GLOBALSTAKES CONSULTING

Maiden frank's impact INSIGHTS 

  • Home
  • Expertise
    • Advice
    • Consulting
    • Speaking
  • About
    • Clients
    • Press & Media Engagement
  • Impact Insights
  • Resources
  • CONTACT
  • Store

4/11/2018

but first, do no harm

Read Now
 
Picture


My new acquaintance has said it herself: on a voluntour assignment in Guatemala, the lady in the village asked her “why are you here in my village? Why don’t you tour in your own country? The lady sounded annoyed at the sight of the white girls and boys coming and going all the time.
Somebody needed to speak up.

Disruption, white-man’s saviour mentality, dependence, power imbalance – here are some of the clear downsides of voluntourism /a form of tourism or any type of service-mission with volunteer work in the developing countries.

As the gap of developing and developed countries widens, people from the developed world continue to flock the other side to see what poverty is and how they can help. With all the altruism in the world, it is not enough to be effective in the developing country context.

Think hard about your own purpose. Are you going there to tour or to do some serious messy development work? Giving 1-2 weeks of immersion with an RnR (Rest and Recreation) here and there, is a superficial encounter.

Is working in the orphanage, child care center, giving medical services, supporting wildlife centers, or constructing houses something that a community can do? Replacing a community member that is able, effective, efficient and cost-saving is not the best bang for the buck.

A foreigner with no cultural, linguistic competencies, or hard skills related to the job is a total recipe for disaster.


Why not donate your flight money to the community? There is no value of you being there. The money will go along way to securing that community services and programs are brought from the local supply chain, managed by locals themselves and provided by the locals themselves.

Pippa Diddle made a great point in her article to the Huff Post about little white girls, boys and volunteerism. This article is a little dated but well-articulated.

Admit it, it is more tourism and sight seeing that doing the proper work to make a difference in some one else’s life or community? Not even. 
​
Let us not complicate matters by labelling something that is neither a real development effort or a real tourism engagement.

​Hope you get the point? Let me know what you think?



 

Share

If this article resonates with you, please share this with your colleagues and networks. You can also subscribe to our monthly newsletter to be the first to know of resources available for you. Contact us to resolve your challenges.

Comments are closed.
Details

    Author


    ​Hello!  My name is Maiden Manzanal-Frank, also known as the Global Strategist. I am an award-winning diversity champion, organizational development expert, writer, speaker, a Rotary Peace Fellow, an upcoming author, and an incurable realist. I work, write and engage others in the  intersection of impact through innovation and sustainability.  I accelerate on-purpose organizations' achievement of impact and growth strategies through the alignment of their stakeholders so they can do greater good in the world. I keynote in conferences and corporate events every year. I'm writing my first commercial book on Global Impact Leadership. You can chat with me at LinkedIn.


    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017

    Categories

    All
    Accountability
    Capacity Building
    Capacity-building
    Change
    Collaboration
    Communication
    Community
    Connection
    Creativity
    Crisis
    Effectiveness
    Engagement
    Evolution
    Failures
    Global
    Governance
    Ideas
    Impact
    Innovation
    Inter Cultural Intelligence
    Leadership
    Life's Lessons
    Management
    Marketing
    Perspective
    Risks
    Strategy
    Sustainability
    Transparency

SERVICES

​Strategy 
Management Advice
Results-based Management
​Multi-stakeholder Engagement
Executive Mentoring
Keynote, Training, & Facilitation 


​CONTACT

FEATURED IN:

Picture


Picture

 CURRENT BLOG ARTICLES 

  • Two big goals anyone?
  • Provocation is my middle name
  • A Self-fulfilling Prophecy

    E-NEWSLETTER
    ​Free insights & updates you can use
    . No spam!​

Submit
UPCOMING BOOK ON
GLOBAL IMPACT LEADERSHIP

BOOK A FREE 15-30 MINUTE CONSULTATION NOW!

Photos used under Creative Commons from pbyrne, beltz6, Muhammad Ali, chrisparkeruk, Magnus MWW, comedy_nose, trendingtopics, sarahgarre, Rod Raglin, Eric Kilby, Tony Webster, Me in ME, Riviera_Travel, Henry Söderlund, wuestenigel, MTaLearning, yourbestdigs, wuestenigel, Ruth and Dave, michaelmueller410, Rodrigo_Soldon, frankieleon, Kate#2112, focusonmore.com, Jocey K, paweesit, comedy_nose, formulanone, Phil Roeder, wuestenigel, Rob Oo
  • Home
  • Expertise
    • Advice
    • Consulting
    • Speaking
  • About
    • Clients
    • Press & Media Engagement
  • Impact Insights
  • Resources
  • CONTACT
  • Store