Learning Service Slideshare

Examining service: motivations, pitfalls, benefits, and lessons learned

Learning Service

Claire Bennett @DanielaPapi

Our stories

Schools don’t teach kids.

Neither do pens, books, or t-shirts.

We needed to invest in people to put those things to use

Started  out  “giving  things”  

Now,  “inves5ng  5me  in  people”  

How did the NGO change?

Started  out  “giving  things”  

Now,  “inves5ng  5me  in  people”  

How did the NGO change? We moved from giving things away to investing time in people

How  has  PEPY  Tours  changed?  

Started  out  doing  “voluntourism”  

Now,  offering  a  “chance  to  learn”  

Could  also  just  be  two  images  –  perhaps  people  building  or  pain6ng  something  (can  just  be  s6ck  figures  like  the  story  of  stuff)  and  the  second  people  si?ng  and  talking  or  learning?  

How did the tours change?

How  has  PEPY  Tours  changed?  

Started  out  doing  “voluntourism”  

Now,  offering  a  “chance  to  learn”  

Could  also  just  be  two  images  –  perhaps  people  building  or  pain6ng  something  (can  just  be  s6ck  figures  like  the  story  of  stuff)  and  the  second  people  si?ng  and  talking  or  learning?  

How did the tours change? We moved from building, painting, and

‘helping’, to learning, debating, and ‘learning service’

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

It’s what we do the other 358 days of the year.

Volunteering Beneficiaries

“villagers”

We shifted our vocabulary

I’m from the “Village of Briarcliff Manor”…”

Volunteering Beneficiaries

“villagers”

We shifted our vocabulary

I’m from the “Village of Briarcliff Manor”…”

… yet no one has ever called me a “villager”…

We shifted our vocabulary

Being a “volunteer” means there is a “beneficiary”…

Being a “volunteer” means there is a “beneficiary”…

… but then it’s hard to remember that those people we’re meant to

“serve” are actually the ones from whom we need to learn!

We shifted our vocabulary

Volunteering

Service Learning

We shifted our vocabulary

Service Learning

Learning Service

We shifted our vocabulary

We have to learn before we can help

sympathy

/ˈsimpəTHē/

Noun: Feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune.

empathy

/ˈempəTHē/

Noun: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

sympathy

/ˈsimpəTHē/

Noun: Feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune.

empathy

/ˈempəTHē/

Noun: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

So… what could actually go wrong?

In this trip.. 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

In this trip.. 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

In this trip.. EVERYTHING that could have gone wrong!

Poor pre-planning

Poor pre-planning

Poor pre-planning

!

!!!

No transparency

No transparency

$$$

No transparency

$$$

Ineffective project

Ineffective project

Little to no traveler education

Little to no traveler education

The WRONG people were let in

The WRONG people were let in

The WRONG people were let in

“Earlier this year, the British owner of the Cambodian Orphan Fund…was sent to prison in Cambodia for sexually abusing several minor boys in his care.” -  “Should You or Shouldn’t You Volunteer in a Cambodian

Orphanage?”, Expat Living, Monica Pitrelli, Oct 2011

(If you plant papayas,

you can’t get mangoes.)

បសិន%ប&អ(ក*ំ%ដ&មល/ុង 2ះអ(កមិន4ចទទួយ9នែផ<=

យេ ។

1) Poverty Overload

2) Savior Overload

3) Failure Overload

Three ways we lose students

Setting travelers up for failure

Supporting ineffective aid

models

Fueling waste & harm

Three causes of pitfalls

Setting travelers up for failure

1)  False Marketing 2) Fostering Moral

Imperialism 3) Offsetting culture

This is how we are “marketing” the “developing” world.

1 #

This is how we are “selling” solutions to these problems.

Studies show that a large part of what people “know” about “developing” countries comes from fundraising campaigns

WELLS DO NOT

PROVIDE CLEAN WATER.

“The statement that this sort of media makes is “We have a group of people who are utterly helpless, and only you can save them.”… this person is helpless – this person needs your money – this person is incapable of making a better life for him/herself. In going down the path of the ‘savior’, we’ll inevitably be biased not towards policy that works, but towards policy that makes us feel good about ourselves.” -  What is poverty porn and why does it matter for

development? Matt Collin

Fostering moral imperialism

2 #

“We don’t send people over to the US to help with the emotional poverty we see there: with unhappy people, high divorce rates, broken family units, and dependence on material wealth - so why do you send people over to ‘help’ us with our financial poverty? We would fail at helping you as you are failing at helping us.”

-  Ghanaian NGO Director

Creates an offsetting culture

3 #

Setting travelers up for failure

Supporting ineffective aid

models

Fueling waste & harm

1)  Shifting power structures 2) Poor monitoring

3) Volunteers are not free

Fueling waste & harm

1 #

Shifting power structures

Poor monitoring

2 #

Buy bad car

Don’t research

Buy bad car

Don’t research

Car breaks

Buy bad car

Don’t research

Car breaks

You can change your behavior in the future

Invest in the wrong thing

Don’t research

Fails, adds to corruption, etc.

zzzSCHOOL

$

Invest in the wrong thing

Don’t research

Fails, adds to corruption, etc.

