Introduction:
This Thematic Brief on Volunteering, Voluntourism, Tourism, and Trafficking in Orphanages was developed to provide guidance to governments, policy and decision-makers. It also supports the implementation of international commitments made in the context of the 2019 UN General Assembly Rights of the Child Resolution on children without parental care.
It explains how to take appropriate measures to address and prevent the harms associated with orphanage volunteering, orphanage tourism and voluntourism and the orphanage trafficking connected to it.
The thematic brief contains guidance on key policy measures and concrete steps that may assist with the development and implementation of a whole-of-government strategy to eliminate orphanage tourism and voluntourism and to combat orphanage trafficking.
It includes recommendations relevant to volunteer-sending and volunteer-receiving countries. In addition, it contains practical examples of effective measures from a diverse range of countries sending and receiving volunteers.
Transforming Children's Care Collaborative Thematic Briefs Series:
This thematic brief is part of a series of briefs being developed under the Global Policy and Advocacy Working Group (GPAWG) of the Transforming Children’s Care Collaborative to be part of a global toolkit to support policy and decision makers at national, regional, and international levels to actively implement global commitments relevant to children’s rights and care.
Each thematic brief is developed by a Task Force led by members of the Collaborative through an inclusive process which includes the contributions of actors who have relevant experience and expertise to share, including from different regions and contexts, and from groups and communities who are particularly concerned or affected.
The briefs aim to articulate a set of practical measures that should be taken across different areas of care reform in order to achieve system change. They are framed by international standards and principles but seek to go beyond those to articulate what needs to be done to implement them, based on evidence and practice learning about implementation in a range of contexts and regions. Each brief includes country case examples illustrating efforts to implement these measures and lessons learnt from those.
Once finalized the thematic briefs are approved by the GPAWG before being published as a joint document of the Collaborative. Aspects of children’s care and implementation that are cross-cutting between different thematic briefs will be highlighted within each brief with links to other relevant briefs.
The thematic briefs should be seen as part of an evolving Toolkit that helps clarify and guide implementation and advocacy. They will be updated and refined in light of evidence and evolving standards and practice, and new context specific examples will be added.
If you have learning or examples to add to these briefs or would like to actively contribute to their development, we encourage you to reach out to the co-convenors of the Global Policy and Advocacy Working Group at: contact@transformcare4children.org
See a List of Completed Thematic Briefs:
