Volunteer travel is thriving, however, short-term volunteering, has received negative press over recent years, with questions being raised as to whether it’s ethical and ultimately beneficial to those it’s designed to support.
With this in mind, WYSE Work and Volunteer Abroad, a World Youth Student and Educational (WYSE) Travel Confederation sector association, will be highlighting the benefits and discussing the negatives of short-term volunteering during a panel session at this year’s World Youth and Student Travel Conference – WYSTC 2014.
WYSE Work and Volunteer Abroad’s member organizations place thousands of young people in culturally oriented, quality work abroad and volunteer programs every year.
During the panel discussion at WYSTC 2014, volunteer working group members Greg Bows from African Impact, Steve Gwenin from Global Vision International and Madeline Townsend from Conservation Volunteers will each present a case study on how short-term volunteering projects can actually be beneficial to local people, communities and wildlife, and how they can become a product that can be promoted.
Following the case studies, delegates will be divided into groups and asked to look at negative examples of volunteering.
They will then work together to find ways to convert these into positive building blocks for the community.
WYSTC 2014 takes place in Dublin, Ireland from September 23-26.
Visit www.wystc.org for more information.
