The good you give and the good you get

adventure-minded explorers is no longer content with just seeing, they want to be

doing. They want to step out of their comfort zones, interact, help and learn from the communities they visit. Especially helping unfortunate children in third world

countries is popular amongst this generation. Children are the future, they deserve nothing but the best. But do these

children receive the best? Are these adventures explorers prepared, qualified

and needed in the first place?

The good you give

and the good you get

A graduate research on the exploration of interventions which could advance the integration of the created guidelines of the BCNN.

Bachelor thesis Author: Jessica Rongen Year: 2014/2015

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The good you give and the good you get

A graduate research on the exploration of interventions which could advance the integration of the created guidelines of the BCNN.

Author: Jessica Rongen

Student number: 00061584

Year of study: 2014/2015

Course: Graduation VTM CU11839

Study: HBO- Bachelor Vitality and Tourism Management

Academy: Scaldis academy

University: HZ university of Applied Sciences Graduation company/network: Better Care Network Netherlands Company supervisor: Celine Verheijen

Position: Project coordinator ECPAT/ Defence for Children & member Better Care Network Nederland

Office adres: Hooglandse kerkgracht 17 G 2312 HS Leiden

Phone: +31 (0)71 51 60980

Fax: +31 (0)71 51 60989

Graduation supervisor: Timo Derriks

Position: Lecturer HZ University of Applied Sciences Title thesis: The good you give and the good you get

Date of completion: July

Year of publication: 2015

Location: Vlissingen

University: Initiated for:

HZ University of Applied Sciences Better Care Network Nederland

Edisonweg 4 &

4380 AJ Vlissingen ECPAT/Defence for Children

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Preface

The journey of graduation has been one bumpy road. I could not have done it without the ongoing support of university supervisor Timo Derriks and my company supervisor Celine Verheijen. A great thank you for supporting, motivating and believing in me throughout this entire period.

Moreover, I would like to thank all members of Better Care Network the Netherlands for receiving me with open arms and sharing all their knowledge and expertise openly.

And thank you to all the Dutch sending organizations and others who were interviewed and contributed to this research. Thank you, Henk Boelman (Travel4Change), Winnie Dekker (SIW), Nynke Blom (Local Dreamers), Ineke Huuksloot (Doingoood), Janneke Pikkert (Livingstone), Annemarie Spee (Pure! Volunteer), Mirna van der Veen (Fairtravelers), Janine Wegman (Activity International), Therese Wijnen (TravelUnique), Miriam de Witt (Fidesco), Niko Winkel (Go Tanzania).

Last but not least thank you family, friends and partner for always having my back, picking me up when I was down and supporting me all the way through this journey. I could not have done this without your help, unconditional love and support.

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Abstract

Voluntourism is a popular and still growing niche tourism market. A new generation of adventure-minded explorers is no longer content with just seeing, they want to be doing. They want to step out of their comfort zones, interact, help and learn from the community they visit. Especially helping unfortunate children in third world countries is popular amongst this generation.

However, there is growing literature on international volunteer tourism that questions its foundation on global citizenship, social consciousness and cross-cultural understanding. Moreover, critical views in forms of documentaries and media attention concerning this topic has been widely spread. Nevertheless, organizations involved in sending volunteers abroad to help unfortunate children has only increased. This industry is perceived to be a profit making one in which many organizations are more than willing to contribute. The Dutch being no exception.

Many Dutch sending organizations are willing to contribute to helping volunteers with that once-in-a-lifetime experience. Different processes are involved in sending these volunteers abroad but still many inconsistencies are feasible in doing wat is initially promised in these processes. The objective of this research is to identify different processes (which are later referred to as practices in this research) and reveal possibilities to suggest deliberate interventions for the integration of already existing guidelines created by the Better Care Network Netherlands. A network who fully commits itself to protect the rights of children everywhere and therefore in February 2014 created specific guidelines “The guidelines on the deployment of volunteers”, that give structure and advice for sending organizations and volunteers (BCNN, 2014).

With support of a social practice theory approach five different practices are identified, studied and analyzed and referred to as performances. For the identification of these practices-as-performances a qualitative research is conducted in which different Dutch sending organizations were studied by means of interviewing key practitioners, observing, visits to events, meetings, conferences and the organization of a focus group. This research firstly describes the desirable practices and compares them with the contemporary practices to best reveal possible gaps and desired possible interventions. Different elements are used as analyzing tools such as meanings, materials and competences who play key roles in these practices. Knowledge, skills and visions are part of these elements for example.

It seems that shared passionate visions about the protection of unfortunate children and helping them by providing them with better future opportunities is widely agreed upon. Although knowledge and skills from both practitioners and volunteers in this industry are not in line with the desired practices. Nevertheless, many unexperienced volunteers are send abroad for a short period of time which generally does more harm than good meaning that the chances for a better future for these ‘volunteered’ children are very limited. Amongst other risks, attachment issues will occur making it difficult to build relationships for these children. Despite the risks, this industry remains popular meaning that transparency, knowledge transmission and awareness of these real risks become utterly important in the future.

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Table of content

3.2 Reporting practice for desirable change ... 17

3.3 Limitations research ... 18

3.4 Researcher’s position ... 18

4. Results ... 19

General ... 19

Practice 1. Choosing a project partner ... 20

Practice 2. Monitoring project ... 21

Practice 3. Recruiting and selecting the volunteer ... 22

Practice 4. Preparing the volunteer ... 23

Practice 5. Guiding the volunteer ... 24

5. Discussion ... 25

6. Conclusion ... 28

6.2 Managerial recommendations ... 29

6.3 Recommendations for future research ... 30

6.4 Reflection on practice theory in applied sciences ... 30

Literature ... 31

Annex 1. Guidelines for the deployment of volunteers ... 36

Annex 2. List Dutch sending organizations ... 41

Annex 3. Overview web analysis ... 43

Annex 4 Report conference Voluntourism 30-10-2014 ... 55

Annex 5. Report Wereld café Gouda ... 63

Annex 6. Report meeting ex-volunteer ... 66

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Annex 8. Workshop BCNN Wereldwijzer Vrijwilligersdag Utrecht ... 69

Annex 9. Overview interviewees ... 72

Annex 10. Transcripts interviews ... 73

Transcript A ... 73 Transcript B ... 80 Transcript C... 90 Transcript D ... 100 Transcript E ... 112 Transcript F. ... 124 Transcript G ... 130 Transcript H ... 140 Transcript I ... 153 Transcript J ... 164 Transcript K ... 177

Annex 11. Script focus group day ... 190

Annex 12. Report focusgroup ... 197

Annex 13. Code book... 208

Annex 14 Thick description ... 212

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1. Introduction

Volunteer tourism or ‘voluntourism’ brings together international volunteering and tourism. It is often promoted as a way to experience authenticity within an alternative form of tourism which is beneficial to both the volunteer as well as the hosting destination (Smith & Font, 2014: Brown S. , 2008: Hatherly, 2010: K.Lyons, Hanley , Wearing, & Neil, 2012: McGehee, 2012). VolunTourism.org defines the term ‘voluntourism’ as:

“The conscious, seamlessly integrated combination of voluntary service to a destination and the best, traditional elements of travel—arts, culture, geography, history and recreation—in that destination.”

