Voluntourism: the murky world of 'doing good'

Have you ever had a friend return from a trip overseas, and they’ve told you that they spent some time ‘volunteering at an orphanage’, or that they ‘helped build some new classrooms’ for a school in a developing country? The reality is that many of those good-intentioned travellers wanting to take a week or two off the party circuit to do their bit to help are, in a lot of cases, doing more harm than good.

For Get Lost mag’s Responsible Travel section, I took a look at the world of voluntourism, and how a new campaign against orphanage tourism in Cambodia is challenging travellers’ perceptions of “helping out”. Full text below.

Have you ever had a friend come back from a trip abroad and tell you about a life-changing volunteer experience at an orphanage? Or perhaps it was helping to build a classroom for a school in a developing country. Others have read books to kids in Namibia, lead a group rendition of ‘I’m a Little Teapot’ and posted the photos of it on Facebook to prove it. It’s an increasingly common scenario for modern-day travellers. And it’s all for a good cause, right?

Not always. Many good-intentioned travellers who take a week or two off to do their bit to help are, in a lot of cases, doing more harm than good. ‘Voluntourism’ is now big business. Many agencies charge thousands to arrange week-, month- or year-long volunteer programs that are marketed under numerous guises: ‘volunteer with children and animals in South Africa’; ‘work with AIDS orphans in Mombasa’; ‘educate children to care for their environment’; ‘help provide children a real chance in life’.

In Cambodia, particularly in the tourist haven of Siem Reap, voluntourism now has a more sinister side. Young children walk the streets, look longingly at tourists and encourage them to visit so-called ‘orphanages’ in the area. At the ‘orphanage’, travellers take photos with the children, watch a dance performance, make a donation and then continue on their way.

Anyone with a basic knowledge of childcare will say that it’s not good for a child’s development to be surrounded by a daily stream of camera-toting tourists. In addition, in places like Australia and New Zealand, for example, any person who works with children has to undergo rigorous background checks. Without this in place, vulnerable children are at even greater risk from predators.

‘When Children Become Tourist Attractions’ is a campaign that was recently launched by Friends-International, a Cambodia-based NGO. The campaign cites figures from a recent UNICEF/Cambodian Government report that show the number of ‘orphanages’ in Cambodia has grown by 65 per cent since 2005. This coincides with the country’s massive growth in tourism over the same period. The report says that only 28 per cent (around one in four) of the children at these ‘orphanages’ have lost both parents. Many centres are run by business operators who are more interested in tourists’ donations than the welfare of children.

Friends-International’s Sebastien Marot says that even though the majority of travellers have good intentions, those who are thinking about visiting an orphanage should consider if they would do the same at home.

“Orphanages must be a safe place for children and not a tourist destination. We cannot just go and visit orphanages in our own countries, so why in Cambodia?” he says.

Instead, tourists are encouraged to show their support by buying products produced in youth training programs or community-based projects.

For some organisations, however, the realities of running a donor-funded NGO with an international pro le means the issue of ‘visits’ is far from easy to manage. Lucy Cracknell is an experienced child protection worker from Australia who is spending a year with the Phnom Penh- based child support centre A New Day Cambodia. One of the key components of her role has been to manage the expectations of child sponsors, donors and friends of the organisation.

“We frequently receive requests from donors to visit the centre. Unless under special circumstances, those requests are usually declined,” says Cracknell. “We have had incidences of groups of people turning up unannounced who have heard about the centre. The whole idea of their visits seems to have been to take some photos of themselves handing out donations to kids, so they can show their friends at home.”

A growing number of incidents have forced A New Day Cambodia to change its security and sign-in procedures, and has also led to the development of stricter volunteer policies. Cracknell explains that her organisation, and many others, look for volunteers with professional skills and a genuine commitment to providing long-term support.

“Our volunteer guidelines include a minimum amount of time we ask people to commit to volunteering: two months for those temporarily in Cambodia, or at least once a fortnight for those who live here long term.”

Development or New Zealand’s Volunteer Service Aboard are all testament to this. These programs have good reputations for good reason: they have thorough recruitment processes, and volunteers are placed in roles within local organisations that have actually sought their help.

Rebekah Kofoed from Cambodia’s Friends-International says if you want to volunteer, then think about the long-term bene t of your contribution. People with skills in web design, nance, trades, vocational education, communication and data entry are highly sought after.

“It is important that people consider what skills they have to offer an organisation and the sustainability of their contribution,” Kofoed says. “For example, if you have a teaching background, working with staff to develop education curriculum is far more sustainable than teaching English to children yourself. You can then leave a resource with the organisation and will be able to reach more children in the long run. Although this may not give people the ‘hands on’ experience they were seeking by having direct contact with children, the impact of their contribution will be far greater.”

Voluntourism – and the issues that arise from it – is far from exclusive to South-East Asia. According to Lara Warren from EducateEmpowerChange Australia, an NGO that runs a number of education and sanitation projects in Tanzania, volunteers can cause more harm than good in communities. For her organisation, the issues associated with ‘voluntourists’ visiting children are less of a problem compared to the challenge of managing volunteers who are in Tanzania for only a short time.

“There is always going to be a certain period of adjustment when someone arrives as a volunteer, when they are learning about the culture, learning about appropriate behaviour,” says Warren. “It can be very intensive to manage, particularly if their stay is only very short.”

However, the challenge for relatively small organisations, such as EducateEmpowerChange, is finding a balance between these frustrations and the need to bring in donations.

“Volunteering is one of the key ways we raise funds. A volunteer will tell their friends and family about what they’ve done here, and because of the connection, it’s highly likely that a number of their friends and family will donate.”

Yet despite the sense that a movement against voluntourism is growing, there is still a strong demand for willing – and, increasingly, qualifed – volunteers in developing countries worldwide. The rapid growth of long-term volunteering programs such as those run by the Red Cross, Australian Volunteers International, Australian Youth Ambassadors forDevelopment or New Zealand’s Volunteer Service Aboard are all testament to this. These programs have good reputations for good reason: they have thorough recruitment processes, and volunteers are placed in roles within local organisations that have actually sought their help.

Rebekah Kofoed from Cambodia’s Friends International says if you want to volunteer, then think about the long-term benefit of your contribution. People with skills in web design, finance, trades, vocational education, communication and data entry are highly sought after.

('Children are not tourist attractions' image courtesy of Friends International)