You don’t usually know it!

zzzSCHOOL

$

Volunteers are not FREE

3 #

Setting travelers up for failure

Supporting ineffective aid

models

Fueling waste & harm

1)  Seeking out easy & fast solutions

2) Child’s rights violations 3) Creating experiences “for

the travelers”

Supporting ineffective aid

models

1 #

Seeking out easy & fast “solutions”

Shifting from consumer driven “aid”

Child’s rights violations

2 #

“There were about 25 kids inside the ‘orphanage’. Every time a tourist boat pulled up and people went in to deliver their bounty, the children would stop what they were doing and shout a greeting or a thank you. Doing that every five minutes throughout the day is surely going to impact on your education. It was obvious that the children were being used for profit. Yet boat after boat of people were pulling up to get their holiday feel good points by gawking at children trapped in a floating cage, chorusing multilingual greetings like polished professionals.” -  “Orphanage Tourism: Cute Kids, Cashed Up Tourists, Poor

Outcomes”, Devpolicy Blog, Development Policy Center

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

Orphanage tourism

“Many volunteers see it as their role to provide love, thus building strong emotional bonds with the children. However, when volunteers leave, these bonds are broken and the children are once again left alone.” -  With the best of intentions, a study of attitudes

towards residential care in Cambodia, 2011, UNICEF-funded

3 #

Creating experiences for travelers

while overlooking the cause

The  community  or  the  project  has  

a  need

The  community  or  project  puts  out  a  request  for  volunteers

Volunteers  supply  that  skill  and  9ill  the  need

A  sending  organization  has  increased  demand  for  a  speci9ic  location  or  type  of  volunteer  

project

The  organization  seeks  out  more  

placements  to  9ill  the  volunteers’  demands

The  hosting  organization  agrees  to  take  the  volunteer,  in  exchange  for  

payment  or  in  hope  of  continued  donations

Perceived Model

Frequent Model

“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.” -  Excerpt from Rethinking Short-Term Missions for Long-Term

Impact by Mary Faulds

An ILLICH Break

http://bit.ly/illich

Intrinsically interlinked

Videos & tools soon at learningservice.info

•  Throughout the Journey:

Adopting a Learning Mindset

•  Before departure: Thorough

Research

•  While Abroad: Humble,

Mindful, and Self-Reflective

Action

•  Back at home: A life-long

approach

The trajectory of the book…

Adop5ng  a  learning  mindset  

-  Pre-departure tone-setting

-  Debriefs -  Acknowledging cultural

lens -  Open issues up for

debate

It isn’t changing your mind

It’s forming new opinions

based on new information

Thorough  research  

-  Transparency -  Impact goals

-  Power dynamics -  Skill fit (and the importance of

“attitude building” not just “skill building”)

-  Cultural context -  Learning opportunities

Humble,  Mindful,  &  Self-­‐Reflec5ve  

Ac5on  

-  Build relationships -  Avoid confirmation bias

-  Remember you vote with your money

-  Don’t forget the rest of the trip!

RESEARCH: Giving your money $ You vote with your money

Remember:

Do you want more kids on the street?

Avoid the long-neck-

women phenomenon.

Don’t forget the rest of

the trip!

A  Life-­‐long  Approach  

-  Follow up!!!! -  Nuance & complexity -  More questions than

answers -  Interconnectedness

-  Lifestyle & daily choices

The exact initiative

(a fundraiser, a volunteer trip, etc)

The experience for

the student

The issue or NGO partner

What are you married to?

Daniela Papi d@pepytours.com

pepycambodia.org

pepytours.com learningservie.info lessonsilearned.org

Other RESOURCES

to consider

Global  Ci9zenship  -­‐  Humility  

-­‐  Inter-­‐connectedness  -­‐  Compassion  -­‐  Gra5tude  

Awareness  of  Self  -­‐  Awareness  -­‐  Curiosity  

-­‐  Authen5city  

Leadership  &  Skill  Building  

-­‐  Responsibility  -­‐  Ownership  -­‐  Courage  

-­‐  Self-­‐reflec5on  

www.wheretherebedragons.com

Now also at learningservice.info

www.voluntourism101.com  

Child Safe

Campaign at thinkchildsafe.org

Travelers Philanthropy Handbook

http://bit.ly/TFHandbook

More voluntourism guidelines

www.ecotourism.org/voluntourism-guidelines

Learning Service Charter/Guidelines/Videos

www.learningservice.info

Daniela Papi d@pepytours.com

pepycambodia.org

pepytours.com learningservie.info lessonsilearned.org

Daniela Papi d@pepytours.com

pepycambodia.org

pepytours.com learningservie.info lessonsilearned.org

Claire Bennett claire@learningservice.info

Daniela Papi daniela@learningservice.info