“By agreeing to sign the Charter, you will be showing your support for the principles it sets out. As a volunteer, your attitude to your placement and to your host project and community will be crucial to the success of the work you will be involved with. Your support will help to ensure a spirit of partnership, solidarity and respect between you, your sending organisation, and the host project and community with which you volunteer.”

See the whole charter here, consider asking your participants to read and commit to this (or make your own) its a great resource I think.

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Also, I stumbled upon this number again – anyone heard of any more recent data?

A 2008 study by Tourism and Research Marketing, which surveyed 300 organisations, estimated the market size to be 1.6 million volunteer tourists per year and put the value of the market at around £1.3 billion. (see here for more)

So… if you have a project in Kenya I’d love to stop by for a day and see your awesome work. Please email me if you’re interested in having me stop by and cover your project!

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State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2011 – Universal Values for Global Well-being

Complete report
Cover
Foreword, Preface, Acknowledgement and contents
Overview
Chapter 1 – Volunteerism is universal
Chapter 2 – Taking the measure of volunteering
Chapter 3 – Volunteerism in the twenty-first century
Chapter 4 – Sustainable livelihoods
Chapter 5 – Volunteering as a force for social inclusion
Chapter 6 – Volunteerism, cohesion and conflict management
Chapter 7 – Volunteerism and disasters
Chapter 8 – Volunteering and well-being
Conclusion: The way forward
Notes
References
Errata print version

Overview
Report overview

Press Releases
Message from the Executive Coordinator
Volunteerism should become an Integral Part of the New Development Consensus
Reliable data and the addressing of misconceptions are vital for moving volunteerism forward
New Forms of Volunteerism Contribute Significantly to Human Development
Volunteerism Plays an Important Role in Overcoming Barriers
Volunteer Action is an Essential Asset in the Face of War and Disaster
Well-being should be an Essential Part of a New Development Architecture
Volunteer Action Essential for the Way Forward

Backgrounders
Biography UNV Executive Coordinator Flavia Pansieri
Factoids
About the UNV programme and the State of the World’s Volunteerism Report
Countries and territories

Report presentation
Report Presentation

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A mistake I made and what I learned?  Hmmmm… I’d like to think that I haven’t made any mistakes, but that would certainly be incorrect.  I think I am constantly learning along the way, starting a public archaeology program from scratch.  I have a lot of “ifs” and “buts” – luckily there haven’t been any major disasters… yet!

IF I had more time, I would get a University fully on-board, but there is a LOT of red tape involved in this and we certainly didn’t have time to go through it in order to get the marketing started.  For next year (if we continue), we will be creating a society so that we will be more credible as a non-profit.  We are considering becoming a registered charity as well.

IF I had more money, I would offer our volunteers a much better experience.  Not to say that they didn’t have fun, but I always like to ask myself, “What would my mom think?”  Well, she would like to stay in at least a 4-star resort, and she would not like to have sandwiches for lunch.  So, we are currently trying to find someone local who will prepare our meals for us.

IF I had more courage, I would ask a TON of companies for money via corporate sponsorship.  BUT I don’t like asking people for money; it’s something that I certainly struggle with.  And with all this talk about philanthropy in the newspapers lately, you’d think I would build more courage.  BUT, I have written and deleted a number of emails to this effect.  Obviously, this is something I should JUST DO.

IF we had funding, we would be sheltering our archaeology site and protecting it from the torrential rains and winds that St. Vincent is subject to, we would get tool sponsors (so we aren’t making excavation tools out of bamboo on site), and we would get more archaeologists on staff (so we can get more work done).

There are probably a lot more IFs, but I can’t dwell on them because then there would be no WHENs.  I am one person and I made this happen (with a little help from some friends).  I’d like to think that people can learn from this; anyone can make a difference.  A bit cheesy, but true.

Best regards,

Margarita J. de Guzman, M.A., Principal Archaeologist
403.891.5617 | www.linkedin.com/in/margaritadeguzman

They also have fabulous examples of video from the host communities – I’ve been calling for this type of media, if you don’t have any you really need some now to prove to your future customers how effective your in country work is.

So where is your video? And what do you think of the guidelines for orphanage work below?

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Much of running a successful programme is experience in the particular areas you are working in. If you and the partners are working with the goal of helping the children rather than making money it would quickly become apparent if the situation were being abused. Importantly I think its worth recognising that sometimes the term is used in a slightly different way in that there will be children who have one or two parents alive attending orphanages/schools/drop in centres and the definition is not as cut and dried as it is in the UK.

There is a huge list of things that can be done to ensure this type of program is not exploitative or exploited a few comments from our team in Cape Town on what they have felt most important. They work in an orphanage that has taken in children from around the township who are in need. Some are disabled and outcast from their families, others may be orphans or neglected.

