Global Volunteers Policies

The following policies and behavioral norms reflect the many lessons learned over the past decades of engaging outside volunteers in other people’s communities. The intent of these policies and guidelines is not only to protect the well-being of you, the volunteer, and the members of the communities we serve, but also to help make your service program more enjoyable. The greatest contributing factor to the success of our programs is a healthy relationship with our community partners. These policies are a critical contributing factor to developing and maintaining these relationships.

Policy #1 No Personal Gifts

Please do not give personal gifts to anyone. We are committed to serving in a way that benefits a broad cross-section of a community. Gifts to individuals or a family do not achieve this and in fact undermine our commitment. This has been a hard-learned lesson because our natural tendency is to be materially generous. However, we cannot disregard the damage that is done to our effort to promote self-reliance. The negative impact of personal gift giving plays out in many ways.

Examples of Personal Gifts that Cause Harm

Candy, pens, pencils, etc.
Money for school tuition
Toys, books, clothing, etc.
Paying for local people to travel to your home country
Taking local people along on weekend activities

Inevitably, someone is left out. When you give something to one person, or even to several people in a community, there are always people left out. In tight-knit, low resource communities, it is impossible to keep everybody from knowing that someone has received a gift from a volunteer. Those who are excluded are offended. This is especially difficult for children and can damage an already fragile self-esteem.
Conflict may arise due to inequity. Global Volunteers returns to host communities several times each year. As more and more teams visit a location, it becomes increasingly difficult to provide individual gifts. Those who work closely with us would receive an inordinate share of gifts, while others would receive little or nothing. This can cause conflicts among community members and between volunteers and local people.
Unhealthy expectations are created. Perhaps most important, personal gift giving over time results in local people or host personnel anticipating our arrival in their community more for the gifts than for the mutual sharing and development projects. It can overshadow the primary purposes of a Global Volunteers service program.
Future volunteers are offended. As new teams of volunteers come to communities where gifts have been given, they in turn are asked for gifts and many are offended. The local people are not at fault for it is the act of well-intentioned volunteers that turn our hosts into beggars. Personal gift-giving is antithetical to self-reliance.

We recognize how exceptionally difficult this policy is for some. When one has so much, they naturally want to share. If you are asked for gifts or souvenirs from people you meet, politely suggest that they make their needs known to the community leadership or to the host organization.

Each year our partners provide us with a priorty list of their greatest needs. These are special projects and initiatives that would greatly benefit the local community but lack the necessary funding and labor. If you are inspired to support the community beyond your volunteer service, a $25 monthly contribution goes a long way in providing food for mothers and children, medicines for those who are ill, school materials for students, and so much more. You can feel confident that your donation will benefit the entire community if it is related to a Global Volunteers’ work project or listed on a community partner priority list. Finally, simply sharing the joy and stories gained from your time in the host community with family and friends back home is one of the greatest gifts of all because 40% of all volunteers learn about this opportunity to serve from you. Encourage them to share their own skills, energy, and friendship by participating on a future Global Volunteers’ team.

Gifts that Genuinely Benefit the Community when given to the Host Organization through Global Volunteers

Books and supplies for schools and summer camps
Blankets, clothing, diapers, etc. for children’s homes
Medicines, equipment, and supplies for health clinics.
Non-student specific scholarship funds
Money for community construction projects
Funds for home gardens and school nutrition

Policy #2 No Intimate Physical Contact

Sometimes strong attractions can develop between volunteers and local people. This may be related to the emotional high and sense of discovery that volunteers often experience during their service program. Volunteers must be aware, however, that acting on an attraction can have very serious unintended consequences. Our teams are in communities for short periods. Volunteers have limited knowledge of community norms. A short-term, intimate, physical relationship with a local person will more likely than not have a negative impact on the local person, the person’s family, and Global Volunteers’ relationship with the community. Please refrain from intimate, physical contact with community members.

Policy #3 Respect Local Laws

For obvious reasons, you should not intentionally violate any law of the host country. Some actions that are permissible in the United States are prohibited or dangerous in other countries (e.g. openly criticizing the government). If in doubt as to the legality of a particular action, you or your Team Leader should ask the proper authorities. Of particular note is exchanging money on the “black market,” a violation of local law in virtually every country. It is a high-risk activity, as there may not be laws against entrapment and the person who approaches you wanting to buy U.S. or Canadian dollars may be a government agent. Furthermore, there may not be any right of habeas corpus and you may not even have the right to make a phone call if incarcerated.

