Poverty business: the case of the volunteer tourism market, an ethnographic study in a Nepalese orphanage

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Thesis

Reference

Poverty business: the case of the volunteer tourism market, an ethnographic study in a Nepalese orphanage

BENALI, Amira

Abstract

This dissertation is composed of four papers. It builds on the postcolonial and post-development theories to provide a critical and a multifaceted approach to understand volunteer tourism as a poverty business. Using an extended case methodology, I held an ethnographic study in an orphanage in Nepal. The first paper I explain how volunteer tourism is a cooptation of the development agenda serving capitalist goals. The second paper builds on the approaches of the society of individuals to analyze the volunteer's perspective. In the third paper, I mobilize the concept of infrapoltics to show how Nepalese engage in a dialectical tension between compliance and resistance in their relationship with volunteers.

Finally, the last paper uses the actor-network theory to highlight the role of material poverty in shaping the volunteer tourism experience, both for host and guest.

BENALI, Amira. Poverty business: the case of the volunteer tourism market, an ethnographic study in a Nepalese orphanage . Thèse de doctorat : Univ. Genève, 2018, no. SdS 85

DOI : 10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:105052 URN : urn:nbn:ch:unige-1050521

Available at:

http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:105052

Disclaimer: layout of this document may differ from the published version.

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Poverty business: the case of the volunteer tourism market, an ethnographic study in a Nepalese

orphanage

THÈSE

présentée à la Faculté des sciences de la société de l’Université de Genève

par

Amira Benali

sous la direction de

Prof. Michel Oris

pour l’obtention du grade de

Docteur ès sciences de la société mention socioéconomie

Membres du jury de thèse:

Prof. Dr. Oris Michel, directeur de thèse, Université de Genève Prof. Dr. Bonvin Jean-Michel, président du jury, Université de Genève

Prof. Dr. Staszak Jean-François, Université de Genève Prof. Dr. Munar Ana Maria, Copenhagen Business School

Thèse no 85

Genève, 7 Mars 2018

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La Faculté des sciences de la société, sur préavis du jury, a autorisé l’impression de la présente thèse, sans entendre, par-là, émettre aucune opinion sur les propositions qui s’y trouvent énoncées et qui n’engagent que la responsabilité de leur auteur.

Genève, le 7 Mars 2018

Le doyen

Bernard DEBARBIEUX

Impression d'après le manuscrit de l'auteur

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TABLE OF CONTENTS ... III RÉSUMÉ ... VI ABSTRACT ... VII ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... VIII

CHAPITRE1.INTRODUCTION ... 1

1.1.R

ESEARCH CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES

... 2

1.2.S

TRUCTURE OF THE THESIS

... 6

1.3T

HEORETICAL BACKGROUND

... 9

1.4.R

EFERENCE

... 13

CHAPITRE2.METHODOLOGY ... 17

2.1.T

HE EXTENDED CASE METHOD

... 18

2.1.1.R

EFLEXIVITY

... 19

2.1.2.C

ONNECTING THE MICRO TO THE MACRO

... 21

2.1.3.R

ECONSTRUCTION OF THEORY

... 21

2.2.M

ETHODS AND DATA COLLECTION

... 22

2.2.1.T

HE FIELD

:

