Voluntourism 101

The PEPY team has been working to develop a new site called Voluntourism101 to share effective practices and lessons learned in volunteer tourism. As we have been too busy getting our new PEPY Tours website up, we have not yet gotten to Voluntourism101, but it is coming soon!  In the meantime, we want to present our initial ideas for effective voluntourism practices in a self-check format.
The document is now downloadable in PDF format. It is designed to serve as a self-check tool for the those working in the voluntourism sector. Indicators which provide proof to answers to the guideline’s questions can be tracked as well as next steps to move towards improvements in the areas where the operator is looking to improve.
Volunteer Tourism Effective Practices is designed for tour operators who are looking to or already are incorporating volunteer projects into their trips. Additionally, we hope it will serve development organizations, volunteer tourism participants, and community members in helping to identify and engage in impactful volunteer projects. We gathered research, input and experience from many people working in the areas of voluntourism, development, and traveler’s philanthropy to create this guideline and are grateful to those who have contributed their input. This is a working, living resource, meaning that we are continually seeking feedback in the form of opinions, experiences, lessons learned, and anecdotes relating to the outlined effective practices, as well as responses to the design and content of this guideline.
We welcome feedback and ideas for improvement!
Click here to download the self-check tool.