PEPY Ride, Lasso Communications and XOLA Consulting are working on a self-assessment tool which voluntourism organizations can use to gauge their impact. The concept arose as PEPY wanted to create a self-checking tool to see how they were faring in terms of their mission to be a socially and environmentally responsible organization, but when trying to create the metrics form which to hold themselves to, they realized that they couldn’t be their own auditor. PEPY contacted other voluntourism operators and the professional advice of XOLA and Lasso to help build a mass of interest in the project so that the end product could be something which a spectrum of voluntourism operators could use.
If you are interested in being part of this project, we are looking for voluntourism operators or professionals in the industry to help us create a tool something like this by Comhlamh, which is more than just a list of “best” or “effective practices”. Instead, it is a list of those practices followed by self-check questions and then quantifiable metrics, documents, and proof which could be used to guage attainment of the guiding principle.
Further steps in this project would include linking voluntourism organizations to resources or services which might help them improve their work in each area so that operators can not only assess their behaviors but also find ways to improve in the areas they feel they are weak.
Please contact karina@pepyride.org if you are willing to help support the creation of this tool which will ideally be way for all members of this industry to improve.
Posted by Alexia 
