Videos

Research on good, bad community impacts of international volunteering, voluntouring (3 minutes)

In the back-and-forth argument on voluntourism, ethical global service, poverty porn, and volunteering for development, have you ever wondered if there’s a real evidence base? There is. 

Please watch and share this brief summary of accumulated insights. Links to the relevant research appear in the video transcript. The transcript is followed by recent, diverse resources that support mutually beneficial and empowering global service and learning.

Fair Trade Learning (3 minutes)

Research demonstrates that most host communities that receive international volunteers and service-learning students would like to continue doing so, but under better terms. But clarifying the most appropriate terms is not simple. In a confusing global partnership process, agreeing upon and honoring better terms requires a clear strategy. Fair Trade Learning has emerged as one such strategy.

For additional information, please visit our Fair Trade Learning page to find tools, action steps, and relevant research.

How volunteering abroad in orphanages is harmful to children (3 minutes)

A global team of child protections professionals and academics have started the hashtag #StopOrphanTrips on Twitter to bring awareness to decades of research that have found orphanage volunteer trips to be extremely harmful for children. They have combined all that research to also create this focused, 3-minute video.