International volunteerism and development in Asia‐Pacific

Abstract

In Asia, and across the “global South”, volunteerism has grown enormously in the last two decades. Hundreds of thousands of people now undertake work on development projects in poorer areas of the global South, and volunteerism has become a key way in which cross‐cultural encounters form relations of development between poor and rich countries and between marginal and empowered subjects. Reflecting this growth, geographical discussions of volunteerism have expanded over the past decade. While initial work lauded the benefits and positive potentials of international volunteerism, more recent work and popular media have increasingly questioned such views and suggested that, instead, international volunteerism has the propensity to replicate colonial relationships, and benefits are heavily skewed towards volunteers. These criticisms themselves bear witness to deeper structural and ideological concerns principally centred around the pervasive neoliberalisation of international volunteering and volunteer tourism. Yet, despite its critics, international volunteering remains one of the most common and easily accessible ways in which (any)one can “care for” or “do their part” to address social and economic injustices in the global South. This themed section extends critical discussions of volunteerism in Asia‐Pacific by questioning its developmental effects – including effects that are material, relational and discursive. Through the six papers in this themed section, and insights gained from fieldwork in Singapore, Japan, Cambodia and India, we consider the impacts of international volunteerism; the infrastructure and organisations promoting volunteerism; the subjective positionalities of volunteers; and how marginal populations experience volunteerism.

Human resource development for community development: lessons from a sport‐for‐development program in rural India

“…Soccer coaching and playing knowledge were enablers to recruit both volunteer coaches and players to participate in the soccer peer‐coaching program. Knowledge development being an enabler to recruit volunteers is an important area for volunteer development in the Asia‐Pacific region (Yea, Sin and Griffiths 2018). Furthermore, opportunities for regular coaching and playing incentivised ongoing participation and resulted in knowledge, skills and abilities development for improved performance (Stevens and Campion 1994) at the individual and group levels.…”

“…As the peer coaches and players of this SFD program were volunteers, mobilising and sustaining the participants was critical for the success of this program. It is also important to understand more about the social and relational aspects of volunteer development in the Asia-Pacific (Yea, Sin and Griffiths 2018). Therefore, we are applying social movement theory to understand and examine how interactions between individuals and groups can foster this type of social change and action.…”

The Role of AIESEC in Implementing SDGS No. 4 Through Global Volunteers in the Suphanburi, Thailand

“…It has the shape of activity as actor for promoting international and crosscultural forms of volunteerism to adjustment, resulting in motivation and skills that help strengthen it. (Sallie, 2018). This easy framework allows the organization to identify entrance points in working with them for the project.…”

Global encounters: Voluntourism, development and global citizenship in Fiji

“…Voluntourism has its roots in international volunteering, a practice Yea et al, () note “remains one of the most common and easily accessible ways in which individuals with the necessary financial and educational resources can care for or do their part to address social and economic injustices in the global South.” Proponents argue that volunteering benefits the host nation and community as well as the individual volunteer by “strengthening trust, solidarity and reciprocity among citizens, and by purposefully creating opportunities for participation” (United Nations Volunteers, ). While international volunteering for development has a long history, voluntourism is a newer phenomenon, emerging from a Pro‐Poor Tourism agenda that incorporated ideas of sustainable development from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit (McGloin & Georgeou, , pp.…”

“…As such, Daniel's assertion that paying volunteers in Fiji become more Fijian seems curious. This paper explores this paradox, adding to work in a recent themed section on volunteering and voluntourism in the Asia‐Pacific region in the Geographical Journal (Yea et al, , p. 111) through a case study of voluntourism in Fiji. This research explored the intersection between development and global citizenship in a qualitative case study of one voluntourism organisation in Fiji, a country reliant on tourism but which is a relatively new market for voluntourism.…”