Tag: voluntourism

The Problem with Voluntourism in Africa

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Voluntourism in Africa – good or bad?

Can volunteering your time to seemingly help people in need really be a bad thing? In some instances, yes. And it’s within this context that I introduce you to the problems with voluntourism in East Africa. 

Here, I explain what voluntourism is, why it’s usually a bad thing, and how you can avoid it in favor of a meaningful and beneficial volunteerism opportunity in East Africa.

So, what is voluntourism in Africa?

The term “voluntourism” brings together two distinct concepts: volunteering & tourism. As such, a voluntourist can simply defined as someone who volunteers their time to a specific cause while participating in tourism. 

But defining voluntourism isn’t quite this simple. The term is loaded with unhelpful connotations of saviorism and righteousness, and there’s a big debate about whether voluntourism is inherently good or bad.

In East Africa, voluntourism is rife, as it is in many parts of south-east Asia. The reason for this is that there is a perceived need for voluntourists in these parts of the world, as well as a whole host of enjoyable tourism activities for well-intentioned volunteers to do during their stay in countries on the other side of the world. 

Following my experience as a voluntourist in 2012, I wrote a book about my time in Uganda and how the concept of voluntourism didn’t sit well with me. I also undertook research into the concept of voluntourism during my Masters program at the University of Birmingham, given my interest in the concept.

In what remains of this article, I explain what voluntourism is, how it differs from volunteering in East Africa, and how you can avoid certain volunteering placements in different parts of the world that can potentially do more harm than good.

Voluntourism in Africa vs. Volunteerism: A crucial difference

I firmly believe that anyone who is willing to volunteer their time to a cause that they’re passionate about has good intentions. After all, if the world had more people who were willing to volunteer to help out in different ways, there’s no doubt that it would be a better place. 

Lots of people are motivated to volunteer in their own communities, while others want to do so in other parts of the world. Both are admirable, and no matter where you give your time to a worthy cause, you can make a positive difference in the world around you.

However, if you are motivated to volunteer abroad, there’s a fair chance that you will come across voluntourism programs when you perform a simple Google search looking for opportunities that interest you.

Here’s what voluntourism in Africa might look like:

  • It’s easy to apply for: There probably won’t be an interview process, and the program will not necessarily be looking for people with specific skills or experience to sign up. One of the main prerequisites might be a “positive attitude” or something similar. 
  • It’s expensive: One of the distinguishing features of a voluntourism placement is that it is expensive to participate in. You might, for instance, be asked to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for a short-term voluntourism placement in East Africa or elsewhere.
  • It’s tourism-focused: If a firm offers voluntourism placements, its website will likely feature imagery that reflects the tourism opportunities in the country in question, be it photos of safaris or other exciting tourism activities. The focus of the website is not usually on the volunteer placement itself. 
  • There’s a saviorist agenda: While often subtle, a voluntourism placement is likely to invite you to make an unrealistic contribution in a short space of time. For instance, you might be invited to “change lives,” “transform communities,” or “give children a chance.” 
  • It’s offered by a business: Most voluntourism placements available online are offered by for-profit companies, as opposed to not-for-profit charities. This is a crucial distinction to be aware of and will help you differentiate between voluntourism and volunteerism. Most voluntourism businesses merely partner with charities, and it’s not clear how much of your money goes toward the projects in question.

Now, compare the above to how a volunteerism opportunity might look like in Africa:

  • There’s a clear application process: Applying for a legitimate volunteering opportunity in East Africa is like applying for a job. There will be a clear role description and role specifications, and you will need to complete an application process before being invited to join the charity in question. You will almost certainly have to supply references to back your credentials, too. 
  • It’s free: Most volunteer placements don’t charge you for offering your time! In fact, many charities offer volunteers a stipend to cover certain living or travel expenses. After all, why should you have to pay a huge sum of money to volunteer your time? 
  • It’s impact-focused: Rather than focusing on the amazing tourism activities you can do and how much fun you will have while in East Africa, volunteer opportunities are more concerned with the impact that you can have in the community in question.
  • There’s a collectivist agenda: Instead of inviting you to come and save a village, a charity looking for a skilled volunteer will market the opportunity as an invitation for you to make a contribution. Your skills and experience can contribute to the collectivist cause, which is a much more realistic message than asking you to travel across the world to save a community from X, Y, or Z.
  • It’s offered by a charity: When you find a volunteering opportunity in East Africa, it will almost certainly be offered by an NGO or grassroots charity. Therefore, you can be sure that the experience that you sign up for is actually part of a community cause, as opposed to a profit-making venture.

