Brave New Traveler recently published an article called The Complete Guide To Volunteer Tourism, by Christina Heyniger.

This guide provides a useful general overview of selecting a volunteer program if you go the route of utilizing a provider or placement organization. It recommends starting by assessing your own interests which is of course a wise move: are you interested in an emphasis on travel or on volunteer work? Concentrate your efforts on finding a provider offering what you’d like.

It also offers an outline on tips for assessing the substance of volunteer programs taking into consideration corruption (framed as the local organization, for example, “hiring” children to act as orphans in order to gain more donations) and sustainability. The questions which it suggests potential volunteers ask an organization are good ones overall, and include:

• How long has the organization been operating?
• How does it measure results?
• Have they had to deal with corruption?
• Do they understand the local language?
• Is the project sustainable in the sense of involving the local community?
• Does it empower people?

I think aid and non-profit/charitable work are complex topics, and while I would not agree that these questions necessarily separate the good from the bad – I think as basic guidelines they are extremely useful. I would also point out that the answers or information available will ideally give you some indication of the business practices of a provider.

I thought the final section, on unintended consequences, is an especially important one. There are a myriad of ways to interpret and in fact create negative consequences, but the areas the guide focused on are reasonable: ask the organization how need is determined (do they take into consideration what locals actually vocalize as their needs) and whether the organization has a regular presence in the community (the author’s opinion is that this is preferable).

Christina Heyniger is the founder of Xola Consulting, which is involved in providing adventure/volunteer programs and also – according to the website – works with non-profits, corporations and tour operators. It also works closely with Voluntourism.org, which was recently featured on the Volunteer Logue as well.