Responsible Volunteering

In November 2007, the Responsible Travel Awards were held at Excel. The awards have been running for years and as more and more people understand the importance of responsible travel, the more important these awards have become.

Click here to find out more and see a list of winners.

BBC Radio - 'Mind the Gap' - Join the debate about Responsible Volunteering

A recent BBC Radio 5 programme breached the topic of responsible volunteering and the issues surrounding whether volunteering organisations are really using individuals donations for the correct means and how responsible are these organisations being?

Input was provided by Kate Simpson (http://www.ethicalvolunteering.org/), Tom Griffiths (http://www.gapyear.com/), Tricia Barnett (http://www.tourismconcern.org/) and Michael Amphlet (http://www.questoverseas.com/ and http://www.quest4change.org/).

Michael Amphlet has recently set up charity website http://www.quest4change.org/ to illustrate exactly where charitable donations through his volunteering organisation have been used.

It seems that the subject continues to feature in the headlines, but what do you think?

Should all volunteering be free?

What does the recent purchase of large volunteering organisation i-to-i by First Choice holidays mean for the industry?

Is the formation of a Code of Practice the way to raise standards within the industry?

Where should the emphasis lie, on the volunteer gaining experience or on the host community gaining from skills and resources?

I look forward to receiving your comments........

The Great Global Warming Swindle

A recent Television programme has cast doubt over whether humans are really responsible for Global Warming?

For more on the programme check out the Channel 4 website.

http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/G/great_global_warming_swindle/index.html


For more comment read here

http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=CZ434669U&news_headline=global_warming_is_lies_claims_documentary

Green Travel Clinic: Voluntary tourism - How do you choose a good company?

There are loads of voluntary tourism companies now. How do you choose a good one?

Find out how, here! Click on http://www.greentraveller.co.uk/node/72

Gap years - More Harm than Good?

Are Gap Years doing more harm than good?

Patrick Barkham and the Guardian ask 10 'gappers' what they think.

To read about their experiences click http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1852717,00.html

Are they only for the upper classes? Click here for more on this http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,1985203,00.html

Please add your opinion here or at http://www.voluntourist.net/

Gap years: disaster or trip of a lifetime?

It seems that sub-standard organisations are continuing to provide negative experiences by not supporting the volunteers that choose to work with them.

For more click below:-

http://www.england.edu/GapYearTravel.html

Have your say!!

The standards within the international volunteering industry will never improve if we cannot publish what really happens to those taking part and the effects that they have on the communities and environments that they visit.

Please tell us here or at our partner blog - http://www.voluntourist.net/

The Carbon Debate - Can flying ever be ethical?

With the release of the Stern Report there are renewed concerns about the impacts of increasing levels of Carbon in the atmosphere.

Is this a real danger or just scaremongering?? Read news from around the world.

http://www.panorama.gi/localnews/headlines.php?action=view_article&article=1621&offset=0

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,20699131-5001031,00.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8125-2434818,00.html

Gap years create 'new colonialists'

According to leading charity Gap Year volunteers are in danger of becoming the new colonialists, indulging in a type of “charity tourism” that can do more harm than good. “Some gap year providers seem to pay little attention to whether young people are actually making any long-term difference to the communities they are working in” said Judith Brodie, a director of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).

She cites the case of a gap year student who was asked to survey an endangered coral reef in Madagascar only to find that the work was pointless because the reef had been surveyed countless times by previous volunteers.

Unfortunately such statements are becoming more common with an increasing number of organisations trying to make money out of young volunteers and not providing worthwhile managed projects to work on.

For the full article click here http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,26019-2313014.html

Profit before people?

Who is really making money out of volunteering, who is really gaining?

If organisations are offering cut price sales, where are they taking the money from to make it cheaper, who is suffering? Is it not better to have honestly priced holidays/expeditions/placements in the first place?

Complaints?

As the summer holiday season comes to an end a new season begins – the holiday complaints season.

With more disgruntled volunteers returning from overseas it is essential that volunteers know how to complain. As such the Times, who are sponsoring the 2006 Responsible Tourism Awards have put together a list of information to help you.

To see that list and find out what to do next, click on this link http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,28009-2357573,00.html

Have you had a bad experience with an overseas volunteering organisation, please write more if so......