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This year, over ten million people will go abroad, eager to find the perfect blend of adventure and altruism. Volunteer travel can help you find your place in the world–and find out what you’re made of. So why do so many international volunteer programs fail to make an impact? Why do some do more harm than good?
About Us
International volunteering has grown in popularity, and with so many people going abroad to “serve”, we worry that we are often forgetting a really important step: we have to learn before we can help. If we don’t research our options thoroughly, understand the context and culture of the communities we visit, and ensure that our skills and experience match the needs, volunteering can be wasteful, and at worst, cause a lot of harm.
We are promoting a movement of learning, designed to better prepare young people about to travel abroad for the first time, and travellers of all ages looking to give back through their time, with the skills and mindsets they need to be of “service”, not just for a few weeks on a volunteer trip, but for the rest of their lives.
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From Our Blog
Experiential Education: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
This is a guest post by Learning Service intern Julia Green, on her experiences of experiential education. Sitting on our homestay’s rooftop, gazing up at the towering snow-covered peaks, as the sun set over the Himalayas. It seems as though nothing could make this...
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Volunteering, a No-Assumptions Approach
This is a guest post written by Mandeep Kaur, about what it means to approach a problem with no assumptions. We are all guilty of assuming that a certain community needs a certain kind of help. We look at homeless people and assume that we need to build them homes,...
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Slow Travel: The Future of Sustainable Tourism?
This is a guest post by current gap year traveler Ella Clute. It forms part of our blog series “A New Age of Travel: How to Navigate Travel in a Changing World” which supports our #TravelReset movement. Slow travel is a more thoughtful and ethically-aware way to...
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