I've experienced many problems with 'voluntourists' growing up in a developing nation. Well, my parents experienced them, but I observed the difficulties they faced.
It happened quite often that a group of volunteers with a sizable budget, but no clue as to what was useful or needed, would swoop in for a month and just work away without consulting any local workers.
The result would usually fall apart shortly after they left, with anything of value sucked away by some clever local 'trustee'. However, even more damaging was the fact that 1) the locals involved with the less sexy long-term projects would flock to these new, well-funded project to get some of the 'profit' (for which I don't blame them), and 2) there'd be much grumbling over how our projects weren't as well funded or purely volunteer-based.
And then there were also some cases of abuse, or severe culture clashes that would cause other initiatives damage by proxy.
My worst experience by far did not involve voluntourists though. The worst involved large aid organizations and peace (corps?) workers swooping in to help with the 'humanitarian crisis'. Warehouses filled with food that destabilized the entire local economy, and a large amount of rather insulting crap (clothing that nobody with any self-respect would wear). Tons of aid workers who didn't even have a basic knowledge of the culture they were in, and no interest whatsoever to consult the people who had been there for years or decades. Sigh.
That said, it's not all bad. Quite often some of the 'voluntourists' would fall in love with the country and come back on their own and help out with some of the many wonderful initiatives. I just wish there'd be a little more communication between these short-term (youth) organizations and the 'veterans'. That alone would solve so much.
EDIT: One of the worst examples just came to mind. A big organization poured a lot of money into an orphanage for disabled children, but never really bothered to check where the money went since their local 'operations manager' was too busy traveling around the country and pretending to be some kind of saintly figure. Turns out the money went to a single local family that 'helped' said manager by living like royalty and leaving the orphanage a disgusting, heartbreaking mess. It took a lot of extra effort to keep the orphanage in somewhat working state (as understandably many people would refuse to help out, knowing where all the money was going), and it took many, many reports by smaller organizations and independent aid workers before something was finally done.
It happened quite often that a group of volunteers with a sizable budget, but no clue as to what was useful or needed, would swoop in for a month and just work away without consulting any local workers.
The result would usually fall apart shortly after they left, with anything of value sucked away by some clever local 'trustee'. However, even more damaging was the fact that 1) the locals involved with the less sexy long-term projects would flock to these new, well-funded project to get some of the 'profit' (for which I don't blame them), and 2) there'd be much grumbling over how our projects weren't as well funded or purely volunteer-based.
And then there were also some cases of abuse, or severe culture clashes that would cause other initiatives damage by proxy.
My worst experience by far did not involve voluntourists though. The worst involved large aid organizations and peace (corps?) workers swooping in to help with the 'humanitarian crisis'. Warehouses filled with food that destabilized the entire local economy, and a large amount of rather insulting crap (clothing that nobody with any self-respect would wear). Tons of aid workers who didn't even have a basic knowledge of the culture they were in, and no interest whatsoever to consult the people who had been there for years or decades. Sigh.
That said, it's not all bad. Quite often some of the 'voluntourists' would fall in love with the country and come back on their own and help out with some of the many wonderful initiatives. I just wish there'd be a little more communication between these short-term (youth) organizations and the 'veterans'. That alone would solve so much.
EDIT: One of the worst examples just came to mind. A big organization poured a lot of money into an orphanage for disabled children, but never really bothered to check where the money went since their local 'operations manager' was too busy traveling around the country and pretending to be some kind of saintly figure. Turns out the money went to a single local family that 'helped' said manager by living like royalty and leaving the orphanage a disgusting, heartbreaking mess. It took a lot of extra effort to keep the orphanage in somewhat working state (as understandably many people would refuse to help out, knowing where all the money was going), and it took many, many reports by smaller organizations and independent aid workers before something was finally done.