Although voluntourism involves different kind of work like construction, teaching, research, environmental clean- ups, conservation and more, volunteering work with children involved is believed to be the most popular choice for tourists (Nepal Next Generation, 2014). The wish to “make a difference” not only through financial contributions but in a more practical, hands-on way has in the last decade become a realistic opportunity for a large number of tourists. Those who want to help children through supporting an orphanage can do more than just sending money. They also have the possibility to spend some time at the orphanage and work directly with the children:

“Volunteering gives participants a sense of purpose, provokes serious contemplation, encourages concern for others, provides the opportunity to further an interest and generates a sense of deep personal fulfilment.” (Brown S. , 2008, p. 484)

This opportunity has been made easily accessible through commercial volunteer travels which is a quite recent but quickly growing phenomenon (Holmberg, 2014). The ongoing growth of volunteer tourism and recent revelations about the widespread problem of orphanage tourism in combination with the changing society with ‘a need to make a change’ and ‘do good’, makes this industry a complicated topic of discussion (Dykins, 2014: Conran, 2011: DoCarmo, Brake, & Brake , 2013: Nepal Next Generation, 2014: Norman & Richter, 2010).

Although a volunteering trip can be an unforgettable experience for the volunteer itself, the possible negative effects on the community and children are often forgotten by volunteers. In a children’s home with changing caregivers who have limited time with the child, children subsequently miss attachment figures. Because volunteers cannot function as attachment figures since they do not stay for a long period and are generally not qualified to take care of traumatized and vulnerable children, the deployment of volunteers for a short period of time is believed to do more harm than good (Csáky, 2009: Lionetti, Pastore, & Barone, 2015: BCNN, 2014).

Since many Dutch organizations are involved with sending volunteers overseas to work with vulnerable children in for example; children’s homes, ‘orphanages’, youth centers, shelters, care facilities, refugee camps, schools or similar projects, the necessity of certain guidelines become increasingly important in order to protect the children involved in these projects (BCNN, 2014).

BCNN

The Better Care Network Netherlands (BCNN) is a network which is an independent consortium of Dutch organizations who commits itself and follows the International Guidelines for Alternative Care for

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Children (United Nations, 2010). The network consists of eight different development organizations in the Netherlands: Stichting Kinderpostzegels, Cordaid, UNICEF Nederland, Defence for Children/ECPAT, ICCO/KerkinActie, Wereldkinderen, Wilde Ganzen and Stichting Kinderperspectief. The recent attention of the working group Quality and Care (a part of the BCNN) concerning this specific topic dedicated their energy and time in creating specific guidelines for the deployment of volunteers which is translated into four different languages (see annex 1 for the English guidelines).

The guidelines set up by the BCNN already provide tools for these sending organizations and serve as written advice on what is important within this industry. These guidelines aim to stimulate better process of planning, policy and development that prioritize equitable distribution of benefits and minimize negative impacts to the children which is volunteered for. Even though the guidelines already been communicated in several ways the past year, the network has its doubts when it concerns the full integration of all guidelines. Sending organizations in the Netherlands seem to grow and actual action is not feasible yet. Only very few organizations communicate the guidelines on their website or agree upon all guidelines. Since the members of the BCNN have limited time to monitor these organizations and test whether or not they live up to the created guidelines, this research is conducted in order to gain insight into the integration of guidelines. The main question deriving from this problem is as follows:

Which deliberate interventions could advance the integration of the guidelines within the practices of sending organizations?

The following sub questions are shaped by the theoretical framework. In the theoretical framework certain topics are discussed which concern to the found literature on the niche market of voluntourism and the questionable side to this market. A social practice theory is chosen as an appropriate approach to investigate this market with a special focus on the Dutch market who send volunteers abroad to projects where children are involved.

S1: Who is doing what within the Dutch voluntourism market with children?

S2: Which activities by sending organizations could be identified as practice that would allow integration of the guidelines in practice?

S3: How could the desired practices of sending organizations be described in terms of active integration of meanings, materials and competences?

S4: How could the contemporary practices of sending organizations be described in terms of meanings, materials and competences?

Goal research

The main goal of this research is to identify possible interventions that will advance the integration of the already existing guidelines of the BCNN. With guidance of the ‘social practice theory’ different practices-as-performances are revealed with help of the three different elements materials, meanings and competences. How do sending organizations choose their project partner and volunteers? How do they prepare them and in turn monitor them? What are their visions, meanings and believes? What role do different elements such as materials, competences and meanings play within these practices? With the outcomes of this research the BCNN will be able to further adapt their plans and will consequently know where to focus on in the future .

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In order understand the activities of the BCNN and their missions and motives, chapter 2 will explain the network structure. Chapter 3 will outline the theoretical framework including literature research which describes the existing knowledge concerning this niche tourism market. The methodology that is chosen for this research will be further explained in chapter 4 including the research design, data collection and data analysis. The results of this research are explained per practice in chapter 5 followed by the discussion of the results and the recommendations for further research in chapter 6.

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2. Network structure

Better Care Network Netherlands (BCNN) is an independent consortium of Dutch organizations that was established in 2007. This consortium commits itself and follows the International Guidelines for Alternative Care for Children. It is affiliated with the International Better Care Network that was established in 2003. The network consists of eight different development organizations in the Netherlands: Stichting Kinderpostzegels, Cordaid, UNICEF Nederland, Defence for Children/ECPAT, ICCO/KerkinActie, Wereldkinderen, Wilde Ganzen and Stichting Kinderperspectief. These organizations form the steering committee of the network and are responsible for decision-making in terms of policy and finance of BCNN and are in charge of lobby towards the Dutch Government.

Mission

The main goal of BCNN is to improve the care for children without adequate parental care through collaboration among relevant stakeholders. BCNN aims to do this through sharing knowledge, experiences and lessons learned within and outside the network. In this way BCNN ultimately wants to achieve to improve alternative care models for children and the implementation of these models. Moreover, BCNN aims to stimulate discussion about alternative care for children and improve policy, and to create more awareness amongst everyone involved in child protection and care.