As you can see, the characteristics of voluntourism and volunteerism placements in East Africa are very different from one another, and recognizing them is crucial. But is voluntourism really a bad thing?

The problem with voluntourism in Africa

I think it’s important to preface this section with a clear statement: not all voluntourism placements are bad. When done correctly, voluntourism can be a successful business model that benefits tourists, international businesses, and local communities. It can work. 

But in reality, many voluntourism placements that operate in developing countries do more harm than good. In some instances, voluntourism projects support systems that break up families, while others perpetuate negative stereotypes about poorer nations needing to be saved by residents of wealthier countries. 

Sinisterly, some voluntourism experiences can be downright dangerous. Just look at the story of Renee Bach and her ill-fated time spent in Uganda. While shocking, it helps you understand how inexperienced and unskilled individuals can lead to fatal consequences for local populations.

In my opinion, the problem lies in the fact that inexperienced and unskilled individuals believe that they can make a positive impact in East Africa simply by showing up and lending a hand.

This mindset often leads to unqualified teachers being placed in already underperforming schools, inexperienced medical practitioners offering assistance in under-funded medical centers, and a whole host of other placements that seek to fill round holes with square pegs. 

As a result, voluntourism placements send out the message that wealthy tourists are able to make a positive contribution in practically any discipline, simply because they’re willing to pay for the right to get involved in a project that they’re not necessarily suited to.

What does this suggest to the local populace? It reinforces negative stereotypes – particularly the white savior industrial complex – and often holds communities back, as opposed to helping them move forward, as is often the claim of voluntourism supporters.

Attitudes aside, voluntourism projects also cause problems for local relationships and experiences. Local people, understandably, see opportunity when voluntourists arrive in their communities. Maybe the voluntourist will pay their child’s school fees or make a donation to help them repair their home, for instance. 

This creates an unhealthy relationship between voluntourists and the local people that they interact with, one that is inherently transactional in nature. It also breeds discontent, particularly if the voluntourist leaves the area after a short time, following a period of spurious contribution.

Ultimately, even if voluntourism placements aren’t dangerous, they’re usually unhelpful and unsustainable. If you want to make a real contribution in East Africa, voluntourism is not the way to do it, as I explain below.

How to avoid voluntourism in Africa?

When I decided to travel to East Africa in 2012 before heading to do my Masters, I thought that voluntourism presented the perfect opportunity. Frankly, I didn’t know there was a difference between voluntourism and volunteerism, and it wasn’t until after my experience that I realized that there are different ways to volunteer your time in East Africa. 

If you search for volunteering placements online today, you will come across voluntourism placement providers offering you a whole host of potential projects, from turtle conservation in Kenya to primary school teaching in Uganda. But if you really want to make a positive contribution during your time in East Africa, you need to look beyond the marketing of voluntourism placements.

A great way to ascertain your suitability for a volunteering opportunity in East Africa is to question if you would be skilled and experienced enough to do the role in your own country. 

If you don’t have the skills to volunteer at a health facility in the US, why do you think that you can do so in a health center in Uganda?

You have a responsibility to think carefully about what you’re skilled, qualified, and experienced to do. After all, your willingness to volunteer isn’t enough to make you an asset to a community project in East Africa, and you need to have the skills necessary to make a positive impact. 

You can also use this super helpful infographic to guide you as you search for a volunteering opportunity in Africa:

There are lots of volunteering opportunities available in East Africa, but you need to do some due diligence to ensure that you apply for a placement that, at the very least, does no harm to the local community that you’re planning to visit. 

I also highly recommend reading this follow-up article to Teju Cole’s 2012 piece in the Atlantic, where you can learn how to avoid the white savior industrial complex.

Recap: The problem with voluntourism in Africa

The problem with voluntourism in East Africa is not an easy one to solve. While for-profit organizations continue providing voluntourism placements to impressionable young people in western countries, a conveyor belt of voluntourists will continue arriving in East Africa every year. 

