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The Volunteers Without Borders Philosophy – A Different Approach

 

We are living in difficult times. The recent economic crisis coupled with a global increase in catastrophic natural disasters (tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, drought etc.) has placed an enormous strain on the world’s aid agencies – and on the individuals who donate their time and/or money to help alleviate the suffering of those in need.
It is therefore essential that as much donor funding as possible reaches the front line and the maximum benefit is obtained for each donor dollar spent.

Sadly, the nature of aid agency work means that the administrative fees incurred by many NGOs, Foundations & Dedicated Volunteer Placement Agencies etc., often absorb as much as 80% of the funding that their donors or volunteers provide.

Whilst there may be no obvious alternative to this when addressing floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and the immediate aftermath of catastrophies, that is not the case where the tourism industry could be involved in developing and implementing innovative solutions that benefit both the industry and its clients.

The tourism industry can and should play its role by channelling its support through providing volunteers and their funding to community based and locally based small tourism businesses. It makes sense because:

  • Their traditional customers are increasingly demanding a more responsible tourism product, and an active role in developing it.

  • The industry needs to secure a sustainable and equitably operated future if it is to achieve its full potential and to manage risk.

  • It has the supply chain and distribution system in place to promote the project and ensure there will be customers for it.

  • Individual tour operators can absorb much of the administrative related costs under their own Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme budgets, ensuring that the volunteer’s funding is spent directly on the project they have chosen to support.

After successfully establishing and operating the Pang Soong Nature Trails Pilot Project since 2004, and winning the SKAL Ecotourism Award for it in 2006, Track of the Tiger T.R.D. has decided to upgrade the Volunteers Without Borders (VWB) initiative from a CSR programme, and establish it as a Foundation.

The VWB – Aims & Objectives

VWB aims to provide a platform for the individual volunteer and the tourism industry (private sector) to collaborate to provide development support, partnership, distribution and promotion for small and medium sized tourism businesses. These businesses can be owned and operated by the community, or conducted under a viable development arrangement (lease, concession or other) with a progressive locally based tour operator.

Volunteers Without Borders takes a holistic approach to tourism development. We understand that to succeed, we must focus on skills development (English and/or other languages), tourism industry training (from guiding nature walks to running lodges) to suit each specific project and the community it will support. We must also help create viable alternatives (non tourism based, 2nd revenue schemes) where possible, because:

    (a) Dependence on tourism alone is high risk.

    (b) Not everybody wants to be involved in tourism.

    (c) Tourism is sometimes best when the product (attraction, activity) is operated as a 2nd revenue stream. (Example: Visit to a Fair Trade Community Workshop).

Projects supported by Volunteers Without Borders must therefore have an invested tourism industry partner. They should:          

  1. Have Tourism Industry involvement & Support – Because research has shown that ecotourism and/or community based tourism initiatives undertaken by governments, NGOs and others that do not have the pre-arranged participation and support of the tourism industry (preferably as a stakeholder from day one) have a failure rate of approximately 95%.

  2. Maximise the benefits to the local community - Because many local tour operators already have the infrastructure in place, they can absorb most if not all of the administrative and overhead related costs involved in running volunteer support for tourism development operations. This ensures that a far higher percentage of the volunteer’s donor funding goes directly into the local community via development materials and resources, or through using the services (accommodation, meals, transport) of local small tourism industry businesses.

  3. Demonstrate Transparency – Projects must be able to show a clear breakdown of exactly where and on what the donor funding is spent. It is acceptable for a modest amount (no more than 20%) of the volunteer’s payment to be spent on marketing or promotion.

  4. Provide value for money – The volunteer must be given the time and opportunity to engage with the community at a grassroots level, learning about their customs, culture and lifestyle. The volunteer programme must represent a memorable and rewarding experience.

    All projects must have their own blog or newsletter through which current volunteers may communicate the progress being made to all those who came before them in order that they may remain involved – and track the benefits of their direct contribution. It will also offer those who are considering volunteering with VWB, an overview of the upcoming work, and the bond between volunteers past and present.

  5. Provide a return on investment – The programme must be designed to ensure a sustainable outcome. Volunteers must be confident that they have invested in rather than spent money on responsible tourism development. There is little point in developing products that the tourism industry will not fully support, and/or will not provide a viable and sustainable income for those who work on them.

Under the VWB model, the tourism industry partner covers ALL offsite costs except for marketing.

Note* Track of the Tiger T.R.D. and many of the tour industry partners we work with will in fact use their own CSR budgets to help fund specific projects undertaken by the VWB. (Examples: A bamboo products workshop, camera traps & night observation hides, a teaching pavilion etc.).

Example of the model at work

Costs Off-site costs On-site costs
Stand alone volunteer programme operators
  • Management and office staff remuneration

  • Office rental and overheads

  • Office management, bookings, administration, accounts etc.

  • Marketing/advertising costs
  • Varies depending on the programme
Volunteers Without Borders
  • Marketing/advertising costs

Note* Track of the Tiger T.R.D. The partnering local tour operator covers the main off-site costs, often also contributing to specific project components as part of the CSR programmes.
  • Transport, accommodation, meals

  • Employing on-site supervisory staff

  • A day rate for the villagers who will work alongside them

Note* They need to earn a daily wage to exist.

  • A daily contribution to the equipment, consumable materials they will use.

  • A fixed amount per volunteer to cover the cost of marketing the programme, via the wholesaler to the public.