The Caribbean may be missing an important opportunity by not fully tapping into the growing volunteer tourism or “voluntourism” market, according to veteran community development expert and nonprofit advisor Kwayera Archer-Cunningham.
With more than 25 years of experience as a nonprofit leader, Archer-Cunningham, who travels frequently between her Jamaica and New York offices, said many tourists are traveling to the region with a desire to have a positive impact and make a difference in addition to having fun.
“Unfortunately, too often there are not enough avenues that are visible for visitors to figure out how they can help before they leave and go back home,” she lamented.
“Many people have great intentions. They want to figure out how they can make the region a home away from home, not just by enjoying the beach, but also volunteering for an hour or helping a school – whether by contributing towards the cost of a computer or a smart board,” said Archer-Cunningham, who specializes in community and organizational development, philanthropy, and social entrepreneurship.
Archer-Cunningham believes that the hospitality industry, especially hotels, should be encouraged to establish strategic partnerships with local and regional media to increase awareness of the social and philanthropic needs within the destination. “We need broad communications channels so that people traveling to the Caribbean – either single or multiple destinations – receive the information and access they need to make decisions about how they can contribute their time, dollars and energy,” she commented.
According to Carrie Kahn, National Public Radio’s international correspondent, more than 1.6 million volunteer tourists are spending about US $2 billion each year.
Archer-Cunningham’s firm Global Ase facilitates social transformation by creating strong relationships between the people who want to help and people who need help.
Maybe our diasporas who come down to vote every five years ,should return in large number to their various communities to do volunteer work, that would help instead the goverment have to spend money for people to keep the village clean and planting flowers. This would show they are true Dominicans and they love the Nature Isle.
I don’t think that the idealist is to take jobs from those who need jobs. But the intention is to help people, organizations, schools, churches and healthcare facilities who don’t have the money to pay people to do a project. There are some people who “voluntary” then ask to be paid, I know because I have witnessed this. I agree that many are jobless and in need of income but there are situations where it is helpful to have a volunteer, the two can coexist.
In Dominica we do not have a lot of not for profit organisations so there is no way citizens will fully understand or appreciate this article. Dominicans never want to do something for nothing. Never want to do something just for the feel good factor or simply to make a difference in the country collectively. There is no way we will understand this. I have been fighting to put charities together here in relation to promoting Dominica and another to provide assistance for kids who are disabled (eg autistic & other learning difficulties) in relation to educational development. Those ideas died off before they kicked off. Nobody wanted to assist either with man power nor financially. This is however very common and a vital part of any cv for top professionals in many countries. its very common for travellers to go overseas and help. The American peace crorps has been using volunteers for years, lured simply by wanting to explore overseas and the urge to make a difference.
Plenty Dominicans living better than people in the so called developed world…..Perhaps they should go volunteer themselves overseas…
Visitors need to spend more dollars in the economy on locally grown food, drink and services. Its the lazy expat mentality that is making Dominica poorer and dependent on imports.
“Unfortunately, too often there are not enough avenues that are visible for visitors to figure out how they can help before they leave and go back home,” she lamented.”
That is a bunch of rubbish, most tourists are so damn poor, trying to survive, just because they go on a trip they will put themselves out help; help with what?
Most working Americans gets two weeks vacation per year, depending on the length of time they are with that company they may get three weeks, they save for that vacation, which might be a once in a life time thing, what help are you talking about when in a place like Dominica a ship spends only eight hours in port!
Lady these are not the days when news took years to travel across the globe, nor do news travel via drums, and smoke. We know what it is to volunteer!
No- you don`t!
http://www.workaway.info Hosts and volunteers of all ages worldwide- even in Dominica!
That has to be the most obscure press release I have ever read.
What are they asking? What do they want? I just don’t know…and I thought I had good comprehension skills.
One presumes she’s looking for contracts with tourism ministries in the region to advise them on how they might expand this sort of thing. I’m not sure how I feel in general about “voluntourism”, though, because it raises the question what the benefit is that overcomes the negative effects from adding free labour in a society where unemployment is already a concern.
In other words, if such visitors were to contribute needed skills that aren’t present locally, that’s a positive thing. If they end up causing skilled Dominicans to lose out on what might otherwise be paid opportunities, however, then that’s obviously not so good.
Money
It is nothing more than garbage she is spewing, I’ve been a tourist many times over, it never occur to me not even for one second to volunteer to do anything in any of the countries I visited!
A volunteer, is one who voluntarily undertakes, or express a willingness to undertake a service, or decides to do something without any financial rewards. Voluntarism has such a large scope, that one had better apply the word to a single purpose: i.e. one who enters into the military service voluntarily, and not drafted; however, gets paid for his/her services.
It could also mean one who receives a conveyance, or transfer of property without giving valuable consideration. Just because someone say I am this or that does not mean everything they say has value, especially when we are dealing with the English language!