Workgroups

For the work on various topics, BCNN establishes working groups based on issues that BCNN feels need more attention at that point. In the past there have been working groups on Alternative Care (in charge of organizing thematic and network meetings/conferences), on Child Trafficking and on Adoption. Currently, only one working group is operational, the working group ‘Quality of Care’. This working group lately focused attention to the complex topic of ‘voluntourism’ and children in institutional care centers abroad and is the working group which this research is conducted for.

Guidelines

Guidelines for responsible volunteering with children in development settings have been set up in February 2014. The guidelines on the deployment of volunteers give structure and advice for sending organizations and volunteers to prevent any unintended damage to vulnerable children and to ensure that only professional volunteers will be working with these children in order to share their knowledge and experience with local professionals and the community of a particular country. The guidelines have been shared with a wide number of Dutch sending organizations already but the network is unsure about the full integration of the created guidelines. The question now is; what deliberate interventions can be made to advance the integration of the already existing guidelines?

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3. Theoretical framework

Voluntourism, a growing niche tourism market

A study dating back to 2003 by Brown and Morrison (2003) already stated that the number of people traveling to other countries to volunteer for conservation or humanitarian projects has increased substantially. This increase did not stop ever since. Recent studies shown that it is one of the fastest growing niche tourism markets in the world (K.Lyons, Hanley , Wearing, & Neil, 2012: Tomazos & Butler, 2012: Conran, 2011). In 2008 it was estimated that the value of volunteer tourists globally was 2 billion US dollars and there was an average of 1.6 million ‘voluntourists’ per year (Nepal Next Generation, 2014).

The high demand and constant growth of organizations involved in volunteer tourism, is due to a combination of factors including greater awareness of what is going on in the world, the growing concern about the state of the environment and global poverty, and the desire of young people to gain experiences for their CVs (Nepal Next Generation, 2014). Todays’ volunteers are from various ages and backgrounds, are highly motivated to rally together for a good cause, often for a short duration, and for contributing to the bigger scheme of things (Hatherly, 2010). Incorporating a short volunteer component into their travel plans is seen as an easy way to contribute and ‘give back’ to the community the volunteer visits.

The desire to contribute

According to Wearing (2001, p. 1), volunteer tourists applies to those tourists who:

“…for various reasons volunteer in an organized way to undertake holidays that might involve aiding or alleviating the material poverty of some groups in society, the restorations of certain environments or research into aspects of society or environments”.

These volunteer tourists pay a substantial amount for the privilege of volunteering and the extra costs they make would ideally be for the benefits of the project while this is to be questioned in some cases (Tomazos & Butler, 2009). Several academics therefore emphasize that the growing body of literature on volunteer tourism tends to focus more on the different kind of motives and the impacts volunteering has on the volunteer itself, rather than focusing on the actual impact on the communities volunteers visit (Tomazos & Butler, 2012: Sin, 2010). Conran (2011, p. 1454) states:

“Academic critiques on volunteer tourism as well as research on NGO coordinators’ and host community members’ experiences are noticeably absent from the literature”.

This opinion is shared by more scholars who done research on cross-cultural understanding, global citizenship and cosmopolitanism. Nyaupane, Teye and Paris for example (2008, p. 652) say that: “contact alone will not necessarily provide a positive cross-cultural experience”. Again, Sin (2009) argues that volunteer tourists are motivated more by a ‘desire to travel’ rather than by a ‘desire to contribute’. Although voluntourism involves different kind of work like construction, teaching, research, environmental clean- ups and conservation, opinions differ concerning the contribution of the tourists, their motives and responsibilities.

Resulting from questioning the other side of this industry, the concept of ‘responsible tourism’ increased in popularity and has become an established area of tourism research. Characteristics of Responsible

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Tourism are defined in the Cape Town Declaration and is typically understood as broad set of tourist interactions that engage with and benefit local communities and minimize negative and social impacts (Caruana, Glozer, Crane , & McCabe, 2014). Responsible tourism is applicable to a range of tourism- related actors such as tourists, managers, guides, industry associations, politicians, governments, NGO’s and host-communities and is by far the most favored industry term. Evidence suggests that tour operators are almost five times as likely to use ‘responsible tourism’ as any other alternative label (Caruana, Glozer, Crane , & McCabe, 2014).

Regardless the increasing popularity, discussions about visions and practices of responsible tourism are not without their critiques One of the first scholar criticizing responsible tourism was Wheeller (1991). He noted that responsible tourism was adopted more often as a marketing tool rather than an ethical planning mechanism. According to Fennell’s (2008) point of view, responsible tourism has largely failed to achieve the outcomes desired by its proponents due to lack of philosophical engagement with the meaning of responsibility.

Renovating and reinventing

Different studies focusing on non-profit organizations (NPO’s) and their management, communication and marketing argue that those organizations involved in volunteering projects have to renovate and almost reinvent themselves in order to be fully capable to do what they promise. According to Holtzhausen (2013) NPOs have to indicate to those who support them that they are to be trusted, committed to make a difference, that they deliver to their promises and to ensure open communication channels with all their stakeholders. Holtzhausen advises these organizations to create a platform for dialogue in an attempt to build sustainable productive relationships that can go about uplifting and empowering those who would otherwise not have such an opportunity (Holtzhausen, 2013).

The challenge according to Holtzhausen, is that most of these organizations find themselves in difficult financial times and funding’s are becoming a rare phenomenon. This in turn means that most organizations, both non- profit and profit, do not always have the funds to appoint communication practitioners. This can in turn lead to the underperformance of managing communication amongst stakeholders. Often one of the employees of the organization, a social worker for example, with little or no knowledge of communication is responsible for this task. Moreover, the broad offer of different target markets of NPOs (homes for the aged, welfare offices, child and youth care centers, community work, animal shelters etc.) tend to complicate efforts. Every target market differs in field of knowledge and expertise which why there can be said that the target market of volunteering trips which involve projects with children also calls for different materials, competences and meanings of the sending organizations. This specific market is the main focus in this research and which is why the next paragraphs only focus on this specific market. While construction, teaching, research, environmental clean- ups and conservation are activities that volunteer tourists routinely engage in, projects involving children (including orphanages) are one of the most popular choices (Nepal Next Generation, 2014: Holmberg, 2014).

