Sustainable travel: How to do good without doing harm

Not all volunteering is helpful while overseas. Photo / Unsplash For Trav Nov 22

Volunteering abroad is gaining a dirty rap. But is it possible to be an ethical voluntourist? Jessica Wynne Lockhart explores how to do real good while away.

The year I turned 22, I spent the summer in Vanuatu, pouring cement for a school and delivering environmental education workshops. It was hard, hot work and I didn’t just do it for free — as an international volunteer, I’d actually paid for the privilege.

The experience was formative, but when I look back at it, I cringe. As a uni student with no background in environmental science, I wasn’t in any position to educate locals on how to best manage their waste.

Nearly 20 years have passed since then, but poverty has only become even more of a tourism attraction, with volunteers paradoxically harming the very communities they travel to help. Research shows that a gauntlet of short-term volunteers only further contributes to psychological and abandonment issues for children in orphanages, who are likely to have at least one living parent. Construction and manual labour programmes are often little more than busywork. And with some projects lasting for as little as a week, volunteers are more liable to put a drain on local resources than to make any meaningful change.

Yet, prior to the pandemic, volunteer travel remained one of the fastest-growing tourism segments. In early 2020, it was worth an estimated $3.5 billion, with around 10 million volunteer tourists travelling abroad annually to “do good”.

Some destinations have even started to cash-in on the trend. Through Hawaii’s Malama Hawaii programme, for example, visitors qualify for special discounts when they participate in a dedicated volunteer activity. And in May, Grenada launched its own voluntourism initiative, encouraging visitors to teach children how to swim, monitor turtles, or help on a local farm.

They’re not entirely wrong to do so. While it’s easy to paint voluntourism with broad black strokes — citing its role as a neo-colonialist activity designed to help Westerners feel good about themselves — there’s another reason it remains perennially popular. Travellers want to engage in meaningful cultural immersion, which is difficult to do from inside the walls of a resort. Research indicates that their local counterparts also benefit from the exchange, as well as from the fundraising and advocacy that occurs after volunteers return home.

So, just how can you determine whether a volunteer travel opportunity is helpful or harmful?

First, it’s important to understand there’s a distinction between “voluntourism” — which is generally a short-term opportunity created for tourists with the purpose of generating profit — and “volunteering abroad”. It’s the latter that’s typically facilitated by international development organisations, such as Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA). Placing volunteers in host communities across the Pacific, VSA’s placements last for up to two years, with skilled professionals lending their expertise in fields like education, IT, engineering, or agribusiness.

“[Our] volunteers don’t take jobs from locals. Rather, they go and support local counterparts who are already in jobs to achieve outcomes,” says Donella Cobb, VSA’s principal development advisor. Cobb explains that the assignments are identified based on the wants and needs or partner organisations and designed to ensure longevity beyond the individual volunteer’s term.

“There are a lot of mechanisms in place to kind of ensure that international volunteering is meaningful, impactful and responsible,” she says.

Determining whether projects are locally initiated and led is key — but before you even do that, ask yourself what you hope to achieve, what skills you can contribute, and lastly, whether you can do so by volunteering at home first.

“If you’re passionate about a particular issue, have some real skills to offer and are committed to building relationships and being part of the local community, then there’s a place for volunteering abroad,” says Sharon McLennan, a senior lecturer Massey University, whose research focuses on global citizenship and voluntourism. “But if you’re just going because you want to feel good, then you need to ask yourself hard questions about why you’re considering volunteering abroad.”

Time also matters. Short two-week programmes are unlikely to make much of a difference, but not everyone has six months to spare. Luckily, new options are emerging, such as VSA’s hybrid e-volunteering model, where volunteers build relationships online first, then jump on a plane later.

Finally, if cultural exchange is your end goal, volunteering can happen in any country. On sites like HelpX.net and WWOOF, you can lend a hand in exchange for room and board around the world. Or, if you’ve only got a day to spare, all you need is a rubbish bag and a big stretch of beach to give back on your holiday.