Best Practice Volunteerism

Best Practice Volunteerism

6^thSeptember 2006
That's it. I've had enough of being a tourist doing some volunteer work as I go.

Time to switch it around and get my teeth stuck into some sustainable, long term projects that will hopefully benefit the people of Uganda.

Best Practice Volunteerism
I've been thinking a lot about volunteering recently. I drew a little diagram recently in a notebook that summed up what good volunteering is. It looked something like this (please excuse the crappy quality of the diagram):

The two major questions that every volunteer needs to ask themselves are:

Would this of happened if you weren't here?

If the answer is Yes, then what is the point of being here in the first place?

While talking to groups of people is fun, it would of happened if I wasn't here. Ditto for the construction of dish-drying tables and the planting of vegetable gardens.

The question of efficiency also comes into play. If you can make an already existing process more efficient, then you're doing a good job.

A good example of this is the work done by Marie and Eric in the mangrove plantations of Nalu-Oyan in the Philippines. They both worked very hard and contributed many good ideas to ensuring the best quality mangroves were planted.
Will it carry on when you're gone?

This is really a question of sustainability. Projects that carry on after you leave are the best sort. All too often I am seen well intentioned people start up projects which carry on really well when they are there, and then just fall too pieces when they are gone.

I heard about some water pumps that were installed by an NGO in the Philippines. The NGO did all the work and supplied all the materials. They left the locals with the pump and went onto other projects. Eventually the pump broke as pumps are wont to do. The locals expected the NGO to return and fix it for them.

The key ingredient that was missing from the project was ownership. The locals didn't feel as if they owned the water pump. The NGO built it, therefore they owned it, therefore it was their responsibility to fix it when it broke.

Emma - an Englishwomen with whom I volunteered in the Philippines had a good idea for the water pump project that she did. She supplied all the materials and the locals provided all the labour. The locals had some ownership in the pump and - I assume - will now be more likely to fix it when it goes wrong.

Other similar stories abound about poultry projects and pig farms.

Anything I plan to do while I am here in Uganda, must satisfactorily answer those two questions.

Specific goals that I do have for Africa can be found here.

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(c) 2005 and 2006 Malcolm Trevena.
All the stuff on this site is written by me, Malcolm Trevena. Feel free to link to this page. Heck, you can even copy stuff from here if you want. Just make sure you sight me as a reference.