Orphanage tourism

Orphanage tourism generally refers to Westerners who visit or volunteer to work at a residential care center (orphanage) in the developing world. These trips can be arranged by a tour or travel company, a non- profit organization or a private initiative (PI) and can mean anything from one person dropping in to

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visit children at an orphanage for a few hours or a group of a dozen people coming to work at the orphanage for several weeks or months. Orphanage tourism includes many different scenarios and generally occurs out of good intentions (DoCarmo, Brake, & Brake , 2013).

But whether good intentions are enough is often to be questioned. Orphanage tourism recently received a lot of negative media attention questioning whether or not these trips to orphanages are in the benefit of the child and the community. Documentaries, newspaper articles and news broadcasts in the Netherlands dedicate time to discuss this topic. See for example Nieuwsuur (2014), Zeeman and Broekroelofs (2011), Hoekstra (2014) and Mullem and Rozema (2014).

Moreover, internationally this topic receives a lot of attention and stimulates discussion as well (Ruphus & Haan, 2012: Mohamud, 2013: Deo, 2013: Smith V. , 2014: Verstraete, 2014: Festa, 2014: DoCarmo, Brake, & Brake, 2013). Several years ago UNICEF in cooperation with other child right organizations launched a campaign spreading the message that children are not tourist attractions and this form of tourism has to stop (UNICEF, 2011: Williamson & Greenberg, 2010: Guiney, 2012: Csáky, 2009: Brown K. , 2009: Norman & Richter, 2010: Rosquist & Moncama, 2013).

Despite the research and extended knowledge about the fact that volunteering in orphanages might do more harm than good, the orphanage tourism industry remains a growing one. Some say because governments, intermediaries and donors conserve this industry since it is a profit making one and orphanages are seen as the most straightforward solution for neglected children (Csáky, 2009).

In Cambodia for example, the increase in tourism numbers and the increase of orphanage houses are more or less growing in the same upward line while on the contrary actual orphans have only decreased. Moreover, most children living in orphanages are in fact not actual orphans. Four out of five children have one or two living parents (Brown K. , 2009: Rosquist & Moncama, 2013: Norman & Richter, 2010: Klaveren & Verbakel, 2007). For example, in both Cambodia and South Africa, orphans are generally just children with poor families who are tricked into sending their child to an orphanage with the promise of a better future and education opportunities.

A better future is generally not what these children receive. On the contrary, several studies indicate that emotional and cognitive development of children in institutional care compared to other groups is statistically significantly slower than with children in foster care and functional biological families (Ptacek, et al., 2014). Some known risk factors are the unfavorable care-giver-to-child ratios, impoverished environments, the frequent turnover of professional caregivers and lack of training for caregivers on how to promote the development of children experiencing stressful and helplessness feelings (Lionetti, Pastore, & Barone, 2015).

Orphanage tourism evanished or managed?

Now some argue that the orphanage industry should be evanished in total while others believe that alternatives for volunteering with children in a more professional and constructive way should be offered. Closing down all orphanages brings along challenges according to Guiney (2012, p. 14):

“Although orphanage tourism has increasingly been labelled as problematic it is unclear what could happen to the children in these centers if orphanage tourism ceased and centers were unable to operate which makes this an extremely complicated issue”.

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Others therefor say that volunteering programs with children involved got to have long term objectives together with a strategy for mitigating problems that have to ensure that the benefits for the children concerned outweigh the negative impacts (Csáky, 2009). This opinion is also shared by the BCNN and therefor the guidelines for the deployment of volunteers were created in order help both commercial and private sending organizations with the recruitment processes of volunteers, project choices, training, policy making and foremost protecting the rights of the children (BCNN, 2014).

The Dutch network believes this industry is too popular and is not going to disappear anyhow. A shift towards a more responsible form of volunteering tourism with children abroad is what this network wants for the future. Better process of planning, policy and development that prioritize community level involvement, equitable distribution of benefits and minimal negative impacts to the children and community would contribute to the protection of the children and communities which is volunteered for (Grimwood, Yudina, Muldoon, & Qiu, 2014).

Conclusion

Although the voluntourism industry has been a main focus in many academic literature and have received both national and international a substantial amount of media attention with both criticizing and idealistic opinions, the new adventure minded explorers and tourists who want to contribute and ‘give back’ to the communities they visit, keeps growing and which is why this type of tourism is not likely to evanish in the near future. Especially the volunteering trips to residential care centers with children remains popular yet very disturbing when looking at the negative effects this volunteering tourism has on the children involved.

A more responsible way of voluntourism which protects the rights of the children abroad is what the BCNN aims for in the future. The need for more research on this topic is therefore highly appreciated since still too few research is available providing insights on the voluntourism market specifically with children involved. Even fewer is available specified on this particular Dutch market which makes this research so valuable. Since there is an incomplete understanding of the different processes that involve the sending of volunteers abroad, a closer look into this Dutch volunteering industry is necessary in order to reveal these processes with concern to for example their recruitment processes, choosing project partners and monitoring projects and volunteers involved.

Social practice approach

A suitable approach to reveal the processes of Dutch sending organizations with regard to the integration of the guidelines of BCNN is to use a ‘Social Practice Theory’ approach which comprises a certain way of seeing and analyzing social and behavioral phenomena. This approach supports an empirical and qualitative research design and directs research attention towards the practical accomplishment or ‘doing’ of everyday practices. A practice is a routinized type of behavior which consists of several elements interconnected to one other. Forms of bodily and mental activities, ‘things’ and their use, background knowledge in the form of understanding, know-how, states of emotions and motivational knowledge (Reckwitz, 2002).

To understand practice theory however, it is of importance to realize that it represents a particular way of understanding society; a way that takes practices as the fundamental and smallest unit of social analysis. Practice theory offers a system of interpretation which enables certain empirical statements

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and excluded others (Kuijer, 2014). To make sense of practices, Shove and Pantzar (2012) have developed a framework which shows the three elements a practice is composed of:

• Materials – objects, infrastructure, tools, hardware, literatures (legislation, procedures) and the body itself

• Competences– forms of understandings and practical knowledge required to perform practices. • Meanings – an element that represents the social significance of practice and consist of the

mental activities, emotion and motivational knowledge.

These three different elements play a significant role in guiding the analysis of different practices-as-performances within this research. The role of the practitioners are also taken into account and possible links with practitioners and practices can be made. Although different orientations in practice theory are possible, this research uses a situational orientation in which actual practices are compared to desired ones and possible deliberate interventions can be advised looking at the practice-as-entity; the Dutch volunteer tourism market with regard to social projects.

