we have to learnbefore we can help

Learning Service vs. Service Learning

By Daniela Papi

WHYare weHERE

AnILLICHbreak

HOWmatters

Impact on…

Travelers

Non-profit partner, the issue, or the

program

Local community or

ecosystem

Shor

t te

rmTravelers

Non-profit partner, the issue, or the

program

Local community or

ecosystem

Long term

We can’t know our actual impact unless we follow up, do research, and stay open to learning the realities of the impact we had.

note

What went wrong on the “voluntourism” trip?

EVERYTHING that could have gone wrong!

EVERYTHING that could have gone wrong!

All of it

Poor implementation

Bad planning

An evil guy

Lies and corruption

List of things that could possibly go wrong

EVERYTHING that could have gone wrong!

All of it

List of things that could possibly go wrong

Poor implementation

Bad planning

An evil guy

Lies and corruption

Poor pre-planning

Poor pre-planning

Poor pre-planning

!

!!!

No transparency

No transparency

$$$

No transparency

$$$

Ineffective project

Ineffective project

Little to notraveler education

Little to notraveler education

The WRONG people were let in

The WRONG people were let in

The WRONG people were let in

So… how can we prevent this?

service learningonly looks one way

learning service= trips where you are learning to serve AFTER you leave

Voluntourism: Predicting rain

1) Band-aid “solutions”2) Forgetting volunteers are NOT free3) Focusing on “things” to solve

problems4) Poor monitoring5) Skilled jobs to the unskilled6) Forgetting the REST of the trip7) Fostering moral imperialism

1) Band-aid “solutions”

Just Say NO to Orphanage Tourism

a. Orphanages are not a tourist attraction.

b. It’s not a zoo. No, you can’t pet or feed them.

c. Ask yourself: Would this be okay if this was happening in my community?

2) Volunteers are not FREE

things aren’t the solution

but byinvesting time inpeople instead

people have the capacity and connections to reach theirown goals

4) Poor monitoring can = poor impact

5) Skilled jobs take skills

6) Fostering Moral Imperialism

7) What about the REST of the

trip?

RESEARCH: Giving your money$ You vote with your money

Do you want more kidson the street?

Poverty voyeurism is voting for poverty.

Let’s avoid the long-

neck-women phenomenon.

RESEARCH: Giving your money

At

we have made many mistakes.

Schools don’t teach kids.

Neither do pens,books, or t-shirts.

We learned we needed to invest in people to put

those things to use.

RESEARCH: Giving your money

At

we have made many mistakes too.

it’s not how we can save the world in a week

It’s what we can do

the other 358

days of the year

PEPY Tours is designed to inspire people to improve the way they

GIVE, TRAVEL & LIVEafter they leave us

and, with a two-part fee, the donation requirement from the tour goes straight to our NGO programs

5 Steps to Creating Successful

Learning Service Trips

Voluntourism: Building a boat

1#

BUILD

RELATIONSHIPS!

Research & Follow Up

2#

Invest in people…including the travelers

3#

Travel with us an make a difference!

Come support this organization!

Traveling with us means you are

HELPING THE WORLD!

Join our SERVICE trip! Come help them!

Buy our trip and help this orphanage! .

HONEST MARKETING!!!

4#

A large part of what people “know” about “developing” countries comes from fundraising

campaigns& travel

advertising

5#Sell based on LEARNING and FIT not traveler demand

Help them put their GOOD INTENTIONS to good use

Sometimes we create

aid projectsjust to let people feel they are helping.

You know, Americans always want to paint things. They want to paint buildings, so we have a building we let them paint. Usually we have to repaint the walls after the Americans leave because they don’t do a very good job.”

“-- Remarks from an African leader who felt that letting visiting Americans paint allowed them to feel like they accomplished something even though it was unnecessary (excerpt from Rethinking Short-Term Missions for Long-Term Impact by Mary Faultds)

Are we selling what people “want”?

Or do people “want” what we are selling?

OtherRESOURCESto consider

www.voluntourism101.com

www.voluntourism101.com

Child Safe

Travelers Philanthropy Handbook

Daniela Papi:

d@pepyride.org

www.pepytours.com

www.voluntourism101.com

www.lessonsilearned.org

Photo CreditsPhotos from Flickr@martyn@nebarnix@lara604@mithril@alancleaver@simulacraofmi@press the b[o]tton@claudiasnell@hrdrck@kristabrath@tormods@tamer_shabaneh@beth19@divemasterking2000@jurvetson@looking4poetry@garryknight@sandvand@Zoriah@Visions Service Adventure

Photos of PEPY class and schoolPhotographer: Mathieu Young