About Martin
Martin Punaks is the Country Director of Next Generation Nepal. He is based in Kathmandu where he has lived for four years. Martin has 15 years’ experience working in child protection and child rights and with not-for-profit organizations in the United Kingdom, India and Nepal. He graduated with Distinction from a Master of Arts in the Anthropology of Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
- First of all, what is voluntourism?
'Voluntourism' is a niche market within the broader tourism industry in which a tourist includes a component of volunteering as part of his or her travel plans. The motives of voluntourists are a combination of both altruism (to help those less fortunate than themselves) and self-interest (in so far as they want to have an exotic experience that brings them closer to local people and cultures, as well as improving their curricula vitae for job prospects). It is a growing trend internationally and was worth approximately USD 2 billion in 2008 with a global average of 1.6 million voluntourists a year.
The roots of voluntourism can be found in the creation of volunteering organizations in the 1950s, notably Voluntary Service Overseas, the United States Peace Corps and the Volunteer Graduate Scheme (now Australian Volunteers International). Over the last twenty years, as awareness of global inequality and social issues has grown – and as more people are able to travel to experience these thing for themselves – 'volunteering' and 'tourism' have merged to form the DIY-development concept we know today as 'voluntourism'.
- More specifically, what is 'orphanage voluntourism' and why has it become so popular in Nepal?
'Orphanage voluntourism' includes a spectrum of activities related to the support of orphanages and children's homes by individuals who are primarily, or were initially, tourists on vacation. It includes financial donations to children's homes and orphanages, as well the contribution of the voluntourist's time spent caring for and playing with children in their chosen orphanage.
We do not know exactly how many tourists volunteer in orphanages in Nepal, but the Social Welfare Council estimate that around 30,000 foreign tourists are doing some voluntary work here each year. Next Generation Nepal believes that many of these tourists are volunteering in orphanages. Orphanage volunteering placements are one of the most popular schemes that are offered to potential voluntourists who type in the words "Nepal" and "volunteering" to an internet search engine. They are actively promoted by travel and volunteering agencies. Volunteering with children is a popular choice because it is personally gratifying to see the children you are helping smile, laugh and give back hugs and affection (in a way that clearing garbage from the Bagmati river would not be!). Furthermore – across all cultures and ideologies – helping children is a politically neutral choice for philanthropy; it is considered an all-round 'good cause'.
- So why is Next Generation Nepal against orphanage voluntourism? What harm is it doing to children and to Nepal?
What most orphanage volunteers do not realize is that, rather than helping children, they may be inadvertently causing them psychological harm. Furthermore, in Nepal, they are fueling a criminal and corrupt profit-making industry that deliberately separates children from their families so they can be used as poverty commodities in orphanages to attract fee-paying volunteers and donors.
In rural areas of Nepal, traffickers make promises to uneducated naïve families that if they pay the traffickers some money they will take their children to Kathmandu and enroll them in a good boarding school. The families are persuaded that this is the answer to their problems because it will enable their children to get a good education and thus rise out of the poverty trap. However, the children are not taken to good boarding schools as promised. Instead they are placed in exploitative and profit-making orphanages which market themselves to the increasing number of charities and tourists who come to Nepal to take part in development activities and tourism. The orphanages are being run as businesses in which the children are the commodity.
Over 15,000 children currently reside in orphanages in Nepal despite at least 2 out of 3 of these children having living parents. It is no surprise that up to 90% of these orphanages are located in the top 5 tourist districts of the country – Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Kaski and Chitwan. International and Nepali laws and policies are against the use of orphanages except as a last and temporary resort. They state that all efforts should be made to keep children with their families. But separating children from their parents and putting them in orphanages has become all too common in Nepal.
When children grow up in orphanages they are at risk of physical, mental and sexual abuse. For the children living in such places, they are being denied their fundamental human rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to know and be cared for by their families. They also experience a form of grief each time a different volunteer leaves with whom they have formed an emotional bond. During the course of a child’s short life growing up in an orphanage, they may form and break emotional bonds with hundreds of different volunteers that come and go like visitors to a zoo. Unsurprisingly this leads to attachment disorders later in life and they find it hard to develop healthy emotional relationships with other adults.
Children that grow up in orphanages are more at risk of getting involved in crime and anti-social behavior later in life, and of being homeless and unable to cope with life outside an institution. In many developing countries a young person’s links to their family, community and local dialect are essential social capital, which help that young person to obtain employment, gain citizenship, arrange a marriage and inherit land. When these links with the family are broken, it leaves the young person isolated and vulnerable in a poor society with minimal social welfare provisions. In Nepal, the institutions of 'family' and 'community' are often the only social welfare structures that young people can rely on and, when these are removed or weakened by raising children in orphanages, it affects the entire society.
The willingness of fee-paying voluntourists to support orphanages not only gives these corrupt businesses credibility, but it provides the economic life-line for them to continue operating. So for these reasons we do not recommend orphanage voluntourism. It is a paradox in so far as it is harming children, despite its sincere intentions to help.
- What are the major findings of Next Generation Nepal's research?