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3. Methodology

3.1 Research design

Since this research is aiming to reveal and understand the actual processes and everyday practices of Dutch sending organizations, a qualitative research method is chosen here. To guide this qualitative research, the social practice theory approach is taken since this approach comprises a certain way of seeing and analyzing social phenomena as mentioned before. By using practice theory, sense can be made of the subjective and socially constructed meanings expressed about the studied practices (Kuijer, 2014) of Dutch sending organizations which will later be explained. In this way all expressed feelings and tools that are used to perform a practice and the knowledge or skills perceived to be required, are taken into account with the analysis of the collected data.

The practice- oriented analysis of the processes of Dutch sending organizations like for example the recruitment of volunteers, may identify opportunities for a desirable change or may confirm change is not needed. This identification may be the stimuli to create possible intervention in the processes of Dutch sending organizations. In simple words: this research will be about exploring the practices of Dutch sending organizations concerning five different identified practices which will later be explained. The focus of the research will be on the practices that are carried by practitioners who work for a Dutch sending organization and will only be viewed from their side and not from the volunteers’ side due to limitation of time. It is focused on giving insight in the opinions, visions, meanings and believes of Dutch sending organizations on how practices are performed, which makes this research an exploration research.

Multiple tools are chosen to substantiate this research which were the performance of: desk research, open interviews, visits to multiple events, meetings, conferences, discussion nights, debates and a focus group in order to ensure the overall validity. The desk research in the preliminary phase has mainly served as background knowledge for this research and understanding the industry which leaded to the problem statement and theoretical framework. The open interviews supported by a topic list in combination with the visits of events, meetings, conferences, discussion nights, debates and a focus group were used for further analyses of the practices and subsequently the answering of the main question and sub questions.

The structure of the research is inspired by a three step model for taking practices as a unit of analysis created by Lenneke Kuijer (2014) which is interpreted here as the different context required so. It should be noted that these steps do not necessarily present a chronological order but serve as a support to understand the approach that is taken with this social practice theory approach.

Step1: Framing the target practice

The first step taken in this research is framing the target practice meaning the quantification of the practice-as-entity; the Dutch volunteer tourism industry with regard to social projects. Extended web analysis resulted in a list of 132 organizations involved in this industry with a distinction between

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commercial organizations and foundations. With help of an already existing list of contacts of BCNN together with the search engine Google, this list was made (see annex 2).

Together with this list a clear summary and overview of a randomly chosen representation of 20 organizations was created explaining for example what projects are offered, how organizations market their projects and prepare their volunteers. This representation is chosen with help of a generator picker on the internet and only 20 were chosen out of the 132 considering the large number of organizations and time limitation. To structure this web analysis, several questions were created and the answers were structured, summarized and explained in a table. The answers to the questions that were asked had to indicate the size of the Dutch market and show what type of information was provided on projects with children and requirements, preparation and tasks of volunteers. This overview served as aggregated background knowledge and tested whether or not the already found literature on this market corresponded with the Dutch market as well. For a complete overview of this web analysis see annex 3. To further understand the target practice, visits to events, conferences, debates, and meetings took place. After every visit, a report was written and used as aggregated knowledge to analyze this industry into more detail. For an overview of several reports of these events see annexes 4,5,6,7 and 8. Sometimes events were visited as a representative of the BCNN but also the role as potential volunteer and gap year student was chosen in some events like for example the Holiday Fair in order to observe potential differences in approaches and social behavioral of organizations compared to their marketing outings on the internet and stories heard from different members of the BCNN.

Furthermore eleven open interviews were held with key practitioners of Dutch sending organizations and with experts in transparency within this industry (for detailed overview of interviewees see annex 9). The interviewees were randomly chosen out of the list of twenty organizations mentioned before. All twenty organizations were approached and reached but only nine of them were willing to cooperate with an interview. Three of the nine were founders of the organization and six were staff members responsible for different tasks in the organization. The other two interviewees, the experts in transparency within this industry, were approached after spoken with them on several occasions and believing that their opinions could be of value for this research. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. For an overview of all transcripts see annex 10.

After the interviews took place and multiple events, meetings and conferences were visited, there was chosen to organize a focus group day for sending organizations in this industry in order test the aggregated knowledge and speak with the interviewees once more but this time in an open setting together with other organizations. To guide this day, a script was made on forehand (see annex 11) including several assignments and discussion topics. The outcomes of this day were reported in Dutch and shared with all people present (see annex 12 for report).

Step 2. Identifying practices-as-performances

All the aggregated knowledge that was gathered in framing the target practice led to the identification of five different practices- as- performances that are linked with the activities of sending organizations when it concerns sending volunteers abroad. Those practices- as- performances are not constant and can each time be slightly different, because it is a moment of doing in which the elements are integrated by people in specific situations. Nevertheless several practices were identified with help of the already

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existing guidelines BCNN created together with the analysis of the interviews and the visited events. The practices are as follows;

1. Choosing project partner

2. Monitoring projects and partners 3. Selecting volunteers

4. Preparing volunteers 5. Guiding volunteers

Paragraph 3.2. further explains how these practices-as-performances are reported and analyzed. Step 3. Describing desired practices

It is important to note that desired practices cannot simply be transferred into the target practice because they work in a different setting, but can be an inspiration for how the practice can be configured differently (Kuijer, 2014). The knowledge gathered in the first step is taken as an inspiration in the search for selecting the desired practices. The desired practices were formed with the knowledge of the already existing guidelines BCNN created together with the outcomes of an organized focus group day.

Step 4. Mapping contemporary practices

In order to reveal possible interventions for desirable change it is necessary to map the contemporary practices and eventually compare them with the desired practices. The goal of mapping the contemporary practices is to get detailed insight in the elements of the practices, in the moment of when the interviews were conducted.

The elements which a practice is composed of; materials, meanings and competences, were used as tool for the analysis of the interviews. Therefor a codebook of all interviews was created in Excel and important quotations were linked with one of these three elements to later identify which different elements frequently occurred in which practice and what the shared believes are when comparing the practices and their elements (for codebook see annex 13). In order to structure all the information that was gathered during the interviews, a thick description was made before the actual results were written down (for thick description see annex 14). A thick description is a way achieving a type of external validity. It refers to the detailed account of field expertise in which the researcher makes explicit the patterns of cultural and social relationships and puts them in context (Holloway, 1997)

3.2 Reporting practice for desirable change

The thick description served as a tool to filter the most important outcomes and to support the eventual results. The structure of the results are reported in the following order; firstly general information is presented on the practice-as-entity; the Dutch volunteer tourism industry which derived from the preliminary phase of this research followed by the results on the five different practices. Every practice starts with a short introduction of what the practice entails then explains the desired practice followed by the contemporary practice. In the discussion section these two practices are compared and gaps and difficulties within these practices are explained by means of the different elements; materials, meanings and competences.

