Bookcover
A book review of “Learning Services – The Essential Guide to Volunteering Abroad” By Claire Bennett, Joseph Collins, Zahara Heckscher and Daniela Papi-Thornton As the team of Responsible Volunteering, we get asked a lot which volunteer provider we would recommend. A question which for most young people seems straightforward. We often disappoint them when not giving them their desired answer, a simple name. It is indeed not that straightforward, just […]

Struggling to find the right volunteer opportunity for you? This might help!

 in blog / Database  tagged book review / learning service by (updated 969 days ago)
Silvia Romano (25), who was kidnapped while being on a voluntourism holiday in Kenya, was freed on Saturday 9th May 2020, in Somalia. Although this is considered excellent news, we would like to use this opportunity to draw attention to the (Western) media coverage of the incident, which has been a typical example of perpetuating the stereotype of the Western saviour, of the “Africans” that need to be saved and […]

Rescued voluntourist Silvia Romano: The voluntourism trap behind the kidnapping

 in blog / Database  tagged neocolonialism / safety / Silvia Romano by (updated 1020 days ago)
Coffee Farm
The business and structures around existing volunteer programs are usually not what people expect when they start to look for volunteering opportunities abroad. Many people join big providers already feeling uncomfortable – knowing that this is not really exactly what they were looking for. By publishing this report on self-organized, individual volunteering we want to show that it is possible – and easier than you might think. Why did I […]

Individual Volunteering at a Coffee Farm

 in blog / Database  tagged africa / experience / farm / individual by (updated 1199 days ago)
binding contract
Projects Abroad was one of the first market leaders to cut ties to most residential care placements. They followed smaller agencies such as Intrepid Travel and World Challenge, creating a trend that not even the market leader IVHQ was able to ignore. International Volunteer HQ, too, announced to stop placing volunteers in residential care institutions by March 2019. Until now, this effort has not yet been fully implemented. But how […]

Projects Abroad long way to stop orphanage Tourism & the media’s role

 in blog  tagged orphanage tourism / Projects Abroad by (updated 1042 days ago)
Working with sea turtle is one of the most popular ways to volunteer, and for good reason. First and most importantly, they need the help. There are thousands of beaches and ocean habitats around the world where these animals nest, migrate through, or live and researchers and conservationists need a lot of support to cover this ground (or water). Second, you don’t have to be a biologist or turtle expert […]

How To Be A Responsible Turtle Volunteer

 in blog / Database  tagged animals / conservation / harm / Problem / turtle by (updated 1621 days ago)
Voluntourism: The messy volunteer travel industry   The documentary “Kritisch Reisen: Gutes tun im Urlaub – und wer daran verdient” has been produced by a German television channel to raise more awareness on the difficult topic of voluntourism. The 45 min long documentary was screened on the 22.08.2018 at 22.10 on WDR and is available on YouTube and WDR online. We, Responsible Volunteering, supported the production with regular advice, interviews and […]

Voluntourism: A dubious American-Nepali volunteer travel network

 in blog / Database  tagged business / Ifre / Nepal / RCDP Nepal / reviews by (updated 1621 days ago)