National_Geographic_Traveller_UK_June_2017

THE DO-GOOD DILEMMA
HOW DO YOU FIND AN ETHICAL OPERATOR AND PROJECT TO ENSURE YOU’RE DOING
MORE GOOD THAN HARM? WE LOOK AT THE QUESTIONS POTENTIAL VOLUNTEERS
SHOULD BE ASKING. WORDS: SAM LEWIS
Few would argue that
travellers who volunteer
abroad want to make a
positive contribution. Some
might say their altruism is mixed,
in part, with self interest, tinged
with idealism, or underpinned by
obligation or guilt. But motives
aside, the bigger ethical issue is
surely: what are the ramifications
of their work, and where is their
money going? Would it be better,
in fact, to stay at home?
Growing up, most of the
volunteers I knew were teachers,
nurses and doctors who travelled
with nonprofit charities or
nongovernmental organisations.
Today, practically anyone can
volunteer abroad and there are
hundreds of organisations that
will happily place them.
According to Amnesty
International, the volunteering
industry is worth around
$11bn a year, with the largest
organisations generating up to
$20m a year.
Raising money for a good
cause has become a commercial
enterprise — and that means
those in need aren’t the only ones
who are benefitting.
Ruth Taylor, international
steering committee member
for interagency initiative Better
Volunteering, Better Care, says:
“Volunteering abroad is big
business and it’s important to
ask yourself whether, as an
industry, we’re making money
from poverty.”
Of course, in an ideal world,
as a volunteer I’d want 100% of
my money to go to charity. But
as a realist, I know that some
of it will pay for my food, travel
and administration costs, and
a percentage will also go to the
organisation to pay salaries
— with some taking more
than others. Even Amnesty
International has come under fire
on this count. The Sun called out
the Nobel Peace Prize-winning
organisation for allegedly paying
its secretary general, Salil Shetty,
around £200,000 a year (although
it should be noted that this sum is
comparable to other NGO senior
executives roles).
Beside the issue of how much
money is or isn’t finding its way to
a particular project, there’s the
question of whether the project is
actually necessary. Does it have a
long-term, sustainable goal?
Are there likely to be any
negative consequences?
With hundreds of
organisations clamouring
to take paying volunteers,
anyone interested clearly has a
responsibility to research not
only the organisation but to ask
pertinent questions about the
project they’ll be working on.
Transparency surrounding the
impact of the placement and
volunteers’ money should be a
prerequisite for signing up to a
volunteering scheme.
A key consideration, too, is
what a volunteer wants from
the experience.
The boundary between
holidaying and volunteering
has become blurred — some
volunteer programmes even
involve sightseeing or beach
time. Such trips are often
labelled with the derisory
portmanteau ‘voluntourism’.
Hratche Koundarjian, global
media manager at VSO, says:
“Our volunteers don’t have
tourist experiences. We don’t
arrange tours or sightseeing
opportunities. Our placements
aren’t holidays, they’re an
opportunity to contribute to
a properly planned, long-term
international development
programme. Our volunteers can
find their placements enjoyable
— but they’re also demanding.”
Does this mean that
international volunteering
opportunities that structure
themselves around an element
of travel and tourism alongside
a stint of charitable activity
are wrong or simply ineffective?
It seems most people on a
voluntourism project want a
balance between work and
free time spent exploring the
location. Ridhi Patel, founder
of Volunteering Journeys, says
volunteers can have the best
of both worlds, providing they
choose a project wisely. She cites
wildlife data-collection initiatives
as one such example.
Whatever your stance on this,
it’s clear that every volunteer
— whether a full-time charity
worker or voluntourist — needs
to do some careful research and
background checks before they
embark on a trip if they really want
to make a positive difference.
IMAGE: THE GREAT PROJECTS
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