Participant reflections on short-term international volunteering:Benefits, concerns, and perspective change

Howard A.R.H.; Wilke N.G.; Roberts M.; Gustafson J.N. · Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment (2022) · DOI: 10.1080/10911359.2021.1973641

Resumen

Millions of volunteers travel annually on short-term international service trips, often with the motivation of serving host communities. These trips have benefits for both the volunteers and the host communities, but also carry potential risks. The goal of the present study was to investigate how volunteers perceived their trip experiences, including the potential risks and benefits to themselves and the communities they served. Previous volunteers (N = 353) completed a survey about their experiences with short-term international service trips. Qualitative analysis explored four overarching themes: (a) How the volunteers believe they were impacted by their trip, (b) The potential benefits of short-term international volunteer work, (c) The potential concerns resulting from short-term international volunteer work, and (d) How volunteers believe their trips could have been improved. Results suggested that volunteers believed the trips impacted both themselves and the host community in positive and negative ways. Data also revealed that volunteers had serious concerns about current models of short-term international volunteering and believed more pre-trip preparation and focus on sustainable volunteer activities would improve trip outcomes and better serve the intended beneficiary and host communities. Based on these findings, six recommendations for sending agencies were proposed.