The orphanage in Cambodia had thirty children and two full-time staff. The volunteers, mostly young Western women on gap years, paid three hundred dollars per week to stay in the facility and 'care' for the children. They took selfies with the kids, taught English lessons they were not qualified to teach, and left after two weeks, emotional and Instagrammed out. The children, meanwhile, had learned to perform affection for strangers. They had learned that love was temporary, transactional, and photographic. This is voluntourism, and it is a problem. I spent two years researching ethical volunteering opportunities, and what I found was that the best programs are the ones you never hear about, because they do not market themselves to tourists.
The Problems with Voluntourism
The voluntourism industry generates two billion dollars per year, and much of it is harmful. Orphanage volunteering, in particular, has been shown to cause attachment disorders in children and incentivizes the creation of fake orphanages to attract donor money. Animal volunteering, such as elephant sanctuaries, often involves animals that have been abused to make them docile for tourists. Construction volunteering frequently takes work away from local laborers who need the income. The rule is simple: if a program charges you a large fee to volunteer, markets itself heavily on social media, and does not require specific skills, it is probably more about your experience than the community's needs.
What Ethical Volunteering Looks Like
Ethical volunteering requires a specific skill that is genuinely needed, a long-term commitment, and a program that is run by locals, not by foreign NGOs. I volunteered for six months with a marine conservation project in Madagascar that was staffed entirely by Malagasy scientists. My role was to assist with data entry and underwater surveys, tasks that required training and could not be done by local staff. I paid for my own accommodation and food, and the project did not charge a fee. In exchange, I received training in marine biology, contributed to a research database, and formed relationships with the scientists that continue today. That is ethical volunteering. It is not glamorous. It is work.
How to Find Good Programs
Start with organizations that have rigorous screening processes and do not advertise on social media. The United Nations Volunteers program places skilled professionals in development projects worldwide. Doctors Without Borders recruits medical professionals for emergency response. Engineers Without Borders sends engineers to infrastructure projects. For non-professionals, teaching English through legitimate programs like JET in Japan or EPIK in Korea requires a degree and a one-year commitment. These programs pay a salary and provide housing. They are not volunteering in the traditional sense, but they provide genuine value to the host community. If you want to volunteer without specific skills, look for local community organizations in your own country. The need is everywhere, and the impact is often greater.
Questions to Ask Before You Apply
Before committing to any volunteer program, ask these questions: Who runs the program, and what percentage of the staff are local? What specific tasks will I perform, and could a local person be paid to do them? How long is the minimum commitment, and what training will I receive? Where does the fee go, and what percentage goes to administration versus direct program costs? Can I speak to a former volunteer independently? If the organization cannot answer these questions clearly, or if the answers reveal that the program is designed around the volunteer's experience rather than the community's needs, do not apply. The world does not need more voluntourists. It needs more respect.