However, by educating yourself about some of the issues associated with voluntourism in East Africa, you can seek out rewarding, impactful volunteering placements that can be rewarding for you and beneficial to the people that you work with.

We all have a responsibility to consider an opportunity before signing up for it, so make sure you understand what you’re getting yourself into before joining a volunteering placement in the near future.

So, if you have your heart set on participating in a volunteering project in Africa, check out this recent article where I provide you with eight questions to ask yourself before joining a placement. It will help you avoid negative opportunities.

Questions To Ask Before Volunteering in East Africa

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Volunteering in East Africa is admirable, and it’s something that motivates people from all over the world to visit the region each year. 

After all, my first experience of Uganda in 2012 was through a volunteering program, and I know many others who first arrived in this part of the world via similar projects.

But volunteering in East Africa is complex, and it’s not something that you should participate in without due diligence and research. 

I also want to make this point loud and clear: not every volunteering program in East Africa is beneficial to the people it pertains to support.

After my experience as a volunteer in Uganda in 2012, I returned to the UK to study for a Masters in International Development from the University of Birmingham, to get some answers to the questions that arose during my three-month stay in the country. 

I wanted to know more about the dynamics between so-called ‘developed countries’ and those that are seemingly ‘developing.’ I also wanted to know why so many people are motivated to travel to East Africa every year to offer their services as volunteers.

Following a research project in Uganda, I had some answers to my questions, and I learned all about something called The White Savior Complex – a complex that completely reversed my views about what is at the crux of volunteering and development in East Africa. 

This article is not about the White Savior Complex, but it’s really important to acknowledge the position that Teju Cole introduced when he wrote the above article in 2012 to add context to this piece.

To avoid being a “White Savior,” it’s imperative that you fully understand the volunteering project that you’re planning to apply for in East Africa. 

While I have no doubt that the vast majority of western volunteers arriving in East Africa are undoubtedly well-intentioned, it’s crucial to question the purpose and structure of a volunteering project before signing up. 

With that in mind, I want to introduce you to eight questions that you must answer before volunteering in East Africa. They’re a result of my university research, as well as an interest in the topic of voluntourism & ethical volunteering in Africa more broadly.

I hope you find them helpful as you seek to make a positive impact during your upcoming visit to East Africa.

Volunteering in East Africa: 8 important questions to ask yourself

Volunteering in East Africa can be impactful for you and the people that you’re trying to help, but this is not always the case. To avoid unscrupulous organizations when looking at volunteering in East Africa, ask yourself the following eight questions and answer them truthfully:

Q1: Is the organization a business or a charity?

A young boy studying in Wakiso, Central Uganda. Photo credit: Felicia Montenegro, Unsplash.

First and foremost, you need to differentiate between a volunteering placement that is offered by a business and one that is offered by a charity. Businesses that offer volunteering as part of an industry known as voluntourism do so primarily for profit, which is in stark contrast to the characteristics of charity-led volunteering placements.  

The easiest way to discern whether a volunteering placement is offered by a business or a charity is to conduct an independent search into the organization. For instance, in the UK, you can search for the organization via the UK Charity Commission to see if it is registered. You can also look at business records on Google to find out if the organization is a profit-making entity.

The reason this is important is that charities and businesses offer completely different types of volunteering opportunities for completely different reasons (more on this throughout). You can use the below comparison to understand which type of volunteering placement you have found:

Business (for-profit) volunteering opportunities are:

  • Expensive (Often thousands of dollars for short volunteering trips). 
  • Advertised with emotive imagery and suggestive tag lines (e.g., Change a child’s life, transform a rural community, etc.).
  • Available to anyone regardless of qualifications, experience, or skillset. 
  • Engineered to the satisfaction of the volunteer, as opposed to the benefit of the local community in question. 
  • Inclusive of tourism and leisure activities such as safaris. 
  • Provided by organizations that are not registered as charities.