Next Generation Nepal's report, The Paradox of Orphanage Volunteering, reviews the history of orphanage trafficking which stems back to the Karnali region during the civil war when parents looked to traffickers to help their children escape forced conscription into the Maoist rebel army. It argues that the ban by Western nations on inter-country adoptions in 2010 shifted the focus by criminal groups away from 'selling' children for adoption toward 'selling' opportunities to volunteers and donors to support orphanages. The report also shows how most orphanages in Nepal do not meet the Government's legal standards, and that abuse and exploitation of children in such places are commonplace.
The report analyzes the growing global phenomenon of voluntourism and argues that it is driven by a range of altruistic and self-interest-based motives, and that it has the potential to bring benefits to communities as well as cause considerable harm. It reviews examples of ethical voluntourism in Nepal and internationally which others can learn from. Next Generation Nepal advises against orphanage voluntourism but makes a number of recommendations to the tourism industry, Government of Nepal, civil society, media, academia and the diplomatic community on how to address orphanage trafficking and improve ethical voluntourism opportunities. Next Generation Nepal is pro-ethical voluntourism, and against voluntourism that causes harm to children and communities
- So what is 'ethical voluntourism'? Can volunteering in orphanages ever be ethical?
We live in a globalized but unequal world where wealthy Westerners will continue to travel to learn about different cultures and have exciting adventures. In recognition of how lucky they are, these travelers will often want to 'give something back' through volunteering or charitable donations. This is inherently a 'good' thing in terms of breaking down cultural barriers and supporting disadvantaged communities, and therefore it should be encouraged. But like many good things in the world, it needs to be managed responsibly to ensure it doesn't harm innocent people in the process.
Ethical voluntourism means approaching your travels with a mindset that wants to learn about the culture and context of the place you hope to work in (before rushing in to 'save the world'!). It means learning about international development, and which approaches work and do not work. It means considering the suitability of your skills to the volunteering placement; considering the sustainability of the work you will do so that you have a long-term positive impact after you have left; and asking lots of intelligent questions to the volunteering agency to ensure that what they are offering you will not harm anyone. To help people in this process, Next Generation Nepal has created an ethical volunteering page on its website. www.nextgenerationnepal.org/Ethical_Volunteering">http://www.nextgenerationnepal.org/Ethical_Volunteering">www.nextgenerationnepal.org/Ethical_Volunteering">http://www.nextgenerationnepal.org/Ethical_Volunteering
As for orphanage volunteering, in the vast majority of cases we do not consider this to be ethical. The only time we consider this to be ethical is when it is practiced by a skilled professional – such as a social worker or child psychologist – who understands how to work with traumatized children. Even then, we only recommend that these skilled professionals volunteer in the small minority of children's homes in Nepal that meet the Government's legal standards (only 10% of them do). For more information on this people can contact Namuna Bhusal at the Central Child Welfare Board on +977 9851139474
+977 9851139474 or namuna@ccwb.gov.np">mailto:namuna@ccwb.gov.np">namuna@ccwb.gov.np
- Why did Next Generation Nepal decide to embark on this interesting research project?
For many years Next Generation Nepal has been working with the Government of Nepal to help rescue trafficked children, rehabilitate them and reunify them with their families. This is really important work to enable children to have the happy and healthy childhoods they deserve. However, this approach only tackles the symptoms and not the causes of trafficking. We realized that unless we deal with the source of the money that is coming in to fund these profit-making orphanages – which comes from foreign volunteers and donors – then the illicit trade in children will never end. So the research was a way to spread awareness of this problem and invite other like-minded people who also care about Nepal's children to join us in our quest.
- Last but not the least, can you explain the vision and mission of NGN and its future plans in Nepal?
Next Generation Nepal is a non-profit humanitarian organization based in the United States of America. It was established in 2006 to support children who have been displaced or trafficked into orphanages. Next Generation Nepal was founded by Conor Grennan, author of the bestseller, Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal. We work in several ways: (i) we search for the families of displaced children and reunify them; (ii) we raise awareness of the links between orphanage voluntourism and orphanage trafficking; (iii) we provide scholarships and mentoring for a small group of ex-trafficked youth; and (iv) we advise and mentor others in our approach. Next Generation Nepal implements its projects through its local partner, The Himalayan Innovative Society. We also work closely with Government stakeholders, such as the CCWB and DCWBs, and with local NGOs, INGOs, embassies and tourists.
As for our future plans, I look forward to the day when there are no orphanages or children's homes in Nepal because all the children are all living with their families or in other family-based care settings (and yes, this is possible in Nepal – a long way down the road – as it has been in other countries). In the meantime, if the traffickers keep displacing children into orphanages; then we will keep taking them home again. And if the tourists keep paying to volunteer in profit-making orphanages; then we will keep telling them the truth about what their well-intentioned but misplaced actions are causing. I sincerely hope that a movement grows in Nepal – across civil society, the Government and the private sector – that supports an ethical tourism industry to enable Nepal to grow economically and socially without using children as tourist attractions. When every child in Nepal is living with a family, then Next Generation Nepal's job will be done.
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