How to Volunteer Well: Using the Global Volunteering for Development Standard for Impact

Volunteer impact is important. But how can you know that you’re actually helping others–or even worse, doing harm?

With the growing attention of the negative effect of Western volunteer programs on global communities, a group of international volunteer program leaders convened to create a set of guiding principles for volunteering and development programs. Headed by the International Forum for Volunteering in Development and Volunteering Service Overseas (VSO), the Global Volunteering for Development Standard is a framework that seeks to improve the outcomes of international volunteering efforts for all stakeholders, including volunteers, program organizers, and native populations.

While Global Standard targets program organizers, volunteers can also apply the Standard to assess and address systemic issues in their organizations. The four pillars of the Global Standard are Designing and Delivering Projects, Duty of Care, Managing Volunteers, and Measuring Impact. 

Designing and Delivering Projects: Involve everyone, ask questions

All stakeholders need to be involved in the design and delivery of a project, which includes project organizers, local community partners, and volunteers. Significant issues with foreign aid stem from self-serving interests and failure to involve the local community. Many volunteering and development programs need to show they’ve made a difference to gain funding and coverage. As a result, organizations feel the pressure to “modernize” the area by applying cutting-edge technology instead of working with locals to develop suitable solutions. 

An instance of modernization overriding cultural empathy is a nonprofit installing fancy solar panels in locations threatened by malaria. Not only are resources being diverted from solving a pressing healthcare issue, but the overdeveloped solution requires technical knowledge and continued funding for maintenance. The significant burden this demands often leads to locals choosing to let these solutions fall into disrepair and sticking to previous light sources.

When starting a new project, the volunteer should ask questions surrounding the local’s involvement with the project’s design. They should also make sure that the project stays true to the plan and observe the project’s leadership to ensure that locals lead the implementation and evaluate project performance. After a volunteer project, follow up with the team lead on collecting comprehensive reviews on the process and the outcome to improve future projects.

Duty of Care: Do no harm

According to the Global Standard, a key pillar of responsible volunteering is that “organizations recognize that they have a duty of care not to cause, or fail to prevent, psychological or physical harm to volunteers, employees and other associates.” 

The most appealing factor of voluntourism is that participants can have short-term experiences in a safe environment (e.g., most parents would not send their kids halfway across the globe unless they knew that their child was safe). Programs usually already take great lengths to prevent getting sued. Instead, we should focus more on the well-being of the community members. 

Many volunteers want to expand the worldview of locals. However, an unintended consequence is that some locals will become unsatisfied with their current state without the ability to change their situation. This sense of being trapped leads to unrest in the community. Those who act according to new ideas are also often misled in their execution as they lack further clarification. If your program requires introducing a new concept to the community, be hyper-aware of the potential consequences and whether it fits the local culture. 

The physical wellness of the locals is just as essential as their psychological wellness. Children living in poverty are especially at risk of being exploited. In the case of this volunteer rescue team, the Hope of Life International mission put the lives of infants at risk so that volunteers could feel heroic when they hold a sick baby while descending a mountain. Programs that rely on short-term volunteers to prevent injury and death are unsustainable and detrimental; take a step back to analyze whether the program exacerbates issues. Trust your gut judgment, and speak up when you feel that a stakeholder’s safety is in jeopardy.

Managing Volunteers: Are you qualified to volunteer?

Analyze the criteria that your organization uses when vetting volunteers and their stake in the selection process. Traditionally, for-profit travel companies are much more likely to admit lower-quality volunteers due to increased financial incentives. The volunteer roster should always reflect the necessary skill set for the program. Are these volunteers people with years of experience in the field, or are they high school students looking for a college application booster? In the end, unqualified volunteers cause more harm than good.

There will inevitably be companies willing to take on underqualified volunteers to maximize profits. At that point, the best way to maintain a solid duty to care is to educate volunteers on customs beforehand. Ensure that the organization you volunteer with has a training session to prepare volunteers by educating them on local culture, program expectations, and code of conduct. Many volunteers enter the field without checking their own biases, and the cultural centrism they display comes off as condescending to locals. Volunteers should also have access to a knowledgeable and reachable contact before, during, and after the trip. If you are having trouble reaching your contact, chances are the locals are too— that lack of communication points to a destructive disjointedness that can potentially harm a local community. 

Volunteer management spans beyond the program; participants returning from a trip hold invaluable feedback on the project process and local response. If your organization doesn’t immediately ask for your reflection, reach out to the program director and advocate for a reflective approach that focuses on iterative improvements.

Measuring Impact: Did you *actually* do good?

Similar to how scientific studies must proclaim a hypothesis before analysis, volunteering programs must define “success” before the event. Otherwise, it’s easy for a program to lie about its impact. Ensure that your organization has a clear outline of what constitutes a successful operation and dig into the decision-making process behind this metric to ensure that it is a product of insightful conversations with the local community. If the program cannot clearly communicate its goals to the volunteers, push for setting expectations that align with the locals’ wishes. Key metrics include tracking quantifiable progress and adherence to the initial plan and expected impact areas And while a program may not publicly release complete reports of each project due to legal and confidentiality concerns, a volunteer should receive a copy or update of the results. 

With robust volunteer training and careful program design, alien volunteers can make a positive impact. Maintaining strong local communication and continuous improvement is key to providing the best service to the community. Now that you understand what standards your organization should be held up to, start creating change today!

Learn more about voluntourism and volunteer impact in this month Impactfull series.