1. Ideally you should try and ensure that any orphanage where you send volunteers is linked to a social worker and that all children that are placed their have come via the correct system and that the establishment is regularly monitored and checked by social services.
2. If you are running safe houses or education programs for street children it is very important to have a strong link and regular input from a respected community leader who understands the inner workings and dynamics of the community.
3. It is very important to have longer term staff to act as mediators between the community and volunteers and to provide continuity and consistency.
4. It is extremely important for children to only be allowed to eat on the premises and not be allowed to take any food away with them. In addition it is very very important that volunteers do not hand out any gifts or money directly to children at any time and any resources which are provided need to remain on the premises. For this reason it is imperative that volunteers are supervised and managed as they would more often than not make these common mistakes meaning well with out realising the consequences.
5. We have also looked into ways of encouraging support to parents and other adult members of the community by getting them involved at the centre’s in exchange for food, never money as more often than not this would go to drugs or alcohol. So for example if they came and worked in the vegetable garden for a day they would get a box of groceries which would last a family for a week. Thereby offering them the opportunity to get food for themselves without exploiting children in anyway. However this does need to be very carefully monitored by a strong community leader as you have got to be very careful from a security point of view who you allow onto the premises and how things are managed.
6. It is also imperative that all volunteers are background checked, e.g. our volunteers obtain a CRB check (Criminal Record’s Bureau) in the UK or national equivalents if from outside the UK.
7. For programmes with the older children, education forms a vital part of the work we do.

Non-profit organization Investours is offering a completely new way to give back while you travel! Founded in 2008, Investours is pioneering a new concept called “microfinance tourism,” and currently running tours in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  Investours offers travelers a chance to get off the beaten path and interact with local people while directly contributing to poverty alleviation in the community they visit.

During a tour, travelers meet several local entrepreneurs – people who are seeking loans to start up small business projects like woodcarving, fishing, dressmaking, food stands, make-up sales and piñata making. The tour participants engage with the entrepreneurs about their businesses, their lives and why they need a loan. Over a traditionally prepared meal at the end of the tour, the group decides on one of the entrepreneurs to receive an interest-free loan funded by the group’s tour fees. This loan, along with ongoing financial education provided by Investours’ microfinance partners, helps to improve the lives of local business owners and their families.

This past week, Investours visited several entrepreneurs in the small town of Bucerias outside of Puerto Vallarta and chose restaurant owner Mari Chui to receive the interest-free loan (photo attached). Mari runs a restaurant out of her home in order to supplement her husband’s construction salary and support her children. With the loan, she plans to improve the look of her restaurant by adding a cement floor and painting the outside. Her dream is to one day open a rooftop restaurant so that guests can enjoy her spectacular view of all of Bucerias and the sea.

Tourists have been raving about the Investours experience on blogs, publications, and travel sites. Check out Trip Advisor Dar es Salaam and Trip Advisor Puerto Vallarta pages for some great quotes from tour alumni. For more information about the Investours model and to sign up for a tour, visit www.investours.org or e-mail corrina@investours.org.

Most horrifying for me is the amount of travelers that want  to go to orphanages, seriously people if this isn’t going to stop we need to find a responsible way  to do this. Any suggestions?

What is THE most popular activity you feel travelers would like to do?
Paint or Build 26%
Orphanage 20%
Nature/Wildlife Conservation 18% (ish)
Schools 15%
Other…

This is a mine field for discussion so I’m super excited. The fact that so many people think traveler’s want to go to orphanages (not surprising) but we know that is a hotly contested topic – so what is an adventure company to do? I think we could explore this a lot!

Do you feel that adding voluntourism makes your itinerary more marketable/sellable?
Yes 46%
Not Sure 42%
No 12%

The fact that 42% said they aren’t sure if voluntourism makes them more marketable is a great topic to chat about, and the 12% that said No – is that because they don’t believe in voluntourism or they’ve had experience with travelers not responding to this as an incentive to travel with them.

Are Best Practices/Guidelines for Voluntourism Realistic?
Yes 36%
No 34%
Not Sure 30%

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Read the full story here – credit to Phnom Penh Post.

Campaigners are hoping a new social-media campaign launched yesterday will shock tourists into rethinking what are ultimately harmful engagements with orphanages in Cambodia.

The brainchild of Friends International and Childsafe, the anti -“voluntourism”campaign, supported by Unicef, features the tagline “children are not tourist destinations”.

“There has been a 65 percent increase in orphanages in Cambodia since 1995,” said Friends International communications director James Sutherland. “This is the 21st Century; the situation should be getting better, not worse. Tourists are perpetuating that system.”

The campaign uses the image of two children trapped in a glass exhibit box, peering out at Western tourists who are aiming digital cameras at them, an attempt to highlight the number of children who are forced to perform, advertise, beg and work to bring in funding for their orphanage directors.

“Orphanages are not zoos, and tourists should not be allowed to move through their home” the Friends International promotional material states.

“We know this is going to be contentious, and we invite debate,” Sutherland said.

About 97 percent of children in orphanages in Cambodia are not orphans, according to Friends, which said it was eight times more expensive to house a child in an orphanage than it is to house them with their families at home.

“As almost all residential care centres are funded by individuals from overseas, many centres turn to tourism to attract more donors, fuelling a system that exposes children to risk,” Unicef representative Richard Bridle said.

“Orphanages fundraise by offering tours to foreigners, in which children are required to perform dancing or to solicit donations. There is no legal requirement for orphanages to account for funds raised in this way.”

Friends’ executive director, Sebastien Marot, said the campaign is being launched on social media to combat the online recruit of volunteers and to get the message more efficiently to young people.
“The campaign aims to bring about a behavioural change in young people visiting Cambodia,” Marot said.

“You aren’t allowed to go anywhere and hug a child in your own country, why should you be able to do it here?”

The campaign is being done in cooperation with the Royal government, which in 2008 passed minimum standards of care for children in orphanages, and in 2010, a draft prakas on child care.

“Orphanages are not required to be registered; there are not standards of practices across the orphanages,” Marot said, adding that some orphanages are not registered with the government.