Welcome to the Voluntourism Forum!
Thanks for taking the time to visit The Voluntourist Forum (TVF). As the name suggests, this is an open forum for anyone who is interested in voluntourism. It is a blog based forum for travellers, companies who work in the voluntourism sector, and campaigning organisation who fight for more ethical standards in tourism.
The forum hopes to act as a vehicle for people to share their experiences of voluntourism, review holidays, companies and NGO, offer tips and advice and keep in touch with friends.
However, the forum also has a more serious side – the driving-up of standards of practice within the voluntourism sector. The people that have put this forum together all work within the voluntourism sector, and we are concerned that there is NO code of practice to protect either voluntoutists or the people they seek to help.
As people who provide you with your voluntourism holiday opportunities, we are keen to ensure that your voluntourism experience delivers all that you expect of it. We ware therefore campaigning for a Code of Practice which will
• ensures accreditation for those operating in the voluntourism sector which meet an agreed minimum standard of practice which are regularly audited
• provide voluntourists with a formal complaints mechanism for when things go wrong
• ensure that accredited Voluntourism Providers engage in fair trade tourism principles and practices
• ensure that accredited Voluntourism Providers abide by a minimum agreed standard of environmentally sustainable practices
• ensure that accredited Voluntourism Providers ensure that voluntourists make a proven positive contribution to the destination community, and do so in a safe environment
• ensure that accredited Voluntourism Providers understand and adhere to basic best practice in community development ensure that local people/communities and the environment are not exploited by the voluntourism industry for the benefits of the voluntourism providers
• ensure that the goodwill of the voluntourist is not exploited by the voluntourism sector for the benefit of the voluntourist sector
So, we look forward to seeing your comments, to you letting us know what you want us to do to make your voluntourism experience more meaningful, and hopefully, to you joining our campaign for a code of practice for the voluntourism sector.
2 Comments:
Here, here. For too long have individuals been taken advantage of and their time, money and efforts taken advantage of. The number of times I have heard negative comments about certain orgainsations has left me wondering whether I work in the same industry.
I am embarrassed and angry at the way that some organisations falsely represent themselves and how they impact on host communities and environments in a completely unmanaged way.
What we want to encourage is all those with opinions to voice them and for everyone who embarks on a volunteer travel experience to do so with their eyes opena dn where possible through an organisation that cares more about its impact on its hosts than impacts of its marketing budget.
All good meaning volunteers should be provided with what they desire in a fair and honest way.
Only by returning volunteers commenting (constructively or otherwise) can organisations improve.
Mike Lamb
sounds like you guys are onto a good thing
checkout...
www.crosscountrymissions.com
and keep us posted with any new developments
thanks
roger
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