To think voluntourism needs to be called out?

It’s made very, very clear that what you suggest is not allowed.
I mean, people can steal if they want, but the majority of people aren’t like that.

It would be interesting to know how this works in practice. It would surprise me if there really is a separate fundraising pot most of the time.

I decided against any of my DC's going on these trips while at school - helping build a school when they hadn't got the foggiest idea of the construction industry. The people who went on these trips were those least suited (had always been driven to school, never been away from parents ie no scouts or guides).
Different matter for medical, architectural and similar students they actually have something to offer in some communities whether it be abroad or in this country.

Totally agree. Having spent a couple of years in Africa,I found that the genuine local charities and NGOs find these schemes at best laughable and at worst damaging and patronising. I’m amazed they still go on.

Flights for the Hope foundation trips, as well as insurance, visas etc are paid for separately out of the teens own pocket. In reality this usually means parents pay for the trip, or the teen earns money from a part-time job, or a combination. But donations made from fundraising certainly don’t go towards covering this, nor should they.

So how do people pay for flights?

I'm not sure which facts you believe were misleading.

The impression given on this thread that the fundraised sum invariably covers expenses such as flights, for example. That’s not true in the case I outlined above re the Hope Foundation.

I'm not sure which facts you believe were misleading. But I do hope you do some research.
Safeguarding should always be paramount. Particularly so when dealing with the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. No child should be collateral for fundraising goals.

Yes, just not sure what to believe as some of the facts posted on the thread were misleading as I’ve already said. Will do my own research though, thanks for the heads up.

I'm not saying they don't care.
I am saying that these fundraising models are problematic. It's been done to death on this thread, so I'm not going to rehash it all. If you were open to learning there is an abundance of information already.

But are you saying the charity do not know or care about the people they are helping then? Their aim is to help the children.

Part of their stated aim also is education of students who may then continue to fundraise/help long into the future. Get them to really see the inequality between their lives and other’s and to change their lives accordingly. I think that might not happen with the donating and going on holiday model.

I completely agree with OP. A teenage family member went on one of those volunteer trips in the summer and had to fundraiser £5k. I refused to donate because I don’t support the idea but also because he wouldn’t lift a finger to actually do anything to raise the money. Nearly all adults in the family were hassled by mum to help him raise money and organise all sort of fundraising activities for him. His mum ended up creating some crafts which he then sold as his work to public. In the end he raised less than a third of the required amount and the rest had to come from parents’ savings.
The only person who benefited from this goodwill holiday was him. I think he spent about 5 days of the month -long expedition doing any work and even that was of questionable value to the local population.
Im surprised schools sign up to these things.

The view of ann actual child protection organisation.

https://www.savethechildren.org.au/about-us/save-the-childrens-charity-work/orphanage-tourism-and-voluntourism

It's not MN that knows better. It's anyone who knows anything about children (or people in general) knows better.
Why can't people just donate to charity and go on holiday? Why must they spend time with and take photos with poor brown children?

Bus loads at a time, no checks beforehand and one visit to each with no follow up and photographs of the children plastered all over social media? That sounds unlikely.

The students donate €2500 each, minimum, that they have fundraised. €400 of that covers their accommodation and partial board. They purchase other food while there. There are evening activities that also come at extra cost to the students. Presumably there are overheads and staff expenses and transportation costs (bus) to be factored in, but I think the charity is making a lot here or they wouldn’t do it. They must think it worth it and they are the ones on the ground working with people who need help and managing these projects so why does MN know better?

Do Irish primary schools really invite in a different large group of teenagers every week or so?
Not really the same thing is it?

Leaving to one side the community / individual harm, to know whether this was true or not, we would need to see the breakdown of how the €2100 (the €2500 less the €400 for accommodation) is spent.

It doesn’t matter whether the voluntourist’s costs are paid by donation or are self-funded. It’s still money that only benefits the person travelling and not the charity beneficiaries.

How much of the rest goes to pay for the fund raising programme? That’s not just the immediate costs - there will be administrators just for the voluntourism programme, advertising in Western countries and probably other costs I’ve not thought of.

I’m not saying the Hope Foundation is unique in any way - there are multiple similar organisations making money out of Western teenagers who genuinely think they are helping.

None are explicit about how much of the money is actually spent on the charitable aim. At best, as with this organisation, they say how much goes to the charity with no breakdown of expenses that result from the programme itself.

I'm not convinced they are wrong though. You have made assumptions, but they are unfounded and naive in my opinion. If you had some actual information, it would be a different conversation. The total lack of transparency is a major red flag.

Actually many of the same teens (same year group) do work experience in Irish primary schools, care homes, creches etc (as well as many other placements) at this stage in their education.

Not keen on defending in general but I do know some of the points made upthread are (in the particular example I’m talking about at least) wrong.

The money people donate isn’t being spent on flights etc as pp have said or implied. It’s going directly to the charity and the majority is spent on their various projects. That does matter and to present it as otherwise is misleading.

There is at least one post online from teenagers who have been on such a trip. Lots of mention of playing with orphanage children interspersed with tourist activity. I’m not going to post a link because while the descriptions make me cringe, I do think the teenagers in question meant well. I hold their teachers / parents far more responsible.

No consideration at all in the post of the effect of repeated random visitors on young children and no mention of the level / extent of supervision.

Even if there is careful supervision (and this would be unusual for this model of voluntourism), the children are still being treated like entertainment for the visitors.

Think about this happening in the nursery / crèche down the road from you. Would you be happy for multiple bus loads of Indian teenagers being brought in to play with your 4 year old? If not, why is it OK in reverse?

Hundreds of schools kids every year, plus an undetermined number of adults of the numerous other trips they sell. Do you honestly beleive this stream of tourists can ever be good for vulnerable, disadvantaged children? You don't appear to actually know anything about the trip at all, beyond the very vague information online. So I'm not sure why you're so keen to defend it honestly. Based upon what?

It doesn’t matter if it’s fundraising or not. It’s still money being spent on the entertainment of the Western teenager not on the supposed purpose of the trip.

If instead of going, the teenager in question donated say €500, it would probably benefit the charity more with none of the problematic elements.

The fact is, with the voluntourist model, most of the money spent (whether from fundraising or self-paid) is for the benefit of the voluntourist and to facilitate activities that actively harm the people / communities they claim to be helping.

It doesn’t matter if it’s fundraising or not. It’s still money being spent on the entertainment of the Western teenager not on the supposed purpose of the trip.

If instead of going, the teenager in question donated say €500, it would probably benefit the charity more with none of the problematic elements.

The fact is, with the voluntourist model, most of the money spent (whether from fundraising or self-paid) is for the benefit of the voluntourist and to facilitate activities that actively harm the people / communities they claim to be helping.