Charity volunteering opportunities are:

  • Usually free. Many charities also offer a stipend to volunteers to cover living and travel expenses while in the country. 
  • Offered to fill a specific role that you are qualified, trained, and skilled to do. For instance, if the role is for a volunteer teacher, applicants must have teaching qualifications and experience to apply for the position. 
  • Aligned to the charity’s mission statement and overall objectives that you can find on their website. 
  • Subject to an interview/application process, as well as pre-employment checks. 
  • Provided by organizations that are registered as charities. 

As you can see, the differences between for-profit and charity volunteering placements are stark, so it’s vital that you are able to differentiate between the two before proceeding with an application. If you’re satisfied that you are indeed applying for a legitimate volunteering placement offered by a registered charity, you can proceed to the following question!

Q2: Am I qualified for the role in question?

One of the biggest issues with volunteering placements in East Africa is that positions are often filled by people who are not skilled or qualified for the role in question, which can often lead to disastrous consequences. 
The story of former American volunteer Rene Bach articulates this point.

While not all volunteer positions filled by unqualified candidates have such dire consequences, the reality is that they provide very few benefits to local communities. 

Think about this for a moment. 

If you’re keen to work in a medical center back home, what requirements would you need to be approved for a placement? At the very least, a basic understanding of medicine, some relevant experience, and perhaps studies to show that you’re working towards a qualification.

Equally, if you want to get some experience in construction, surely your employer would want to see some credentials to support your candidacy, as opposed to taking someone who has never stepped foot on a building site in their life?

But due to issues relating to the undercurrent of the White Savior Complex, western volunteers often assume that because a placement is taking place in East Africa, it doesn’t necessitate the same requirements as it would if they were applying for the role back home. 

As a result, placements are often filled by individuals who simply don’t know what they’re doing and are only in the country because they have shown a desire – and paid a fee – to be there. 

You don’t need me to tell you that this is a huge problem.

Therefore, you need to be honest with yourself. If you’re not qualified to do a volunteering role at home, you’re not qualified to do it in East Africa. It’s as simple as that.

Q3: What is the cost of the program?

I’m a firm believer that volunteering is an admirable act of altruism that the world could do with more of. After all, if more people gave their time to causes that they care about, the world would undoubtedly be a better place.

By the same token, I don’t think it’s fair to charge someone a fee to volunteer. And I’m not alone in this respect. 

Some paid volunteering programs will tell you that the cost they charge is necessary because it covers the costs associated with your placement. But in reality, it does a lot more than that, particularly when you consider the fact that you pay so much in order to offer a helping hand.

If you’re willing to give your time to contribute to a cause that you’re passionate about, you shouldn’t have to part with thousands of dollars to make it happen. 

What I mean by this is that you can find ethical volunteering placements offered by charities that actually need volunteers, as opposed to for-profit organizations that offer volunteering projects that are easy to apply for – for a fee – whether they’re required or not. 

Everything in life is subjective, but I strongly believe that you shouldn’t be required to pay a sizeable fee to contribute to a cause that you care about.

Q4: Who benefits from my volunteering?

There’s no doubt that volunteering in East Africa can be a positive thing, and I have anecdotal evidence to support this claim. 

I’m friends with the good people who run placements at Bwindi Community Hospital in southwestern Uganda, and their structured volunteering opportunities have long proven to bring benefit to the hospital, as well as the people that donate their time to be there. 

The hospital welcomes trained medics and medical students from different parts of the world to collaborate with in-country health teams, share best practices, and improve the clinical services to the people that use Bwindi Hospital on a day-to-day basis.

From the outside looking in, it’s a great model for how volunteering should work, as local people, Ugandan professionals, and the volunteers themselves all seem to benefit from the arrangement.

What’s more, there are no exorbitant fees associated with the volunteering placement, and visitors are housed in the adjacent Hospital Guest House at a reasonable fee for the duration of their stay. 

I use this as an example because it shows what is possible when responsible volunteering placements are put together. It illustrates that skilled, well-meaning people can offer their time to make a positive contribution in East Africa without exacerbating the White Savior Complex.

So, when you find a volunteering placement in East Africa that interests you, be sure to question: who actually benefits from my volunteering? It will help you make the right decision about a viable, ethical placement. 

If you’re looking for a medical volunteering opportunity in East Africa, you can find out more about volunteering at Bwindi Community Hospital here.

Q5: Can I make an impact during my stay in the country?