THE

N

EPALESE ORPHANAGE

... 22

2.2.2 S

ENDING

O

RGANIZATION DESCRIPTION

: ICYE ... 27

2.2.3 P

ARTICIPANT OBSERVATION

... 30

2.2.4 I

NTERVIEWS

... 34

2.2.5.S

OCIAL MEDIA

... 36

2.3.C

ONCLUSION

... 36

2.4.R

EFERENCES

... 37

CHAPITRE3.VOLUNTEER TOURISM MYSTIFICATION: A GLOBAL CAPITALISM WITH A HUMAN FACE ... 38

3.1.D

EBATE ON VOLUNTEER TOURISM

... 39

3.1.1.V

OLUNTEER TOURISM AS A FORM OF NEO

-

COLONIALISM

... 39

3.1.2.V

OLUNTEER TOURISM AS AN EXPANSION OF NEOLIBERALISM

... 40

3.2.M

ETHODOLOGY

... 41

3.3.A

NALYSIS

... 42

3.3.1.T

HE PRODUCT

: A

PACKAGED POVERTY

... 42

3.3.2.T

HE PRICE

: A

VERY COMPETITIVE STRATEGY

... 45

3.3.3.T

HE

P

LACE

: C

ONSUMING THE

“

THIRD WORLD

” ... 48

3.3.4.T

HE

P

ROMOTION

: O

RGANISATIONS NARRATIVES

:

THE PROMISE

... 53

3.3.4.2 Global action narrative ... 55

3.4.C

ONCLUDING DISCUSSION

... 56

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Table of Contents

iv

3.5.R

EFERENCES

... 58

CHAPITRE 4. CONSUMING POVERTY IN THE VOLUNTEER TOURISM EXPERIENCE: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY IN A NEPALESE ORPHANAGE ... 61

4.1.L

ITERATURE REVIEW

... 62

4.1.1.V

OLUNTEER TOURISM

: A

PRO

-

POOR CONSUMPTION

... 62

4.1.2.T

HE DARK SIDES OF THE VOLUNTEER TOURISM INDUSTRY

... 63

4.2.M

ETHODOLOGY

... 66

4.3.A

NALYSIS

... 69

4.3.1.T

HE REPRESENTATION OF THE OTHER AND THE SELF

... 69

4.3.1.1 .Development and orientalist narrative ... 69

4.3.1.2.Global citizen narrative ... 73

4.3.2.C

ONFRONTATION WITH OTHERNESS

... 77

4.3.2.1 Romantic narrative ... 77

4.3.2.2.Sexuality ... 79

4.3.2.3 The unreliable other: Moralistic narrative ... 81

4.3.3 D

ISILLUSIONMENT NARRATIVE

... 83

4.3.4 A

FTER THE DISILLUSIONMENT

:

PATERNALIST VERSUS REFLEXIVE ATTITUDES

... 86

4.3.4.1 Civilizing mission narrative ... 86

4.3.4.2 Reflexive narrative ... 90

4.4 C

... 91

4.5 R

EFERENCES

... 93

CHAPITRE 5.BEYOND THE SMILE: THE INFRAPOLITICS OF THE HOST IN A NEPALESE ORPHANAGE ... 97

5.1.I

NFRAPOLITICS

... 98

5.2.M

ETHODOLOGY

... 99

5.3.A

NALYSIS

... 100

5.3.1.T

HE UNDERDEVELOPED ME

:

LOCAL SELF

-

DEPICTION

... 101

5.3.2..R

ESISTANCE

: T

HE HIDDEN TRANSCRIPT

... 103

5.3.2.1 Integration’s barrier ... 104

5.3.2.2 Cultural resistance ... 106

5.3.2.3 Volunteers are not qualified ... 108

5.3.3 C

OMPLIANCE

... 109

5.3.3.1 Volunteers are income ... 109

5.3.3.2 Volunteers as ambassador for the orphanage ... 111

5.3.3.3 Social ascension through the language of the powerful ... 113

5.4.C

... 115

5.5.R

EFERENCE

... 116

CHAPITRE 6.LICE WORK. NON-HUMAN TRAJECTORIES IN

VOLUNTEER TOURISM ... 119

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v

6.1.ANT- A

METHODOLOGY OF STORIES

... 123

6.2.T

HE FIELDWORK

... 126

6.3.A

NALYSIS

... 127

6.3.1.S

CRATCH

, S

CRATCH

…I

NTRODUCING THE ACTOR

... 127

6.3.1.1.Configuration I: Western lice ... 128

6.3.1.2.Configuration II: Local lice ... 130

6.3.2.O

RPHANAGE LICE WORKS

- N

EGOTIATING CARE

... 133

6.3.3.T

HE ONTOLOGICAL CHOREOGRAPHY OF VOLUNTEERING

... 137

6.4. C

: V

OLUNTEER EXPERIENCES AND SUBJECTIVITIES AS DISTRIBUTED

... 139

6.5.R

EFERENCE

... 140

CHAPITRE7. CONCLUSION ... 145

7.1.S

UMMARY

... 145

7.2.C

ONTRIBUTIONS

... 147

7.2.1.P

ARADOXES IN VOLUNTEER TOURISM

: R

EALITY OR A

S

TAGE

? ... 149

7.3.L

IMITATIONS

... 152

7.4.F

UTURE RESEARCH

... 154

7.5.R

EFERENCES

... 157

APPENDIXES ... 159

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Résumé

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Résumé

Cette thèse est composée de quatre articles. Elle s'appuie sur la théorie du post colonialisme ainsi que celle du post-développement pour fournir une approche critique et multidimensionnelle visant à comprendre le tourisme bénévole comme un business de la pauvreté. En utilisant la Extended Case Method, une étude ethnographique a été effectuée dans un orphelinat au Népal.

Le premier article propose un aperçu général sur un débat crucial sur le tourisme bénévole centré sur ses dimensions postcoloniale et néolibérale.

L’analyse porte ensuite sur le tourisme volontaire comme cooptation du programme de développement au service d’objectifs capitalistes. Le deuxième article s'appuie sur les approches de la société des individus pour analyser la perspective des volontaires qui partent du Nord vers le Sud. J'ai d'abord souligné les différentes phases de leur parcours pour ensuite identifier les discours postcoloniaux et orientalistes que reflètent leurs récits. Le troisième document mobilise le concept d'infrapoltics pour explorer la perspective des locaux. Dans cet article, est expliqué comment les locaux s'engagent dans une tension dialectique entre compliance et résistance dans leur relation avec les volontaires. Enfin, le dernier texte utilise la théorie de l'acteur-réseau (ANT) pour mettre en évidence le rôle crucial de la rencontre avec la pauvreté matérielle (via le personnage du pou) dans l'expérience du tourisme bénévole, pour l'hôte et plus encore pour l'invité.

Cette dissertation contribue à la littérature critique sur le tourisme bénévole. Elle remet en question des relations de pouvoir souvent préétablies et offre de nouvelles perspectives de compréhension en mobilisant une pluralité de concepts.

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Abstract

This dissertation is composed of four papers. It builds on the postcolonial and post-development theories to provide a critical and a multifaceted approach to understand volunteer tourism as a poverty business. Using an extended case methodology, I held an ethnographic study in an orphanage in Nepal.

The first paper gives an overview of the most crucial debate on volunteer tourism regarding its postcolonial and neoliberal dimensions. I explained how volunteer tourism is a cooptation of the development agenda serving capitalist goals. The second paper builds on the approaches of the society of individuals to analyze the volunteer's perspective. I first highlighted the different phases of their journey, then underlined the postcolonial and post-development discourses appearing in their narratives. The third paper mobilizes the concept of infrapoltics to explore the perspective of the locals. I showed how Nepalese engage in a dialectical tension between compliance and resistance in their relationship with volunteers. Finally, the last paper uses the actor-network theory to highlight the crucial role of material poverty (via the lice character) in shaping the volunteer tourism experience, both for host and even more for guest.

Overall, this dissertation contributes to the critical stream of research on volunteer tourism. This contribution challenges pre-established power relations and offers new insights by mobilizing and combining different concepts.

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Acknowledgement

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Acknowledgement

My journey as a Ph.D. student is coming to an end, a journey that has lasted five years. During these five years of my life, I have learned so much. Today, I am happy and proud that I managed to finalize my thesis in spite of the hard times and all the obstacles. Accomplishing this life project would not have been possible without the help, support, love, and, above all, confidence of many people. This thesis is theirs before being mine!