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3.3 Limitations research

The aim of this research is to reflect reality at the time in which the data is collected. This research is not necessarily intended to be repeatable and therefore reliable. This because with interviews ‘social desirable’ answers and bias have to be taken into account. An interviewee may be willing to participate but may nevertheless be sensitive to the unstructured exploration of certain themes. Interviewees may therefore choose not to reveal and discuss an aspect of a topic. The outcome of this may be that the interviewee provides a partial picture of a situation and puts themselves or the organization in a social desirable role.

Moreover, since the use of the social practice approach in analysis of the data is an experiment, it should be underlined that much attention is paid in order to understand the complexity of this approach. No specific blueprint was provided which aims at using the social practice approach in an university of applied science setting, which made the structure of the research complex. Thereby, the results had to be written in an abstract context, in order to reach the description of the three elements.

3.4 Researcher’s position

Since this is an empirical research, knowledge of the researcher is derived from actual experience and observations rather than based on theory or believes. Since the researcher attended several meetings, events, conferences, debates and organized a focus group day with concern to the thesis topic, experiences and observed phenomena are taken into account in the analysis and discussion of this research.

Furthermore, the researcher started this research with little prior knowledge concerning this industry and has never been abroad to volunteer or even worked with children in specific settings. On the contrary, working with children requires a lot of patience, affection and knowledge which, in the eyes of the researcher, is something that she does not have. Even though the researcher understands the urge to go abroad and explore the world since she been abroad several times for work or internship already, the volunteering component of such a trip has never been attractive in any way for her. A critical view towards volunteering abroad with children is the result of this position of the researcher.

Mentionable is the fact that during this research process, the view on this volunteer tourism industry has changed in a way. Where it began with a distance towards this industry and little prior knowledge, more and more involvement and understanding concerning this industry grew. During observations opinions certainly changed with can be seen back in the discussion of this research.

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4. Results

General

Dutch voluntourism market

With no less than 132 organizations, the Dutch can be seen as active participants in sending volunteers abroad to help children. All these organizations share a general goal; making this world a better place. Some only offer one or two projects which a volunteer can participate in whereas other have a whole variety of projects to choose from which varies from teaching children to taking care of disabled children. It is commonly believed that sending organizations are highly needed and indispensable. When asking the interviewees what would happen if all social projects would shut down they generally said that this would be problematic for the children and communities involved in these projects. It is believed that they would hardly survive without outside help.

Help from every volunteer is therefore highly needed. In order to approach potential volunteers, the internet is the most important tool to do so. Persuading sentences on landing pages in combination with pictures of western volunteers hugging children are commonly used throughout all websites in order to get the attention of the volunteer. The extended web analysis compared the prices of similar volunteering trips between ten commercial organizations and ten foundations chosen with help of a generator picker on the internet. An example of a trip for four weeks to a social project with similar accommodation and country is taken as an example to indicate how much money organizations charge for such a trip in which ticket, insurances and training is excluded. The results were as follows:

Table 1. overview average costs volunteer trip 4 weeks excl. ticket, insurances & training Commercial organization Foundation

Mean (average) 1426.95 € 646.83 €

Median 1434.50 € 672 €

As seen in the table above commercial organizations charge more than double for comparable volunteering trips than their competitive foundations do. Organizing these trips from the beginning until the end involves different kind of processes for both organizations. The following paragraphs explain these processes and are referred to as ‘practices’.

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Practice 1. Choosing a project partner

The practice of choosing a project partner entails the first contact a sending organization has with a potential project partner including all arrangements, rules and shared visions that are agreed upon before actual cooperation and signing a cooperation contract between both parties.

Desirable practice

In order to best protect the rights of the ‘volunteered’ children, this practice of choosing a project partner is utterly important according to the BCNN. Specific guidelines with regard to this practice will indicate whether or not a project partner takes into account the rights of their children and protect them in any way possible. First of all, potential project partners should always be visited before cooperation to personally meet and speak with the partner. Also, all partners have to indicate that they are actively involved in reintegrating children back to their families or communities.

Rules and regulations should also be in order which means a partner should always have a Child Protection Policy and all staff and volunteers are aware of this policy and act accordingly. Moreover, the partner should have Code of Conducts that every volunteer reads, understands and signs before working on the project premises. Rules which for example explain how to best approach and protect the children for their own good. Also of great importance is the shared meaning that a volunteer should be there for support only and never to substitute a local staff member meaning that the project will exist even without help from volunteers.

Contemporary practice

It seems that within the contemporary practice of choosing a project partner materials, meanings and competences are evenly important. Tools like accessibility of a website and financial resources are dominantly involved in the first contact of choosing a project partner. Commercial organizations do not need to put that much effort in searching new projects since they are approached almost weekly by e-mail with requests for cooperation. Foundations generally have to try harder since they are not easily found on the internet and therefore establishing new contacts mostly depend upon the network the foundation has in the region they are working in meaning their accessible materials. Although a practitioner working at a religious foundation indicated that they also receive numerous of requests:

“well, about every week (and I am not over-reacting) we receive emails with texts like… We are a fun project where your volunteers are more than welcome! And we receive these kinds of emails a lot! There are just more projects than there are people who are traveling to volunteer.”

After this first contact is made with projects in where materials play a key role, competences and meanings are of great importance in determining actual cooperation. All project partners must share the same meanings, believes and future goals as the sending organization is said in the interviews. However, when asking about the exact future goals, criteria and child protection policies, most organizations could not precisely tell why they do not have a child protection policy required at projects and what the future goals exactly are. This since organizations trust their partners to protect the children involved and most of all third world countries generally do not look any further than one week, let alone have future goals and plans written down somewhere.

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Practice 2. Monitoring project

Monitoring a project involves every action a sending organization takes in order to make sure that the agreements they made are respected and being followed by both the project partner as well as the volunteer.

Desirable practice

Idealistically the sending organization and project partner have monthly contact to evaluate reintegration policy, proceedings or any changes that have occurred. The project also has specific goals which are annually and personally evaluated and if necessary adapted.

