The Ethical "Vacation Volunteer"
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You have two or three weeks for vacation. You'd like to contribute your time to an effort to help people in need. Can you really make a difference on a service program? You can, if you choose your option wisely.
Today, more than two decades of evidence shows that short-term volunteers, working through established, ethical non-profit organizations, and under the direction of local leaders, can truly be a valuable - if small - part in the long-term improvement of day-to-day community life. How can you make sure you truly contribute in a helpful, meaningful way and avoid all manner of exploitation?
First, rely on a proven, long-standing NGO (non-governmental organization) engaged in ongoing development; one who assigns team members to work projects based on local leaders' vision, commitment and contributions. Such volunteer projects don't cost local people more effort than the volunteer contribution merits.
Second, be aware that ethical organizations usually require a minimum commitment of at least a week, so the volunteer can become fully integrated into the work project.
Third, reputable non-profit volunteer agendas are full-day service efforts and are tax-deductible for U.S. taxpayers. When you work through Global Volunteers, you're mobilized in full-time work projects, five days per week. (The IRS requires "no significant element of personal pleasure, recreation or vacation.")
Fourth, ethical organizations are self-supporting in the host community, and don't draw financial resources away from local people, but rather contribute project materials, support the local economy, and invest in local initiatives without creating dependencies upon outside sources.
Most important, a sustainable "volunteer vacation" contributes the volunteer's skills and energy to the community as they work alongside local people on local development projects.
As the range of "volunteer vacations" options expand, the potential for unassuming volunteers to do more harm than good is clear. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Avoid programs that exploit local people by centering on the volunteers' desires to "do good" rather than truly addressing local needs.
Evidence of Global Volunteers' contributions are widespread: A technologically advanced, model school in An Shang Village, China; At a "Failure to Thrive" hospital ward in Tutova, Romania; Scholarships and expanded recreational options for orphaned children in Lima, Peru; A safe child care center in Calderon, Ecuador; Elementary and High School English classes in remote Polish schools; and school classrooms and dormitories in the Iringa region of Tanzania are just some projects made possible through more than 25 years of short-term volunteer assistance.
We invite you on a Global Volunteers "Adventure in Service," confident in the knowledge that you not only will enrich your life, and the lives of others, but will help lay a foundation for world peace through mutual international understanding and respect.
