International volunteering in development: why it isn’t voluntourism and why this matters

The recent Bond blog on voluntourism by Hayley Still of the Salvation Army raises important issues, and its recommendations will resonate with many organisations that mobilise volunteers.

We would, however, like to challenge the article’s conflation of all forms of international volunteering with voluntourism. Especially in the current moment, it is important to be clear that international volunteering in development and voluntourism are two distinct things, driven by different, and at times conflicting, motivations.

Voluntourism has grown rapidly in recent years and has become the focus of much academic attention. As highlighted in Hayley’s blog, it has become a commercial industry of significant size, with for-profit organisations offering a wide range of options. What these companies provide differs greatly from the volunteering opportunities offered by third sector and faith-based organisations for a number of reasons.

Voluntourism vs volunteering in development

Voluntourism is often short-term, promoted as a gap year or holiday activity, and can be group based or individual. Little has been done to coordinate or promote standards within the voluntourism sector, and the long-standing critiques of it are well evidenced. At its heart, voluntourism exists to serve the needs of volunteers, who are its customers. In contrast, volunteering for development organisations centre the needs of the people and communities that benefit from the work of volunteers.

Volunteering within international development has a much longer history than voluntourism. Development volunteering organisations such as VSO and AVI date back to the mid-20th century and have evolved over time. Many have transformed their approaches in recent years, and their volunteering models are fundamentally different from the typical voluntourism offerings. Placements are driven by the needs of the communities they serve, often in partnership with local organisations. Volunteers are recruited for specific skills which align to these needs, and placements are typically longer than voluntourism opportunities – often one to two years – with volunteers receiving living expenses.  

While volunteers may fundraise, they do not pay for the experience in the way that those taking part in voluntourism typically do.  Increasingly, these volunteering organisations recruit volunteers from low- and middle-income countries to work in other low- and middle-income countries, some blend the work of local volunteers with international volunteers and some place volunteers from low and middle-income countries in high-income ones.

Why this distinction matters

In the context of the savage cuts to aid funding and the associated undermining of the value of internationalism and global solidarities, casting international volunteering in development as synonymous with voluntourism makes it easy prey for those doing the cutting.

This is not to say that international volunteering in development is perfect. But much work has been done across the sector to promote good practice and set standards to address some of the challenges raised in the blog, whereas the voluntourism sector remains largely unregulated.

The International Forum for Volunteering in Development (Forum) is a global network  of organisations that work through volunteers. Forum plays a central role in promoting and supporting responsible and impactful volunteering through convening, research and the Global Volunteering Standard. Similarly, but at the national level, Comhlámh is an Irish-based organisation which promotes values-led international volunteering and has published the Code of Good Practice for Volunteer Sending Agencies, alongside other resources and training.

Forum is currently working in partnership with the Centre for Global Development at Northumbria University, which specialises in research on volunteering in humanitarian and development contexts, supporting a collaborative PhD that focuses on transforming volunteering in development.  

The issues raised in Hayley’s blog are important and its recommendations are sound. But in the current moment, we need to be clear that not all international volunteering is voluntourism.