To think voluntourism needs to be called out?

[icreaminbarnsley]

I've had numerous requests this year by parents of teen dc who are going to various African countries to contribute to their crowdfunding "to help the people in [insert country]". They further explain that said child will be building schools/wells, teaching English, designing sanitation projects....but the latest I received was that their child would be "advising locals on how to set up a business". This in particular has really annoyed me, as the child is doing A Levels, has no business of their own, and no business acumen that I'm aware of. How can you be so brass necked and unaware to be spouting stuff like this? I totally get going to a different country is going to be a fantastic experience for the dc, but who is dressing it up to make it sound like these teens have something important to offer and are needed abroad, in areas that they have absolutely zero experience? I also get that the locals might benefit from the money that the dc need to pay to undertake such an experience, but is it really the locals who benefit, or is it the mainly the 'charitable' organizations that are based in the UK?

AIBU to feel we need to call this a unique opportunity to experience life in [insert country] and not delude ourselves into thinking the locals are benefitting from groups of western teens, who are not builders, engineers or business advisers?

The view of ann actual child protection organisation.

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

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.

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'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.

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 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.

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.

So how do people pay for flights?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I’ve said multiple times on this thread that well meaning teenagers are also victims of this fundraising model. They think they are helping when they are actively doing harm.

You also haven’t mentioned the cost of administering the programme in your separate costs (both in India and in the Western countries to attract more voluntourists) which means part (possibly a significant part) of the donated amount will be covering the costs. This means the donors are paying for at least part of the trip. That fact is just being deliberately concealed.

Also, none of the above matters. The entire programme is based on an incredibly problematic model of allowing access to children to anyone who pays enough. Where the money comes from doesn’t really matter - even on what the charity says happens (bus loads of tourists regularly washing in and out of the lives of small children) this is emotional abuse, with the risk of far more serious intentional abuse by voluntourists with bad intentions.

Children in the developing world shouldn’t be toys / educational equipment for Western teenagers.

Given you apparently know it doesn't happen, I assumed you knew if or how it was managed. You're just making a lot of assumptions about motivations and morals, which sadly is not quite how the world turns.

It's not just inexperienced teens either - a few churches i went to often had trips to "build a church or school" in another poor country, and a large contingent of volunteers (or the only ones who could afford to go) were accountants, bank managers, lawyers, and their teen children. The sort of people who probably paid someone to hang a picture or put together a flat pack, at home. No tradies or people with practical jobs, it was dubious how much building they would actually be doing

You’re making a lot of assumptions too. I mean, people collecting for cancer or various other charities could be putting half in their back pocket too? But I don’t hear accusations like you made levelled against them. Suggesting that ‘most’ of these students are raising money under false pretences and using it to pay for their own flights etc is quite some accusation.

My DH serves in kids church, and leadership were very put out when he wanted nothing to do with a charity trip they were trying to arrange in his home country 😂 they didn't want to hear that the entire school could be built with what they were spending on flights alone.

I did mention the costs of administration. Not the actual costs, which I don’t know, but I acknowledged there would be staff costs, overheads and costs of buses etc. I also said that €400 (out of the €2500 minimum donation) was to be used to cover accommodation and partial board.

I am taking your other points on board.

I'm Irish and think you're being very petty in picking up on a difference in terminology there. I think you are reaching by suggesting that by using the term "DBS" @CandidHedgehog was suggesting that Irish teenagers be subjected to UK police checks. It's quite obvious they simply meant that police/safeguarding checks should be carried out. No different to someone from the US saying "call 911" instead of "call 999" - mildly irritating that they aren't aware of other countries' terminology, but unlikely to be a suggestion that someone in another country call a US police department.

Agree with the sentiments on this thread. Volunteering can be helpful, but only if carefully targeted, with appropriate expertise/experience, appropriate safeguarding aspects, appropriate sustainability/longevity mechanisms, and where it's not replacing paid employment for locals.

@Todaywillbeok

Have you explained what these Irish teenagers are doing in Kolkata and why this can only be done by the Irish teenagers.
Why can’t they use Indian teenagers or qualified adults?

It’s billed as a cultural and educational visit of 1 week approx. The teens don’t work while there. (That would need a different sort of visa and also they’re kids so wouldn’t have useful skills at this age.)

No, they just go an gawk at the poor children. And pose for photos of course. Much better.

To be fair to the teens, the fundraising work they do funds a lot of good projects.
Yes, in many ways it would be better if they donated without visiting. But, in real life, that doesn’t seem to happen as much…at least, I don’t know of another situation where teens all over the country each fundraise thousands for a charity. This scheme does actually work to earn money to help people, which is probably why the charity is keen on it. It’s not ideal and there are obviously downsides as outlined upthread, but if they stopped it all tomorrow I’m really not sure that would be beneficial for the children Hope is helping in Kolkata either.
Does that make it worth it? I don’t know. I don’t know enough. The charity on the ground seems to think so but others on here clearly disagree.

My mum always said the same. About charity climbs etc…

She worked for wealthy “ladies who lunch” society wives.

And she wondered why they couldn’t just give the money?