First, I owe my most profound gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Michel Oris. He made his support available in many ways. When I first met him, I was so desperate, and I had lost confidence in the entire academic system. He welcomed me, comforted me, and agreed to take me on as a Ph.D. student. He told me that his only condition was that I had to find a co-supervisor in my field because we did not belong to the same area of expertise. He ended up devoting his weekends to reading my work and always giving me constructive feedback.

And when he found my papers to be bad, he used to tell me, “I know you’re tired, Amira, but you must revisit this.” He always said this with positivity and never with denigration! I learned a lot from him, not only as a researcher or a great pedagogue, but as a human being.

I would like to thank the members of my jury for their time and precious feedback. My sincere thanks to Prof. Jean-Michel Bonvin, who agreed to chair the jury, and Prof. Jean-François Staszak for being a member of my thesis committee. Both gave me constructive feedback and helped me to rethink some aspects of my dissertation critically. I am also grateful to Prof. Ana-Maria Munar (Copenhagen Business School), who kindly agreed to come from Denmark and be a member of my committee. From the time we met at a tourism conference in 2016, she always showed her support and encouragement. I am looking forward to collaborating and working together on some vibrant topics related to critical tourism studies, gender, and social justice.

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Acknowledgement

I would like to give special thanks to Prof. Carina Ren, who gave me the opportunity to write my first academic article. She has been a mentor and an inspiring figure to me.

Also, I want to thank Prof. Rohit Varman, who invited me to Deakin University in Australia. He provided me with direction and advice and stimulated my critical thinking. My three-month research stay under his supervision was without a doubt the most enriching intellectual journey I have had.

Furthermore, this thesis would not have been possible without the support of the Foundation E. & L. Schmidheiny that gave me a one-year scholarship to pursue my Ph.D. after I was forced to leave my position at the university. I am heartily thankful to Madame Johanne Patenaude, who has always been here to support me and to motivate me. Also, my warmest thanks go to Madame Brigitte Mantilleri for her continuous motivation and for making my voice heard when I was vulnerable. She has always been an inspiring woman to me. Furthermore, I want to express my special thanks to the vice rectors, Prof. Denis Hochstrasser and Prof. Jean-Marc Triscone, for their support. Altogether, these great people made my Ph.D. journey possible.

I am also indebted to many of my colleagues and friends for their support; to Samanta al-yammouni, Alessandro di Benedetto, Jean Gafan, Rami Alzebdieh, Walid shibib, and Nadine Eck. Special thanks to Ozgu Karakulak for her tireless listening and wonderful empowerment advice, to Katia Cecchini for making me laugh in the worst moments, to Rose Hiquet and Johanna Brunneder for their precious friendship, and to Roberto Molinari for his great support and friendship.

Also, I want to express my gratitude to faculty members Sandra Vuadens and Marie José Escudero.

Moreover, I offer my regards and blessings to my friends, first to my dearest friend Inès Mestaoui for her 24-hour availability, her listening, her support, and her patience; to my Turkish sister Saynur Altunten for her time and English

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Acknowledgement

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support; to my traveling soulmate Asma Ayed, who welcomed me during my stay in Vietnam and assisted me many times with English; to Raphaela Linders, who was my home mate for more than two years, for making me speak in English at 7 in the morning, and to all those who believed in me and encouraged me to persevere and finish the thesis.

Lastly, I owe my deepest gratitude to my family, to Malek, Rim, Fethia, and Maryem, to my source of joy and happiness, my little nephew Youssef and dearest cousins Eya, Nour, and Asma, you light up my life! I have been blessed to have such great family; a special thanks to my lovely parents, Dalila and Mekki, for their confidence, help, love, and prayers. Also, to the best brother ever, Aymen, for his tireless support, love, dedication, patience, and understanding.