A child photographed by a volunteer in Wakiso, Uganda. Photo credit: Felicia Montenegro, Unsplash.

Next, you need to think about what you can achieve during your stay in East Africa. While some people come with grandiose assertions about what they believe to be possible in a week, others are more measured with their expectations. 

The reality is that you’re not going to change someone’s life by volunteering for a couple of weeks in East Africa, and it’s unhealthy to think that such an occurrence is possible. That’s not to say that you can’t make a positive contribution, but you need to be realistic about what is achievable in a short space of time.

People who are able to spend 3+ months in East Africa are much more likely to feel like their presence has made an impact than those that pass through for a week or so during a summer vacation. 

I appreciate that not everyone has the time to volunteer for several months at a time, and telling contributions can also be made in a short amount of time.

The key is to acknowledge the limitations of your potential impact and enter into your placement with your eyes open about what you can achieve. 

When you’re realistic about your impact, you are much more likely to have a meaningful experience, and you can utilize your time in East Africa efficiently. Equally, if you don’t think that you can make an impact in a short space of time, there are other ways to make a contribution, as explained below.

Q6: Could my money be better used elsewhere?

I’ve alluded to the fact that some volunteering projects can be costly, particularly those that are offered by for-profit organizations for relatively short in-country stays. 

In many instances, if you have $1,000 to spend on a one-week volunteer placement in East Africa, you will almost certainly find that donating the money to a grassroots charity in the region will have much more impact than if you were to pay to volunteer for the same amount of money.

You could look into organizing your trip to East Africa independently before making a donation to a charity directly during your trip to one of the countries in the region. This way, you still have an excellent opportunity to visit East Africa while making a positive contribution, even if you don’t spend your time actively volunteering. 

My good friends over at AJ Tours work with a number of great causes – including Project Rabies – and help people visit several projects in Uganda, Rwanda, and DR Congo without necessarily volunteering.

You can reach out to Andrew and the team directly or leave a comment below if you’d like me to introduce you. 

Q7: Am I taking away an opportunity from the local labor force?

Another interesting way to look at volunteering is whether or not your presence in the country is potentially taking opportunities away from local communities.

Some voluntourism projects that place unqualified teachers into roles within schools in East Africa often inadvertently take job opportunities away from qualified local teachers.

After all, if a cash-strapped school can rely on a steady stream of unpaid foreign volunteers to teach their students, they are unlikely to look for ways of generating income to pay salaries for local teachers. 

This is a problem that I’ve seen firsthand in Uganda – my wife sits as the chairperson on the board of a local primary school – and the issue of paying teachers’ salaries is always at the forefront of discussion. 

Again, it’s all about how an organization approaches a volunteering program, and some interventions can certainly make a positive contribution. 

But merely filling plugs in the local labor market in East Africa with short-term, often unqualified volunteers is certainly not going to solve any long-term, systemic issues that are prevalent within East African communities.

Q8: What visa do I need to volunteer?

Last but certainly not least, you need to think about the visa that you need to volunteer in East Africa. While many short-term volunteers often arrive in East African countries with tourist visas, the reality is that doing so is not permitted under immigration laws. 

All countries in East Africa have special permits that volunteers should apply for, so it’s super important that you read up on how to apply and what documents you need in order to arrive in the country legally.

Legitimate charities that invite volunteers to East Africa will be able to help you with the process of acquiring the correct permit for the duration of your stay, but it’s a super important issue that many volunteers overlook.

Further reading on volunteering in East Africa

As I bring this article to a close, I hope you have a much better idea of what to think about before volunteering in East Africa. Personally, I love the fact that so many people are motivated to donate their time to causes that they’re passionate about, and I think it’s something that should be celebrated. 

But I also think that we need to be clear about the differences between voluntourism and volunteerism, to ensure that qualified and skilled professionals fill placements in East Africa. 

During my first visit to East Africa in 2012, I participated in a voluntourism program, which is why I’ve been keen ever since to raise awareness about the different types of volunteering in this part of the world.

I actually wrote a book about my experiences in Uganda as a voluntourist – Tie Up The Lion – , which you can order from Amazon if you want to learn more about what a voluntourism placement in East Africa is really like.