This presentation was given by @danielapapi and @maryannby at the Rocky Mountain Seminar for educators hosted by Where There Be Dragons. It is a look at flipping volunteer travel, voluntourism, and service learning into a new light with a "learning service" mindset. This presentation was broken up by a range of interactive activities which the 50+ teachers, study abroad administrators, and other educators participated in over a long-weekend in November 2014.
6. We needed to invest in people
to put those things to use
7. Started
out
“giving
things”
How did the NGO change?
Now,
“inves5ng
5me
in
people”
8.
9.
10.
11. How
has
PEPY
Tours
changed?
Started
out
doing
“voluntourism”
How did the tours change?
Now,
offering
a
“chance
to
learn”
Could
also
just
be
two
images
–
perhaps
people
building
or
pain6ng
something
(can
just
be
s6ck
figures
like
the
story
of
stuff)
and
the
second
people
si?ng
and
talking
or
learning?
20. sympathy
/ˈsimpəTHē/
Noun: Feelings of pity and sorrow for someone
else's misfortune.
empathy
/ˈempəTHē/
Noun: The ability to understand and share the
feelings of another.
21. sympathy
/ˈsimpəTHē/
Noun: Feelings of pity and sorrow for someone
else's misfortune.
empathy
/ˈempəTHē/
Noun: The ability to understand and share the
feelings of another.
24. List of things that possibly go wrong
All of it
Bad planning
Poor implementation
Lies and corruption
An evil guy
In this trip..
EVERYTHING
that could
have gone
wrong!
25. List of things that possibly go wrong
All of it
Bad planning
Poor implementation
Lies and corruption
An evil guy
In this trip..
EVERYTHING
that could
have gone
wrong!
39. “Earlier this year, the British owner of the
Cambodian Orphan Fund…was sent to
prison in Cambodia for sexually abusing
several minor boys in his care.”
- “Should You or Shouldn’t You Volunteer in a Cambodian
Orphanage?”, Expat Living, Monica Pitrelli, Oct 2011
46. Hero Marketing
• Growth in demand
• Hero marketing
• Incorrect perceived model
• Broken feedback loop
47. “We don’t send people over to the US to
help with the emotional poverty we see
there: with unhappy people, high divorce
rates, broken family units, and dependence
on material wealth - so why do you send
people over who know nothing about our
issues to try to ‘help’ us with our financial
poverty? We would fail at helping you as
you are failing at helping us.”
- Ghanaian NGO Director
48. Incorrect Perceived Model
The
community
or
the
project
has
a
need
The
community
or
project
puts
out
a
request
for
volunteers
Volunteers
supply
that
skill
and
9ill
the
need
49. Incorrect Perceived Model
The
community
or
the
project
has
a
need
The
community
or
project
puts
out
a
request
for
volunteers
Volunteers
supply
that
skill
and
9ill
the
need
A
sending
organization
has
increased
demand
for
a
speci9ic
location
or
type
of
volunteer
project
The
organization
seeks
out
more
placements
to
9ill
the
volunteers’
demands
The
hosting
organization
agrees
to
take
the
volunteer,
in
exchange
for
payment
or
in
hope
of
continued
donations
50. “You know, [foreigners] always want to
paint things. They want to paint buildings,
so we have a building we let them paint.
Usually we have to repaint the walls after
the [foreigners] leave because they don’t
do a very good job.”
- Excerpt from Rethinking Short-Term Missions for Long-Term
Impact by Mary Faulds
66. (If you plant papayas,
you can’t get mangoes.)
ប្រសិនបើអ្នកដាំដើមល្ហុង
នោះអ្នកមិនអាចទទួយបាន
ផ្លែស្វា
យទេ។
67. Tips
How should a
trip organizer
prepare?
How can a
traveler
decide?
68. How can a
traveler
decide?
1) How do they market?
2) Do they know the work?
3) Personal/Global
development relevance?
4) Speak to OTHERS
5) Educate yourself
69. 1
#
How are they “marketing” and
speaking about their work?
70. “The statement that this sort of media makes
is “We have a group of people who are utterly
helpless, and only you can save them.”… this
person is helpless – this person needs your
money – this person is incapable of making a
better life for him/herself. In going down the
path of the ‘savior’, we’ll inevitably be biased
not towards policy that works, but towards
policy that makes us feel good about
ourselves.”
- What is poverty porn and why does it matter for
development? Matt Collin
84. “There were about 25 kids inside the
‘orphanage’. Every time a tourist boat pulled
up and people went in to deliver their bounty,
the children would stop what they were doing
and shout a greeting or a thank you. Doing
that every five minutes throughout the day is
surely going to impact on your education. It
was obvious that the children were being
used for profit. Yet boat after boat of people
were pulling up to get their holiday feel good
points by gawking at children trapped in a
floating cage, chorusing multilingual
greetings like polished professionals.”
- “Orphanage Tourism: Cute Kids, Cashed Up Tourists, Poor
Outcomes”, Devpolicy Blog, Development Policy Center
96. Tips
How should a
trip organizer
prepare?
How can a
traveler
decide?
97. How
should a
trip
organizer
prepare?
1) Counter Dunning-Kruger
2) HAVE contacts, USE them,
and LISTEN to them
3) Know the needs
4) Don’t plant papayas
5) Don’t forget about the rest!
103. Development Syndrome
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Call
me
Bono
-‐
aid
is
great!
Why
am
I
doing
this
again?
White
Man's
Burden,
Easterly,
and
all
that.
I'm
with
Moyo
-‐
DEAD
AID!
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
#
4
112. • Throughout the Journey:
Adopting a Learning Mindset
• Before departure: Thorough
Research
• While Abroad: Humble,
Mindful, and Self-Reflective
Action
• Back at home: A life-long
approach