Travel Tip 63
How to tell if a volunteer opportunity is legit
Kaypi Kunan is one of my favorite volunteer opportunities for working with children near Cusco.
Best 3 ways to check if a volunteer place is legit
It’s a sad fact that some places take advantage of travelers’ desire to help and that other places may have good intentions but are so disorganized that travelers are left with a bad experience. Sometimes unskilled volunteers are used when there’s a clear need for trained professionals. Even worse, some places create or perpetuate problems to keep a project going. It’s imperative to look critically at a volunteer project or a place that markets itself as a volunteer vacation.
1. Ask yourself how realistic and effective it seems.
Do they have photos of people doing whatever they say their project is? Is it clear who benefits from the project? Are volunteers doing something that local people could do and get paid for? Does the website have specific information about where the funds come from?
2. Look for certifications
The gold standard is B-Corp, but many countries have their own certifications. Look for local certifications that are directly related to the volunteer project.
Contact Colitas Con Canas to volunteer with animals in the Sacred Valley of Peru.
3. Contact them
There should be an easy way to contact them. Ask specific questions and check that their answers make sense. Their English doesn’t have to be perfect for this to be a legit NGO but their responses should be logical. If you don’t speak the local language, make sure that somebody on site will speak a language that you do know.
From the air you can see where illegal dredge mining for gold turned rivers into sludge ponds.
Blog
If you’re interested in volunteer tourism, take the time to learn about other ways to benefit the places you travel. Here’s my blog about ways you can save the Amazon!
Article
Here’s my article published by Frommer’s about how to tell if a travel company offers experiences that are truly regenerative, or if it’s just hype.
