Global Volunteers' vision is to help build a foundation for world peace and justice through service. It's our belief that all of us can wage peace and promote justice, one person at a time. Global Volunteers CEO and President Bud Philbrook reflects on our mission:

"National governments have the primary responsibility for maintaining peace. However, they all too often appear limited in what they can actually do to ensure a just and peaceful world. Individuals, on the other hand - you and I - can make tremendous personal contributions toward this end.

"War and injustice are born of insufficient human and economic development. It's simply extraordinarily difficult to have hope when it appears you have no future. And the road to war and terrorism is paved with feelings of helplessness. During times of international conflict, our hearts go out to all whose lives are touched by war and terror - especially the children of the world. They are all too often the most innocent of innocent bystanders -- those who are helpless to stop the pain and suffering at the hands of adults.

"To the children in St. Lucia, Costa Rica, Greece, Peru, Romania, Tanzania, India, the Cook Islands, the rural United States, and all our other host countries, you and your team mates are bright beacons of hope - bringing hugs, English lessons, food, clothing, heath care and other essential services. We must always remember that the needs of the world's children are constant. For them, there is no "hiatus" while wars are fought elsewhere. Wouldn't it be a tragedy if they become casualties when good intentions are "shelved" because we're afraid to reach out during times of crisis or recession?

"The opportunity for human and economic development generates hope. And, where there is hope, there can be peace. Global Volunteers enables individuals to wage peace by generating hope. Our participants serve on "alternative" or "working" vacations. These volunteers serve the local people, who invite them to their community to work on human and economic development projects deemed important by community leaders. In this capacity, the volunteers do whatever they are asked to do on the work project, with the result being that nearly everyone can be of service.

"Because local people decide what the volunteers do, the work projects vary from community to community. However, all our work centers on at-risk children, and the essential services we provide fall into three categories:

• Health: We nurture and provide psychosocial support for "street kids," disabled and orphaned children, and hospitalized infants. We help build, paint, and repair community centers, health care clinics, and other facilities.
  
  
• Hunger: We help plant and maintain community and school gardens,
  
  
• Education and IQ: We teach conversational English skills to children, youth and adults all over the world. We teach health and nutrition as well as classroom subjects in schools and community organizations.
  

"As volunteers and local people work together, they learn from and about each other. This is a true people-to-people strategy, and the foundation of mutual respect. We've learned a great deal about useful volunteer service since 1984. We know without question that in order for any development project to be successful, local people must be in charge. This may seem self-evident, even simplistic, but it's a complex, multidimensional issue.

First, local people must initiate and conduct their own development efforts. Outsiders, whether they are in government agencies, religious organizations, or well-meaning non-profits, cannot impose or even suggest solutions or take credit for local accomplishments.

Second, outside volunteers can work only under the direction of local leaders... even when outsiders think they know how to do it better, safer, or cheaper.

Third, local people must engage the volunteers with them, hand-in-hand, and shoulder-to-shoulder. The outsider works with local people, not for them.

"The second most important lesson arising from our partnerships is that volunteer service engenders hope and friendship, both of which are critical to waging peace. As our volunteers work alongside local people, they discover that although we are different in many ways - different languages, cultures, races, ethnicity, skin colors, how we worship, how we dance - we are all far more alike than different. This discovery often results in a celebration of the differences and meaningful friendships between the local people and the volunteers. Our vision is that as more and more families and individuals volunteer around the world and make friends with local people, the more peaceful the world will become.

"Volunteer service engenders hope. When classrooms are built and children can attend school and begin to learn, hope springs forth. When young adults acquire marketable skills, they view their futures more optimistically.The role of the volunteer is not to solve or "accomplish" anything... rather, the volunteer simply shares who s/he is and their unique talents in an open-minded and compassionate way." Read more about our Philosophy of Service.