Do No Harm

An excerpt from the Huffington Post -

When Volunteering Abroad Does More Harm Than Good
By Noelle Sullivan, Guest Writer

“Voluntourism” is a booming multibillion-dollar industry. Many volunteer placement companies market themselves as sustainable, helpful, even crucial.

However, there’s a growing body of scholarship demonstrating that the potential inadvertent harms of short-term international volunteering often outweigh the positives. Voluntourism can reinforce paternalism, expecting hosting communities to be passive and grateful “recipients.” Volunteers’ efforts often shirk pressing issues like infrastructure and resource shortages, or unknowingly duplicate existing resources. Sociologist Judith Lasker finds most global health volunteering benefits the sending organizations and the volunteers more than the host communities. Anthropologist Nicole Berry’s work reveals that volunteer medical missioners often prioritize their own interests rather than local needs.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-sullivan-volunteering-abroad_us_5a7de894e4b044b3821d1627