Policy #4 Matched Labor

The community must provide local people to work alongside Global Volunteers’ team members. There are two primary reasons for this. First, it supports the building of personal friendships with local people, one of the key components of Global Volunteer programs. Second, this policy ensures that we are actually working on projects to which the local people are committed. While this is achieved in labor projects by engaging local volunteers, paid workers, or work-release laborers, in other projects the matching is with students, teachers, patients, or residents of children’s homes. If there is not matched labor, the Team Leader will work with the host to achieve it.

Policy #5 Adults Working with Children under Age 18

Volunteers interact with children in most of our communities and in a variety of capacities (e.g. teaching, providing health care, childcare, labor projects, etc.). Volunteers repeatedly tell us that working with the local children is the single most rewarding aspect of the service program. The safety of these children is a top priority of Global Volunteers. Therefore, we follow the general standards set by American organizations where adults work with children. First, with the exception of family members or group chaperones, no single volunteer can be alone with an individual child. Second, volunteers working with children outside of a classroom setting (e.g., in a summer camp or a community center), should always work in plain sight of other adults.

Policy #6 Use of Illicit Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco

All volunteers must respect local laws and social norms regarding the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. While some people may be used to ‘living it up’ while on vacation, a Global Volunteers service program requires a different mindset. Use of illicit drugs is grounds for immediate termination of a volunteers’ service program. Any volunteer not of age to consume alcohol and tobacco in their home country, are not permitted to do so while serving with us in another country, regardless of the local laws.

Alcohol – The use of alcohol is a multifaceted issue. Cultural norms regarding its use vary greatly. While a cool beer can be refreshing after a long, hot day of laboring on a construction project, or a full day of teaching class, too many cool beers can result in serious problems. Your behavior is observed closely by the community and people may get incorrect perceptions of you, your team members, and Global Volunteers if you drink too much. In addition, excessive use of alcohol can jeopardize your safety and that of your teammates. Keeping this in mind, we ask that you observe the following policies concerning alcohol, particularly while in the community:

If you are not old enough to drink alcohol in your home country, you may not drink on a Global Volunteers service program
Avoid drinking “home brew”
Limit consumption to after work
Have a designated driver at all times
Be non-judgmental, but careful of local people who are intoxicated
Team Leader(s) may not use program funds to purchase alcohol

Tobacco – Please respect local norms regarding tobacco use. While smoking is prevalent in some countries where we work, it is looked down upon in many others. Just as it is not acceptable to smoke around children in the U.S., volunteers should refrain from doing so in the communities they are serving. Given increasing restrictions on the tobacco industry in the U.S., we believe tobacco companies are actively targeting young people in other countries to establish new markets. Concerned parents are doing what they can to protect their children from the marketing tactics so effective in engaging young people. However, a volunteer smoking in the community reinforces these marketing messages. If you do need to smoke, please do so out of sight of children and properly dispose of any waste. Children may pick up discarded cigarette butts and imitate the ‘foreign visitors’ they admire so much.

Policy #7 No Political Conversation

We live in a very politically polarized time, which can make conversations about politics most challenging. Global Volunteers’ mission is to wage peace and promote justice, which requires a willingness to work with others, even if we may not share the same views. We respect differences but recognize that our common humanity matters more than those differences.

Our volunteers must be united in a common goal to create, nurture, and sustain the well-being of the world’s children and their communities so that they may realize the full promise of their human potential. We want to minimize conversations that disrupt that objective. Just as it is not helpful to discuss politics around the Thanksgiving table, we must also refrain from discussing politics during Global Volunteers activities.

This means that volunteers do not discuss politics during team meetings, meals, community work projects, or any other activities directly related to the service program. This includes not expressing your political viewpoint even if asked by local people. That said, if you and another volunteer wish to discuss politics during free time and away from others, that is up to you, provided all parties in the conversation are willing to engage.

Policy #8 Respiratory Viruses Policy

To help protect volunteers and the community members we serve from contracting respiratory viruses, Global Volunteers asks that you observe the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Respiratory Virus Guidance at this link: Preventing Spread of Respiratory Viruses When You’re Sick | Respiratory Illnesses | CDC