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Chapitre1.Introduction

The first quarter of 2011 marked the beginning of the Arab revolutions. Tunisia was the first country to revolt. In February 2011, the revolution began in Libya, and thousands of people from all nationalities fled and took refuge in Tunisia. A refugee camp was therefore installed, and many International Organizations came to Tunisia. At the time, I was a volunteer at the Tunisian Red Crescent and I participated as a volunteer on the Tunisian-Libyan borders. Exposure to some dark facets of the humanitarian world was a breaking point for me, marking the end of the era of utopianism for a new age of criticism. It is in this context that I made my decision to start a Ph.D. and work in on volunteering. Which led me to my first interest which was towards the understanding of the concept of volunteering and social work engagement.

This thesis project took me a year later to Switzerland to the University of Geneva in the department of marketing. Then, through interaction with students, I became aware of the phenomenon of volunteer tourism for the first time. Young people who pay to volunteer in developing countries. This was so new to me!.

Nobody would pay to do this in my country. My first internet research showed that this form of tourism is prevalent in western societies. Thus, I shift interest to the study of the volunteer tourism as an emergent market.

My journey in the marketing department lasted three and half years. I learned a lot in terms of teaching, dealing with conflicts and power, but overall I learned how to navigate alone following my wind. After a violent storm and a sinking, I found myself in the land of socioeconomic; a new institute, new faculty (social science) and a new philosophy. While in marketing I was always trying to legitimize my topic and my approach, I found in socioeconomic an encouraging and interdisciplinary environment where I felt comfortable.

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This dissertation is the fruit of this interdisciplinary journey. It has the ambition to offer a critical analysis of volunteer tourism through a dialogue between macro and micro perspectives, demonstrating how individual stories are inscribed in the dynamics of globalization and articulated through market logic.

In the following sections, I present the context of the research, its primary objectives. After which I expose the structure of the dissertation and finally, I explain the theoretical background.

1.1.Research context and objectives

"Never before has man had such a great capacity to control his own environment, to end hunger, poverty, and disease, to banish illiteracy and human misery. We have the power to make the best generation of mankind in the history of the world."

J.F. Kennedy (1963)

The war on poverty has been and still is central to the global geopolitical order.

Used by various dominant ideologies, namely the US (western bloc) and the USSR (communist bloc) during the Cold War, the war against poverty, later translated into development, was the cover of negotiation between countries.

Notably after the World War II and the end of colonialism, development became the new articulation shaping the relationship between the West and the so-called

“Third World." The northern capitalist countries have self-declared that it was their duty to disseminate their technical knowledge to assist the underdeveloped countries to catch up to the western model of society (Rist, 1996).

In this context, the concept of international volunteers was born for the first time when John F Kennedy, in the early 60s, labeled as the US Peace Corps. The idea was to send young American volunteers to the “Third World” to contribute to their development. The concept gained in popularity among young people and generated enthusiasm.

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Later, the mediatisation of humanitarianism through television programs, concerts as well as the use of celebrities as theatrical figures has transformed global and humanitarian work into a theatre of suffering, which can appear appealing, even sexy, especially among young people (Lilie Chouliaraki, 2012).

For example, we can cite Angelina Jolie as the UNHCR goodwill ambassador.

Thus, the global socio-economic issues are no longer only a matter of governments or a political activist fight. They became a matter of concern and action for ‘ordinary' people.

This rise of concern for social inequalities and global ecological problems drives many people to escape the capitalist system and the modern world through different forms of expressions, mainly in consumption which is the reflection and mirror of the contemporary society (Baudrillard, 1998).

Thus, this growing interest and commitment toward social issues lead to the emergence and proliferation of the alternative consumption.

The tourism industry was strongly affected by this shift. The new tourist is not anymore interested in traditional ways of traveling and mass tourism.

Today, the "post-tourist" is looking for more personalized experiences. The hedonism and hyperreality that are the characteristics of postmodern society, where the copy was more real than the real (for example Disneyland) are now replaced by a return to the search for the authentic that is consumed, this time, to make the show (charity spectacle).

