This project has always been very conscious & mindful of the ethics of international volunteering and international development. Individuals like Daniela Papi (whose fantastic TED talk, which our volunteers studied and reflected on during our training sessions, can be found here) have been working tirelessly to raise awareness on the growing culture of 'voluntourism' and the ethical pitfalls which stem from the industry.
Voluntourism is the intersection of volunteering and tourism, It is
“the practice of individuals going on a working holiday, volunteering their labour for worthy causes” [2] such as “aiding or alleviating the material poverty of some groups in society; the restoration of certain specific environments or research into aspects of society or environment”, “for various reasons”, “in an organised way” [3], “alongside touristic activities”. [4]
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation's (UNWTO) 1995 definition, any work which includes remuneration is excluded, as it does not qualify as volunteering. Whilst voluntourism usually involves a fee paid to a travel company, these costs tend to cover the travel and activities of the volunteers, rather than qualifying as remuneration for work. What's clear is that voluntourism is difficult to define, which is why it is difficult to regulate and police. Put most simply, voluntourism is a trip with a volunteering and a touristic component attached.
Voluntourism, and the companies that adminstrate voluntourism, have increasingly come under-fire as organisations and academics scrutinise the practice. There are fears that it engenders actively unhelpful idealism, and seeks temporary solutions geared around pleasing the market (the volunteers), rather than the countries they seek to help. Furthermore, voluntourism often creates a misplaced idealism aimed at selling a touristic product, rather than creating an atmosphere for meaningful change. There are also worrying signs that destinations which receive voluntourists adapt their economies and infrastructure to actively encourage this industry; orphanages in Africa and SE Asia have been found, worryingly, to have children whose parents are alive and in contact, for example.
Following this scrutiny, and an investigation by French Television, 'Projects Abroad', a company who offer international volunteering projects, have decided to pull all projects out of Cambodian orphanages, over fear of endemic corruption. On their facebook page they state:
"Projects Abroad has already sent an investigation team to assess the situation of corruption in some orphanages. We have also consulted with the NGO Friends International, responsible for child protection and recognised internationally for their work, to help us to improve our work in the field based on its expertise. The result of our investigation left some outstanding concerns and therefore Projects Abroad has decided to cease sending volunteers to orphanages in Cambodia. By the end of 2013, Projects Abroad will no longer work with any orphanage in Cambodia."
Whilst this problem is certainly one that needs to be addressed, and we support Projects Abroad's decision to investigate and make changes, we do not support a blanket pull-out from Cambodia, or any stable developing nation. Curtailing the harmful effects of voluntourism can be achieved without the withdrawal of vital support and human resources, and without sending a political message with may disincentive other organisations from working in a country which still needs international support. We refuse to believe that there are no orphanages in Cambodia who are worth working with, and we point to NGOs such as Seametrey who are doing fantastic work in Cambodia, and who deserve the support of international organisations. We suggest that all international organisations amp-up their vetting procedures in an effort to ensure they lend support to ethical organisations, rather than simply pulling out altogether.
More importantly, this measure will not solve the fundamental issue at hand, which is the industry of voluntourism itself. So long as organisations have a financial incentive to 'sell' these projects, the focus will always shift far too close to incentivising uptake, rather than creating meaningful change.
Our volunteers, from day one, were made aware of the positive, and negatives impacts they can make as volunteers, and were also frankly made aware of the limited impact they can make as individuals, but the large impact they can make by being part of an ethical voluntereing movement. Moreover we sought to support an organisation with a sustainable model for change, ensuring that resources are diverted to organisations which are focused upon creating change, side-stepping one of the most noxious effects of voluntourism. Travelling as an international volunteer, and a tourist, need not be mutually exclusive, and it need not create the problems it does, but it requires organisations to look inward and ensure that the primary focus of every project is the destination country and the creation of positive, substantive long-term change.
We are incredibly proud to work with an organisation like Seametrey, who are doing genuinely innovative and powerful work in Cambodia's education sector, and we are proud to have a team of volunteers who are aware of both the positive and negative impacts they can make, and how they go about ensuring they err towards positive change. Whilst it, undoubtedly, was time & resource consuming to ensure we had this in place, it's an investment we feel is fully worth it, and we'd encourage all organisations to endeavour create ethical projects in the face of problems like corruption, rather than simply withdraw projects.
We'd encourage all international organisations and individuals thinking of volunteering internationally to be mindful of the ethics of volountourism, and to help spread awareness, so that the third sector can continue to evolve and adapt as new challenges to global equality emerge.
Thank you to this blog post (http://volunteertourismviews.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/what-is-voluntourism/) whose content features heavily in this post, as it is one of the most helpful introductions to voluntourism on the internet.
1. Clemmons D., 2012, Voluntourism: ‘A new future for aid’2. Tomazos, K., 2009, Volunteer Tourism, an ambiguous phenomenon: An analysis of the demand and supply for the volunteer tourism market3. Wearing, S. 2007, p.1, Swimming Against the Mainstream – Volunteering for Tourism4. Hesdin, 2012, The Evolution of Voluntourism
Yes... But voluntourism is a very very lucrative activity managed by profit travel agencies.....
ReplyDeleteIt could be nice to add in this article the incomes of this company