Concerning the volunteers, they always receive an evaluation form after their stay at the project which evaluates their experiences, ideas and thoughts about the project and their stay. The outcomes of these evaluations are registered and linked back to the project partners and when necessary action is taken. Contemporary practice

Noticeable during interviews was that most interviewees do not exactly know what policies projects maintain and how they arrange daily work. Sometimes because they did not even personally saw the project or simply do not have the time and money to visit or contact them. What most organizations do realize is the fact that they are dealing with a cooperation in another country with a different culture and different rules and regulations which causes challenges and friction. A commercial organization mainly active in Asia, openly said the following:

“… what we have noticed now is that our projects suffer from corruption. It is a fact and unfortunately there are a lot corrupt government employees who will try to take advantage of your project in every way possible.”

Practitioners of sending organizations indicate that contact between the Dutch organization and the project partner is generally once per month but varies greatly depending upon the season and how many volunteers are send out. This contact is needed to evaluate although this varies greatly. No guidelines for contact with the project partner nor the volunteer are necessary according to most interviewees. And why not? Because it argued that it is very rare something goes wrong during the volunteer’s stay at a project. Whenever it doesthe project partner is responsible for arranging what needs to be arranged and they will contact the Netherlands only when it is highly needed. Protocols concerning complaints and calamities are not really necessary most organizations believe. One practitioner illustrated their process:

“no we do not have a protocol. What we do have is evaluation forms in where we can see complaints about certain projects. We will then contact our local partner. But most partners are our partners for years in a row now. And it is possible that there may be a new project coordinator on the project who sees things very differently. But we want to know this and this information and feedback will be communicated back to our local partner”.

This change in project coordinators is not something rare amongst projects. More organizations openly state that staff and management repeatedly change sometimes. This can have consequences for the Dutch sending organization since everyone works and thinks in a different way which can differ from the initial meanings, believes and goals which were agreed upon in the first contact. Organizations believe

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they do not need to have the money to travel to all projects whenever they change staff and management. They trust their local project partners to such extend that this seems unnecessary.

Practice 3. Recruiting and selecting the volunteer

Recruitment and selection processes involve many different aspects. The following practice explains the first contact, age-limit, experience, diploma and an approved Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG)1_.

Desired practice

Idealistic the sending organization personally met the volunteer before sending him/her abroad and do not only depend on email and telephone contact. Also strongly advised by the BCNN are certain criteria and competences when it concerns the volunteers. An minimum age-limit of 18 years, an approved Certificate of Good Conduct and a diploma and experience with working with children is believed to be important and even a necessity.

Contemporary practice

Interviewed practitioners believe the internet is the first tool potential volunteers use in order to orientate themselves and gather background information on their trip. Communicated on websites and confirmed during interviews was the fact that almost every organization organizes informal information meetings potential volunteers can freely visit. Parents and partners are most likely to come along for support. Interviewees even indicated that half of the people present at information meetings are not potential volunteers but family or friends.

Whenever potential volunteers decide to join a certain organization the selecting process begins which is different in every organization studied. Some organizations find it important that volunteers have certain competences, fill out reference forms and write a motivational letter whereas others just ask the potential volunteer to personally meet with them in order to find out what it is they are expecting and what they are seeking for.

Almost every volunteer who signs up for a volunteering trip is admitted with only rarely an exception to the rule. Commonly shared on websites is the criteria that volunteers who want to work with children must be 18 years or older. Although when going into detail about the actual recruiting and selecting in practice during the interviews, organizations do not seem to be that strict at all. Every volunteer is different is a commonly shared meaning:

“.. some projects the minimum age is 16, that is young I know. But I have had a lot of girls who were 16 and so much more enthusiastic and productive than their 23,24 years old colleague volunteers. They are simply more practical and do not mind cleaning things in children homes. They just listen better”.

The extended web analysis and the interviews both indicated that only a few social projects require specific competences, diploma’s and experience when working with children.. A substantial amount of organizations do not require any diploma or professional background from their volunteer. The

1 _{A certificate of good conduct (VOG) is a statement on paper indicating that the behavior of a particular person has} never been immodest in the past which can compromise the fulfilling of a specific task or function in society. https://www.justis.nl/producten/vog/

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commonly shared meaning is that every volunteer is different and therefor specific diploma’s and experience is not believed to be highly necessary. Motivation is believed to be of greater importance. A criteria that does seem important according to five out of the nine interviewees, is the fact that all volunteers most always have a VOG before they are send abroad. Although the extended web analysis showed that less than half of the twenty organizations studied do not require this from their volunteer. This difference may be explained since there are many websites who do not provide extended information when it concerns the selection process. In some cases no information at all is given and you will only find out more information when you personally contact the organization.

Practice 4. Preparing the volunteer

The practice of preparing the volunteer by the sending organization involves provided information, offered training and proper preparation on what to the volunteer can expect.

Desired practice

Desired in preparing the volunteer are three main aspects. All volunteers receive an information package with practical information concerning country, culture and the project they will be working on. All volunteers follow a training before departure in which the attachment of children are specifically mentioned and trained. And most of all, all volunteers must know which project they are placed in and what tasks they are allowed to do and not to do.

Contemporary practice

Before the volunteer is ready to depart, several preparation elements play key roles in the practice of preparing the volunteer in which materials and competences are most important. According to most interviewees, every volunteer is well prepared in the Netherlands and all necessary information guidance and training is given throughout this process although the shared meaning of every volunteer being different plays a key role again. Therefore chances are that motivation and dedication can change whenever volunteers arrive at their destination. To limit this chance organizations try their best to offer as much preparation tools as necessary.

Information packages including a lot of practical information about for example culture, habits, food, and sightseeing is offered by all interviewed organizations. Besides the information packages, independence is required from the volunteers meaning they should all read the information at home and do their own fieldwork concerning the country, culture and habits before departure. In some cases this is the only preparation a volunteer receives although most organizations interviewed do offer some sort of general training days. Some organize these days themselves and most commercial organizations outsource these trainings to a third party namely Muses2_.

There is a lot of variety in different training and preparation days amongst organizations. Notable amongst commercial organizations is that they generally offer volunteers to follow a training with Muses for an additional fee. Only one interviewed organization obliges this training for their volunteers while another commercial organization said they do not oblige this and only half of the volunteers actually follow the training before departure. The organizations interviewed who did not outsource their

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trainings to Muses stated that although trainings of Muses are good, it is too general and they rather offer their own specialized trainings linked with their projects and countries they are active in.

Practice 5. Guiding the volunteer

The guidance of the volunteer in this practice is referred to as the guidance that takes place whenever the volunteers arrives at the destination which entails the orientation at arrival, the contact person for the volunteer and the activities and tasks a volunteers performs.

