Introduction and Limitations
This study is part of a larger project exploring the growing trend in volunteering in care centres for children (please see Collected Viewpoints on International Volunteering in Residential Care Centres: An Overview, for more information). Between March and June 2014, over 100 individuals were interviewed as part of this project and all were asked to give their perspectives on the volunteer travel industry and volunteer motivations. Individuals interviewed included writers and bloggers, faith organisations working with mission teams, individuals working in the travel and volunteer travel sectors, individuals involved in employee volunteering initiatives in corporate social responsibility departments, academics, educators and trainers, non-governmental organisation (NGO) and international non-governmental organisation (INGO) actors, and volunteers themselves. Their names and organisations are listed at the end of this document.
Some individuals requested that their individual contributions remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject matter. For consistency, all quotations within this study have thus been presented anonymously. For readers wanting further access to the ideas expressed in this piece, please contact the authors directly for details about the sources. In addition to these interviews, this overview has been informed by evidence collected in the related literature reviews, an internet analysis, and survey responses from over 200 volunteers and 28 organisations.
The informants for this wider study suggested that trend for international volunteering in residential care centres for children is, in the main, being fuelled by volunteers from the global north participating in placements in the global south. This report seeks to understand the trends and motivating factors for this type of volunteerism. It does not focus on in-country volunteering or on volunteering abroad between countries in the global north or countries in the global south. It should be noted that international volunteering between countries in the global south is a growing phenomenon that is deserving of further study, especially in relation to volunteering in residential care centres for children. Additionally, an obvious omission from this study is the volunteerism contributions of Far East nations in the global north, such as Japan and the Republic of Korea.
