Learning And Volunteering Abroad For Development

Learning/volunteer abroad programmes provide opportunities for cross-cultural understanding, partnership-building, and cooperative development, but there are also significant structural challenges and inequality of opportunity issues that result from these partnerships between host organizations in the Global South and learning/volunteer abroad for development (LVA4D) participants from the Global North. Learning and Volunteering Abroad for Development aims to unpack the complex benefits and disadvantages of learning/volunteer abroad programmes, using insights from the volunteers who travel abroad and the communities who host them. Based on empirical research within both volunteer and host communities, this book provides students and scholars with an alternative framework for a more careful and nuanced analysis of international volunteering programmes, highlighting ways to improve critical reflection, development outcomes, and intercultural competence. Supported by a website with additional learning resources, this book is an integral resource for senior undergraduate and graduate students interested in going abroad, as well as for scholars or development professionals who are leading or researching such programmes.

"This year, over ten million people will go abroad, eager to find the perfect blend of adventure and altruism. Volunteer travel can help you find your place in the world--and find out what you're made of. So why do so many international volunteer programs fail to make an impact? Why do some do more harm than good? Learning Service offers a powerful new approach that invites volunteers to learn from host communities before trying to 'help' them. It's also a thoughtful critique of the sinister side of volunteer travel; a guide for turning good intentions into effective results; and essential advice on how to make the most of your experience."--Amazon.com.

Do you want to travel and make a positive impact on the world? This book is designed for you. How to Be an Amazing Volunteer Overseas will give you essential advice on how to decide what to do and where to go. It will help you to prepare for life in a new country. And most importantly, it will set you up to get the most out of your experience by learning from local leaders and contributing in a meaningful way. Full of practical tips and personal stories from the author's experience having worked and volunteered in 70 countries, How to Be an Amazing Volunteer has been endorsed by leaders in the international development community, and is a must-read as borders begin to open up post-pandemic, and as purpose-driven Gen-Zers around the world look to broaden their horizons while making a positive impact. Net proceeds from book sales will go to support education programs in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kenya and a First Nations community in Canada. "People who change the world are not necessarily 'special' people. They are everyday people who do not hesitate to respond to outside signals. Volunteering is about discovering what you can do and about getting to a point to take your own first steps. This book chronicles Susan's journey to discover herself - you'll enjoy being a co-traveller with her." -- Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2006

What draws people to study abroad or volunteer in far-off communities? Often the answer is romance – the romance of landscapes, people, languages, the very sense of border-crossing – and longing for liberation, attraction to the unknown, yearning to make a difference. This volume explores the complicated and often fraught desires to study and volunteer abroad. In doing so, the book sheds light on how affect is managed by educators and mobilized by students and volunteers themselves, and how these structures of feeling relate to broader social and economic forces.

This work comes at an important time of global crisis and change, where the world is ravaged by natural disasters, wars and poverty. This has increased the pressure on governments and other organisations, such as volunteer sending agencies, which provide aid, and we have seen an upward trend in the number of people volunteering abroad. Within this volatile environment, neoliberal ideology on how aid should be provided and implemented has become embedded in how policy is formulated. A market-driven model of aid provision has become the norm, and governments are increasingly focused on international development volunteering as a form of ‘soft diplomacy’. This is the first qualitative empirical study of international development volunteering. The book contributes theoretical knowledge on International Volunteering Sending Agencies (IVSAs) and examines practitioner experience in development volunteering in the context of emerging policy developments. Critical analysis highlights the impact of global and social changes and provides a nuanced understanding of development volunteer motivation, and the relationship between volunteers and sending agencies. The book also puts forward an agenda and model for volunteer sending that addresses the complexities and diversity of the volunteer experience.

In a 2014 essay that went viral, Pippa Biddle revealed the inequities and absurdities baked into voluntourism--the pairing of short-term, unskilled volunteer work with tourism. In the years since, Biddle has devoted herself to understanding the origins, intentions, and outcomes of a multibillion-dollar industry built on the premise of doing good, and she tracks that investigation in Ours to Explore. The flaws of voluntourism have included xenophobia, racism, paternalism, and a "West knows best" mentality. From exploitative orphanages that keep children in squalid conditions to attract donors to undertrained medical volunteers practicing their skills on patients in developing regions and to those looking for an inspiring selfie, Biddle reveals the hidden costs of the voluntourism complex. Along the way, readers meet inspiring activists and passionate community members, as well as thoughtful former voluntourists who still work to make a difference--just differently. Ours to Explore offers a plan for how the service-based travel industry can break the cycle of exploitation and suggests strategies for travelers who want to improve the places they visit for the long haul.

Many volunteer workers have questioned their efforts and wondered if their actions truly made a difference. Questions about the state of the world, making a positive impact, health, safety, and creating authentic, lasting change are at the heart of international volunteering. This book is a comprehensive guide for those who are currently volunteering or seeking to volunteer internationally. It demonstrates that with the right tools and knowledge, it is possible to make authentic, lasting change. The book offers timely knowledge for volunteering in an era when the world has never been better off, but where current developments are not reaching everyone who still lives in poverty.

This volume on international studies pedagogy helps us think purposefully about the worlds we teach to our students and it shows us why engaging in reflective practice about how and what we teach matters. The Handbook also provides strategies to engage students in a variety of ways to reflect on and engage with the complexities of the world in which we live.