This Tourism Week – 28 May 2010

To Pay, Or Not To Pay: That Is The Volunteer’s Question

In the army, the first thing you learn is – never volunteer for anything. In tourism, though, volunteering is big business.

But should volunteers pay to volunteer?

Received a mail from – let’s call him/her “A Play-Play This Tourism Week Reader Who’s Got Deep Insight Into The Subject”:

“The volunteering industry (and it has indeed become an industry) is at the stage where the backpacking industry found itself a few years ago. Backpackers lodges became popular and they were springing up left right and centre. Obviously, many of them were of a very, very bad standard – even for budget accommodation. Rip offs, basically, money taken with no services provided. Everyone with a shed in their back garden opened a backpackers.

“Then natural selection set in – there was an oversupply and the real deals started upgrading their places so that they’d stand out. The fly-by-nights didn’t.

“At the same time the backpacking industry started becoming organised through BSA (Backpacking South Africa) and others. Standards were set, and quality was raised – meaning that if you wanted to be a player in this industry, you had to make a bigger commitment and investment, which in turn led to better quality, and so on, and so on.

“In the long term that meant a lot of the dodgy ones shut down and the good ones persevered. In other words: a good process.

“One can just hope that the volunteering industry will go through the same process, too.

“In fact, it’s standing at exactly the same crossroads at the moment.”

Reader sent me a few links – to two Facebook discussions (here and here), and to Alison Westwood’s April 2008 Getaway Magazine article, ‘Voluntourism: warm fuzzies or cold, hard cash?’

All three discussed whether or not people should pay to volunteer.

Ms. Westwood wrote: “It’s an idea South Africans react to with astonishment. Tourists are paying top dollar, pound or euro to work for charitable projects in other countries. The idea of voluntourism, as it’s known, was pioneered in South Africa and has mushroomed into an international industry worth millions. The question is: does voluntourism do more harm than good?

“Volunteer travel isn’t new. It’s been around for decades. One of the best-known volunteer travel organisations is the US Peace Corps, started in 1961. Peace Corps volunteers work on aid projects in other countries and are paid a living allowance and a lump sum when they return home. Until recently, most volunteer travel organisations provided food and accommodation, if not cash. But voluntourism has turned that on its head. Now it’s the volunteers who pay.”

Reader argued, however, that while the Facebook discussions and Ms. Westwood’s article made some valid points, “I think they’re missing two important aspects:

“Point 1: A lot of the volunteer projects are rip offs – whether you’re a South African or not. Just because someone happens to earn Euros, Pounds or Dollars doesn’t mean that they can pay exorbitant amounts for very little substance. Same as the rest of the tourism industry – you should pay for what you get, not for what the suppliers think you can afford (did anyone say ‘World Cup’ or ‘overpricing?’).

“The fact that something is ‘aimed at foreigners’ isn’t a valid excuse for ripping anyone off – especially not in today’s economic climate.

“Point 2: In my opinion the placement of volunteers is actually more of a problem than the prices they pay.

“There are two different kinds of volunteer projects – those where you work for a place directly, and those where you stay at a volunteer centre, and the centre coordinates your activities.

“It works pretty much the same for both, though.

“Two examples: first, where volunteers are used as cheap labour for things like fixing fences at game reserves. Yes, of course this is part of the reality of a day at a game reserve – but if this is the most meaningful thing you do in your six months in Africa, then there’s a problem. No one volunteers because they dreamt of answering the phone at a reception desk. If they wanted a job like that they’d get one at home. And the worst is – this kind of thing usually happens at companies that can easily afford the staff. So local jobs are being lost because ‘free’ (to the company) volunteers are taking over.

“Not really the point of the whole exercise, is it?

“Second: volunteers who are sent to projects where they aren’t really needed. Like going to a school but not being able to do anything except sitting around in a classroom with a teacher who may not want or need you. Then going to some other project the next day. And the next. And the next. And then back again. In other words – no continuity and therefore no achievements.

“Most volunteers (especially those wanting to work in social upliftment projects rather than wildlife) come here full of energy, wanting to help, to make a difference. And then they get shifted around from place to place, making little or no impact.

“And they’re supposed to part with their money for this?

“So instead of the volunteers doing the things they want to do – the middlemen are making money. And that’s about it.

“And THIS is the thing that can really damage the industry – much more than the fact that volunteers have to pay to volunteer.

“The fact that middlemen have crept into the industry at all is just natural – it’s supply and demand: demand arose because it became fashionable to volunteer. Which in turns created a lot of bandwagon-jumpers with no real commitment to the actual causes.

“So should volunteering be free? Labour in exchange for lodging and meals?

“Well, the fact that a programme’s not free often says a lot about what the volunteers will be doing. If a game reserve valued their work, it wouldn’t charge its volunteers all that much – so it’s quite clear that (in most cases) volunteers are simply seen as people who need to be kept busy with whatever comes up.

“But I don’t believe that volunteering should be free. Sure, in some cases it can be, but a few facts will explain why volunteers are asked to pay in the first place:

“Volunteers often do require a lot of training – especially really young students on their gap year. Often companies have to employ coordinators just for their volunteers – to see to their training, coordinate their projects, and deal with their problems (babysitting them, in some cases). All of which costs money. As does accommodation, food, etc.

“Many of the projects (good and otherwise) that host volunteers don’t have funds to house and feed them. I mean, these are essentially poor projects, often lacking in organisational and other skills – so suddenly housing and feeding volunteers (let alone organising the logistics of travel) is way beyond their means.

“So it’s natural that those volunteer-middle-man-organisations have developed. But the key is, as always, moderation – more money needs to go to the actual projects, and placements need to be improved so that something of value is actually achieved. And pricing must never be a rip off.

“Oh yes – and then there’s the whole question of agents that add something like 2,000 pounds on top of the actual price of volunteer programmes…

“At the moment there’s a push to create standards, and for regulation – both through existing regulators or quality assurors like Fair Trade in Tourism, and from within the industry itself.

“One can only hope that this’ll happen before volunteering gets labeled with a bad name – that’ll be hard to erase.”

So – is it too late for voluntourism? You tell us – by posting your comments below.

HEADS UP

  • Dickon Broadhurst, Lindsey Cole, Duncan Hills and John Walton are presently cycling about 8,000 miles from Cairo to Cape Town because they want to get to South Africa in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Now THAT’S dedication for you. Follow their progress here.
  • There’s a new job seeker on my Jobs in Tourism page. If you’re looking for an experienced marketer, event planner and client account manager – go here.