Intro Critical & Ethical Volunteering

Service Description

This workshop takes place every 4th Wednesday of the month. Sign up for one: January 25th February 22nd March 22nd April 26th Volunteering can provide useful and much needed resources to communities, while also building volunteers' skills and social networks. However, people all over the world find themselves in a volunteer scam, in compromising ethical and moral situations, and sometimes in a position where they may be doing more harm than good. Sometimes, people fall into the trap of 'voluntourism,' which is a phenomena where organizations and businesses offer vacation packages that include volunteering in a resource poor community. Oftentimes, voluntourism opportunities perpetuate the poverty, inequalities, and abuses that the volunteer seeks to help with their time, money, and resources. In this synchronous workshop, we will work collectively to unpack why we volunteer, how to identify volunteering scams, and how to check and double-check that we are doing no harm while volunteering. We will use an intersectional lens and self-reflexivity to unpack these topics. You will leave the workshop with: 1. An understanding of what volunteering and 'voluntourism' are. 2. An applied understanding of intersectionality. 3. Tools for finding a legitimate and ethical volunteer opportunity. 4. Strategies for checking, double-checking, and ensuring that our volunteering 'does no harm' and has minimal potential unintended consequences. Register Here. Proceed to the payment option(s). Await your confirmation email with the Zoom link.