Transcript: Managing Voluntourists: Insights from Organisational Practices in North-South Voluntourism

[[RP_SECTION:volunteer-management-models|Volunteer management models]]

Sam: Once a volunteer lands in the host country, the sending organization largely disappears. Nearly all the real management happens beforehand, in screening and training — not during the placement itself. That's the pattern Nathalie Colpin and Marc Jegers describe in their qualitative study of North-South voluntourism operations.

Alex: So the organizations are essentially marketing machines. If they're not providing oversight once the trip starts, what exactly is happening in that pre-departure phase?

Sam: Think of it as a launchpad model. The sending organization supplies the fuel and the trajectory — screening, orientation, training — and then detaches once the volunteer reaches the host country. The mechanism that's supposed to guarantee a good outcome isn't ongoing supervision, it's selection. They screen for the right motivations upfront and then trust that self-selected resilience to carry the volunteer through whatever happens on the ground.

Alex: So the vetting process is doing the work that active management would normally do. That's a fairly large accountability gap if the organization isn't there to handle the cultural or project friction that's bound to come up. [[RP_SECTION:accountability-and-organizational-scale|Accountability and organizational scale]]

Sam: That's the tension the paper surfaces, and it plays out differently depending on scale. Smaller organizations tend to lean on deep, trust-based relationships with local partners — essentially outsourcing oversight to people they know well on the ground. Larger organizations take a more transactional, shallow approach. They're optimizing for volume, and consistent, high-quality supervision becomes very hard to sustain once you're moving large numbers of volunteers through.

Alex: Is that a deliberate strategic choice, or just a structural limit of the business model at scale? [[RP_SECTION:structural-limitations-of-voluntourism|Structural limitations of voluntourism]]

Sam: The paper frames it as structural tension rather than a strategy anyone would state outright. These organizations sell a "life-changing" product on the market side, while carrying a mission-driven obligation to deliver genuine development benefit on the other. Real-time, on-site management is expensive, and as volume increases that cost becomes prohibitive. The paper's reading is that most organizations quietly abdicate the responsibility rather than solve the underlying problem.

Alex: So the hand-off at the airport isn't really a plan — it's closer to an admission that they can't afford to manage what happens next.

Sam: That's the interpretation the authors land on. The management that's advertised pre-departure is largely a marketing exercise that evaporates the moment the volunteer arrives. The whole system runs on the assumption that volunteers can navigate the environment on their own, and that assumption is what leaves host communities exposed when things go wrong — a poorly matched placement, a project that stalls, friction with local staff. Nobody from the sending side is there to absorb that.

Managing Voluntourists: Insights from Organisational Practices in North-South Voluntourism

Nathalie Colpin, Marc Jegers

Jun 1, 2026·3:55·user_upload·Original Paper

VoluntourismSending OrganisationsHuman Resource Management (HRM)North-South VoluntourismEpisodic VolunteeringSustainable Development

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4 min

Briefing

Research Context and Approach

Voluntourism, the intersection of travel and volunteering, has grown into a complex market involving both non-profit (NPO) and for-profit (FPO) organizations. While these programs aim to foster intercultural exchange and support local development, they are frequently criticized for inadequate coordination, short-term engagement, and the potential to reinforce power imbalances between the global North and South. This study investigates how sending organizations manage and coordinate voluntourists, specifically examining how organizational characteristics and contexts influence their management techniques across the pre-trip, peri-trip, and post-trip phases.

The researchers conducted a qualitative study involving 13 organizations (10 NPOs and 3 FPOs) operating from Belgium or the Netherlands. By analyzing organizational information and conducting semi-structured interviews with managers and coordinators, the study explored the operational realities of these entities, ranging from small-scale, specialized providers to large, international multi-purpose organizations.

Management Practices and Organizational Scale

The findings reveal that management approaches are not strictly divided by organizational type (NPO vs. FPO) but rather by the scale of operations. Most organizations prioritize pre-departure activities, focusing heavily on intercultural preparation to ensure voluntourists possess the right motivations and attitudes. However, work-related training is often superficial, with many organizations assuming that local projects require only unskilled support.

Once voluntourists arrive abroad, the role of the sending organization typically shifts to the background. Coordination is largely delegated to local partners, host organizations, and the voluntourists themselves, who are expected to rely on peer support and self-initiative to navigate challenges. Post-trip engagement is generally minimal, as most organizations perceive little demand for follow-up activities from returned voluntourists.

Why It Matters

The study highlights a significant gap between the ideal of structured, professionalized management and the reality of informal, passive coordination. By relying on organic, trust-based relationships rather than formal systems, many organizations risk creating mismatches between voluntourist skills and local community needs. The authors argue that a more holistic approach—integrating host perspectives into planning, formalizing the role of local guides, and leveraging alumni as mentors—could transform voluntourism from a transactional experience into a more sustainable and reciprocal practice.

Key Terms and Definitions

Voluntourism — An organized practice combining travel and volunteering, often involving individuals from the global North traveling to the global South for short-term projects.
Sending Organization — An entity based in the home country responsible for recruiting, preparing, and coordinating voluntourists before they are placed with host projects abroad.
Episodic Volunteering — A form of voluntary engagement characterized by short-term, well-defined commitments rather than long-term, regular service.
Host Organization — A local entity in the destination country that oversees the day-to-day operations of volunteer projects and provides on-site guidance to voluntourists.
Conceptual Hybridity — The defining characteristic of the voluntourism market, where organizations must balance the competing logics of commercial tourism and altruistic development aid.

Abstract

This study explores how sending organisations manage and coordinate voluntourists in voluntourism programmes. Through qualitative research, North-South voluntourism operations were explored by analysing publicly available organisational information and interviewing staff members (n=13) from (inter)national non-profit and for-profit organisations operating from Belgium or the Netherlands. Thematic analysis investigated managerial aspects and organisational contexts, using insights from human resource models on planning, recruitment, training, performance management, and retention strategies. Findings show diverse management approaches, ranging from passive to active and from more structured and formalised to more individually and personally adapted, with no clear distinctions by organisation types such as for-profit versus non-profit or international versus national sending organisation. Instead, differences emerge in the scale of voluntourism operations: between small-scale organisations offering voluntourism in only a few projects and/or countries and large-scale ones managing broad and diversified project portfolios. Generally, most sending organisations focus on pre-entry activities, with limited involvement during or after voluntourists’ trips. A more holistic management and coordination approach, emphasising ongoing support and long-term relationships with both voluntourists and local partners, could enhance the benefits for voluntourists and local communities.

Managing Voluntourists: Insights from Organisational Practices in North-South Voluntourism | Nathalie Colpin, Marc Jegers | ResearchPod

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