Volunteering Abroad

FRANCESCO CARUSO

• Founder and Executive Director of the Firetree Asia Foundation (www.firetree.org) , which funds and supports projects in:Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, India, Nepal, Hong Kong.

• Co-founder of M’Lop Tapang (www.mloptapang.org) , a program for Street children in Cambodia, where I lived for 6 years

• Board member of Angkor Hospital for Children (www.angkorhospital.org), Cambodia

Who volunteers abroad…• Young people (often during their gap year, typically between 1

and 4 weeks) • Employees of large corporations as part of CSR (usually from a

few hours to a couple days)• Others…

• Desire to help and special connection with a specific country• “educational exposure to “poverty” and increasingly “because

it looks great on a CV”• Savior Complex

…And why

Some common challenges related to Volunteering Abroad

• Language• Culture• Professional Skills (lack of…)• Mismatched expectations• Involuntary support of poverty exploitation (by NGOs that rely

on income from volunteers) • Costs to look after volunteers (for the local NGOs)

Why do local NGOs accept volunteers

POSITIVE• Seek professional skills not readily available locally• Seek trainers for own staff

LESS POSITIVE• Believe volunteers can replace need for local staff (paid)• Hope volunteers will also donate money

NEGATIVE!• Run volunteer programs as a business

Volontourism• Many people go to poor countries with the intention of donating their time to

volunteering at an orphanage or other child-related organizations. Like orphanage tourism, this can develop into a lucrative business which can endanger the proper care of children rendering them more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Unregulated volunteering in all its aspects is harmful to children.

• Voluntourism can be a program that invites tourists (for a specific fee, or through an NGO directly recruiting), to volunteer at an organization. In most cases, these organizations do not require candidates to have relevant qualifications or previous work experience in social work or childcare. At worst, some organizations do not require or conduct proper background checks of volunteers before placing them in direct contact with children.

(source: http://thinkchildsafe.org/thinkbeforevisiting/)

Important to remember that…

A good idea?

If you really want to volunteer, here are some tips

• Discuss and finalize a clear work-plan with the NGO you will visit

• Ensure they have a solid Child Protection Policy• Ensure you will add value (= use your professional skills)• Ensure the long-term impact of your volunteer work (training

local staff, for example)• Do not do jobs that local people could do (and be paid for)• In most cases, do not pay intermediaries to volunteer abroad

And……Consider volunteering in your own country! It can have such a

stronger impact

http://www.friends-international.org/employment/volunteering-conditions.asp?mm=em&sm=vc

A good example of how to do it (there are many…)

• http://www.thinkchildsafe.org/thinkbeforevisiting/• https://newmatilda.com/2014/02/06/hey-voluntourist-take-back-seat • http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlotte-robertson/voluntourism-why-helping-_b_612238

6.html

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniela-papi/is-voluntourism-itself-be_b_5197390.html

Short reading list: