketing speak – it should not be enabled to go the way of previous buzz-words, such as ‘eco-tourism’ and the whole panoply of ‘green’ and ‘eco’ words.

We applaud organisations which genuinely attempt to facilitate and advance truly ethical volunteering.

It is definitely not our intention to belittle the work of other volunteer recruitment organisations, but we are very aware that all too many are already using terms such as ‘responsible’ or ‘ethical’ without a true understanding or application of their meaning. These terms must constitute more than marketing speak – they need to be core values that inform the organisations and their daily operations.

It is unacceptable that economically poor communities are asked to host unasked-for volunteers. It is also irresponsible and patronising to expect those communities to subsidise volunteers with anything other than their time & friendship. Communities must be appropriately rewarded for their input.

It is equally unacceptable and irresponsible that volunteers should be expected to part with their hard-earned cash and precious time without assurances that their input will be valid, valued, appropriate and safe.

We agree with Richard that
“The best organisations focus on the environmental and developmental benefits of their work rather than on providing volunteers with a glorified holiday in the sun….Often, the most worthwhile projects originate within the destination where the local people have sought out specific help from agencies to select volunteers.”

We work with local partners who provide long-term support for the projects and volunteers, they live and work in these communities – they are of these communities and they discuss their needs with them, agree on the skills and volunteers needed and liaise with us to source those volunteers. Volunteers cannot be placed through
peopleandplaces without the full and informed authority of the project.

It’s encouraging to see that volunteers are starting to ask questions –
The question “Who decides what I will be doing?” is of paramount importance -

we suggest that kids in their 20’s looking to boost their CVs, through what may amount to little more than a job as a tour rep in a developing country, are unlikely to have the necessary skills or experience for the input that is really needed in these discussions.

Anyone looking for a worthwhile volunteer placement cannot be expected to fully assess a project for themselves, and they need to gather as much information as possible before making a decision. Therefore we suggest the following question for volunteers to ask –
“Who can I talk to who actually knows the project through more than the written word? Can I talk to previous volunteers and local people”

Volunteers should be suspicious of any organisation that can’t tell them exactly where and how their money is spent. It’s very easy for agencies to break down the cost into percentages, but this approach can still mask the fact that as little as 20% reaches the host country! We therefore suggest that it is not enough to accept that 23% of what they pay is the ‘Cost of running the project’. Volunteers are entitled to know how much of that 23% is used to pay for the organisation’s administration where the only project input is sending emails to hard-pressed support workers in local communities.

Equally important as - How is the money spent? - is - Where is the money spent?

We at peopleandplaces would encourage an open an honest debate about the ethics of volunteer recruitment and again welcome this forum.

Best
Sallie Grayson
peopleandplaces
www.travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk

Is handing over thousands of pounds to a volunteering company really the best, most efficient way for us to become involved in local community projects abroad?

With such huge, expensive marketing campaigns and high salaried managers behind some of the UK's largest volunteering companies it seems that vast sums of money are being grossly mismanaged in an industry designed to aid those in need. To be sure that thousand pound participation fees are being used most effectively perhaps prospective volunteers should be enrolling on schemes run by smaller companies they've never heard of, rather than contributing their valuable finance to one of these big branded companies. Atleast then they won't be bankrolling an extravagant marketing budget or funding excessive salaries demanded by managers, but injecting money directly into the project they wish to support.

Alasdair Harris, co-founder of Blue Ventures says that they don't even have a marketing budget. The web is their biggest marketing tool, and if you see an ad in the paper they won't have paid for it. It is this attitude that enstills confidence, and reminds us that a common goal is being shared. The Haller Foundation has opportunities for volunteers interested in helping to develop their farming and educational initiatives in Tanzania, but is far too cost conscious to be spending money on a marketing campaign or on agent commissions. Volunteering opportunties need to be opened up and not confined to those willing to spend thousands of pounds to assist in a development project for a month or longer. There needs to be an option for anyone to get involved for any length of time.

There are projects that require lengthy training prior to volunteers being able to engage fully in a project, and such opportunities are best kept for the longer term participant; but there are plenty of initiatives all over the world that would benefit from the passing contribution of an independent traveller. Initiatives that don't involve 'buying in' with thousands of pounds, nor require months of planning or preparation in advance. Finding these projects and knowing that they exist at all is a problem that Make Travel Fair and Your Safe Planet are trying to solve by raising awareness of small community based initiatives. Through their extensive contact base Your Safe Planet has gained a great deal of knowledge about these small scale projects, ideal for independent travellers eager to spend a few days or weeks volunteering whilst on their travels. If someone wants to volunteer some of their time to a worthy project then their good nature needs to be embraced and the opportunities made available.

Stephen Chapman
Make Travel Fair
www.maketravelfair.com

As a fairly new non-profit in the eco- and volun-tourism industry, Andaman Discoveries (www.andamandiscoveries.com) is looking for new ways to reach out to the environmental community.

We started as a spin-off from a tsunami relief organization (North Andaman Tsunami Relief) and worked closely with fishing villages to train guides and families who let guests come and stay in their house, but now we're looking for advice on how to sustain the sustainable tourism.

To begin, the funding for the tsunami programs ends in six months, but the villages are still here, and the scenary in southern Thailand is still amazing. The villagers are very enthusiastic about the benefits of volun-tourism (and 100% of the proceeds go right there) but they don't want to take part in the "headaches" of marketing. So the query for all of you is, how do we get the word out in such a way that the program can continue once the well of relief money runs dry?

Yours Truly,

Bodhi Garret
NATR, Andaman Discoveries

Hi Richard,

Interesting article and great to see the topic being discussed. Myself and others in the industry have set up a couple of blogs for individuals to look at and comment on regarding volunteering abroad.

One important issue is lack of openess and feedback on experiences and so both sites encourage this. The Quest4change blog also has recent comments from a researcher studying volunteering overseas.

Please have a look and we encourage comment from anyone who is interested.

http://quest4achange.blogspot.com/

www.voluntourist.net

Cheers