Desired practice

Clear agreements must be made with the volunteer which includes a clear briefing at arrival concerning the project, tasks and responsibilities. There must always be a contact person available for the volunteer. The volunteer must know never take on the role as a care taker. The volunteer should always be properly introduced to the children and an appropriate farewell is arranged. Moreover, clear agreements concerning workings days and times are made.

Contemporary practice

The organizations studied in this research indicate both on the internet as well as during the interviews that the guiding of volunteers is well arranged. The trust organizations have in their own project coordinator seems to be so solid that guidance and contact with the volunteers from the Netherlands is rarely believed to be necessary. Mostly materials are lacking in order to keep in contact in the first place. Internet and phone connections are not always available at projects and furthermore most volunteers do not have the need to stay in contact at all.

Although staying in touch with the Netherlands may be difficult or not highly necessary, volunteers always have a contact person at the destination which they can rely on. According to the interviewees this contact person is twenty-four seven available for guidance and questions. Besides this contact person always said to be available, there is also generally a supervisor or other staff present at the project who will guide the volunteer and tells them what to do. A commercial organization states the following about the well-arranged guidance:

“A project coordinator will be present and will guide you throughout the whole period. Besides this there will be an extended orientation training which will make sure you get the best out of this experience. Adaption to the local system is necessary”.

The activities and tasks volunteers are asked to do which are communicated on the websites of Dutch sending organizations generally entail activities like playing, giving love, attention, building bands and educating children. Although exact activities are hard to describe since they did not really come forward during the interviews. The responsibility of the performed activities are in hands of the project coordinator, supervisor or other staff at the project and the only shared meaning about the activities that should be performed were generally just to do what the volunteer is good at. Therefor flexibility and showing initiative is said to be very important in these projects. When asking sending organizations about the activities that are described on their website they emphasize the fact that the activities communicated on the website are not always performed as is explicitly said. A commercial organization mainly active in Africa said the following:

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“I read on your website that you help children with feeding, washing and getting dressed. Should a volunteer be allowed to do that without any experience? H: Yes sure. But washing children actually never happens in practice because according to the child protection policy you are not allowed to do that. You are not allowed to be alone in one room with a child. But yes… you see.. sometimes this happens… and there is also a big difference… you know a children home is sometimes different than an orphanage.. no children live there… there are only children who are they there because they were found on the streets.

5. Discussion

Supply vs demand

Extended web analysis revealed a rather large supply side of voluntourism trips in the Netherlands which makes it questionable whether this is in line with the demand at all. Do these projects appear out of an increase for a genuine need for help or is there another explanation for this large supply side? Earlier theory argues that especially the orphanage tourism is conserved by governments, intermediaries and donors since it is a profit making industry (Csáky, 2009). This may explain why so many orphanages have only a few children who are actual orphans and other children with one or two loving parents, are just there to fill the gaps (Rosquist & Moncama, 2013: Norman & Richter, 2010). It may also explain the rather large supply side of sending organizations in the Netherlands since not only the projects abroad will benefit from the volunteers and the money they bring along but also the Dutch sending organizations will.

The interviewees argue this and have commonly shared meanings that almost all the money volunteers bring with them are for the benefits of the project, the children and the community they visit. Both literature (Tomazos & Butler, 2009: Gyan P. Nyaupane, 2008) and practice questioned this. Most studied organizations showed that even though they have passionate visions about all the good their projects initiate, actual action in forms of Child Protection Policies, clear annual goals and reintegration for children, are generally lacking and some believed not even highly necessary since they completely trust the project partner abroad to protect the children in every way possible.

Responsibility

Victoria Smith (2014), who sampled UK volunteer tourism websites also argues this. She found that companies choose to communicate not what are arguably the most important aspects of volunteer tourism but what is the easiest and most attractive. Some organizations were good in responsible tourism policies and conservation projects but were poor in communicating issues such as responsibility in childcare and other projects requiring the most sensitivity. It can be said that the UK does not differ that much from the Netherlands.

In practice it became evident that responsibility in the protection of children seems to be something projects partners are reliable for and not so much the intermediary that sends the volunteers abroad. It seems that this responsible form of tourism is adapted more often as a marketing tool to persuade the volunteer rather than an actual ethical planning mechanism (Wheeller, 1991: Smith V. , 2014). Earlier

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theory also discussed that responsible tourism has largely failed to achieve the outcomes desired due to lack of philosophical engagement with the meaning of responsibility (Fennel, 2008).

Moreover, it seems that the benefits volunteers encounter when going on such a trip are stressed more by both organizations and literature than the actual benefits children and the host communities encounter from the visits of these volunteers. Several scholars already emphasized that research tends to focus more on the motives and impact volunteering has on the volunteer itself, rather than putting the focus on the actual impact and benefits on the communities volunteers visit (Conran, 2011: Sin, 2009: Tomazos & Butler, 2012). Although the recent critiques on this industry in the media does seem to create a bigger platform for the awareness of the negative impacts of voluntourism and child protection, it remains unknown whether or not the media attention and the greater awareness is actually stimulating change within this industry meaning an increase in child protection policies or decrease in annually send volunteers for example.

Meanings

What practice does show is that different shared meanings and visions about the protection of children fail the desired outcomes of actually protecting the ‘volunteered’ children. Organizations have a certain responsibility to live up to their passionate visions and ensure that their projects have positive and not negative impacts. This industry is affecting host communities’ lives and the future of all these children involved.

Materials

The availability of different materials seems to be of importance in the actual practice-as-entity especially the money and time needed for monitoring projects. Although literature and practice reveal that organizations find themselves in difficult financial times and funding’s are becoming a rare phenomenon (Holtzhausen, 2013), the amount of money volunteers pay for the privilege of volunteering should be enough to properly manage finances and time. Nevertheless, it is understandable that materials like bad internet and telephone connection are difficult to solve since many projects abroad simply do not have the right means and accessibility for these connections.

Although, it remains of importance that the other materials necessary to properly manage an organization should be invested in a more responsible way. Materials like the right managing of human resources can be one very important factor in this industry. Literature already discussed that often one of the employees of the organization, a social worker for example, with little or no knowledge of communication is responsible for this task. Moreover, the broad offer of different target markets (homes for the aged, welfare, childcare centers, animal centers) tend to complicate efforts even more (Holtzhausen, 2013). Practice also revealed that knowledge and skills of practitioners in an organization are not that important when sending volunteers abroad. When asking all eleven interviewees about their educational background, only three have had experience with working with children and can prove this with a diploma.

Competences

But not only competences are of importance with the practitioners, most definitely the volunteers who are send abroad to work with vulnerable children should have the right knowledge and skills when working with children. To illustrate this, in the Netherlands you are not even allowed to work at a school