The tourism industry seems increasingly fragmented between different niche’s of tourism. Many forms of alternative tourism (Smith & Eadington, 1992) appear, such as responsible tourism, (Wheeller, 1991), sustainable tourism (Wheeller, 1993; Stanford, 2000) and low-impact tourism (Wearing & Neil, 1999), etc. All these new forms of travel have considerations for the environment as well as the wellbeing of local communities to avoid the harmful effects of mass tourism (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2008).

Along with that, other types of tourism involving people who are seeking for adrenaline and thrilling experiences are also in an expansion, or even cultural exchange and softer natural activities are continually gaining in popularity. For

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instance adventure Tourism (Weber, 2001; Buckley, 2006) including physical adventure like hiking and mountain climbing.

Volunteer tourism could be situated between these two forms of travel. It has a moral dimension with a wiliness to share the local life. It offers the perfect formula for a total immersion into a Hero Journey, an experience that combines tourism and volunteerism through participation in social projects in developing countries, such as orphanages, to contribute to poverty alleviation (Wearing, 1991). It allows young people without experience, sometimes also without qualification, to play the role of humanitarian workers during their holidays, reconciling their altruistic motivations (helping the poor) and their self-interest (leisure and self-realization). Volunteer tourism is interesting because it involves two kinds of exoticism. The first form of exoticism is through an encounter with an ‘other’ who is geographically situated on the other side of the earth. Usually, a ‘savage other’ associated with sexuality, romance, and wildness (Said, 1978).

The second form of exoticism is related to the encounter with poverty. While the first form of exoticism is widespread in the tourism industry, the second form is relatively new in tourism.

Volunteer tourism is the fastest growing niche tourism market in the world (Tomazos & Butler, 2010). The market was estimated to be 1.6 billion dollars and a total of 1.6 million volunteer tourists a year in 2008 (TRAM, 2008).

Callanan & Thomas (2005, p.183) claim that “ the late 1990s and early 2000s are now experiencing the ‘volunteer tourism rush’ and that this growth is influenced by increasing ‘guilt-conscious’ society.”

Volunteer tourism is also a very controversial topic, which has rapidly been analyzed in a vastly growing body of literature (Wearing, 2001; Brown &

Morrison, 2003; Guttentag, 2009; Sin, 2009; Palacio, 2010; Conran, 2011;

Mostafanezhad, 2013). The central debate is whether this new form of tourism could be beneficial for all stakeholders, namely the host, guest and sending organizations. Although the previous studies provide essential insights into volunteer tourism, they have mostly been limited to studying one single actor. So far, few studies have tried to adequately identify and cover all relevant actors

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involved in volunteer tourism. Besides, while poverty is fundamental to the volunteer tourism experience, it does not receive enough attention. Even among the critical stream of research that focuses on the commoditization of development and neoliberal agenda, but rarely questioned the legitimacy of volunteer tourism as a trade of poverty (Guttentag, 2009; Sin, 2009; Palacio, 2010; Conran, 2011; Mostafanezhad, 2013).

It is important to underline that volunteer tourism is not only an emergent market, but it is also most probably one of the most intriguing and complex phenomena’s. It captures the paradoxes of our contemporary society many ways. Firstly It reflects the relationship that binds the North to the South and thus illuminates very well the ambiguity of the representations to the other and the self. Second, it demonstrates the relationship between the world and the society, the changes regarding social engagement and hence the new forms of social commitment. Third, it is an excellent example of the depoliticization of significant issues such as social justice by reducing them to a market.

Therefore, studying volunteer tourism from a single angle or by analyzing only an actor is reducing a social phenomenon to a simple consumption’s trend.

Similarly, ignoring the fact that this is a poverty business in a postcolonial world legitimizes and reinforces the neoliberal exploitation and its expansion.

I believe that our job and duty as a researcher is to shed light and understand society's phenomenon to contribute to the global emancipatory project of humanity. Therefore, this research work is inscribed within public sociology.

According to Burawoy (2005, p.7) “Public sociology brings sociology into a conversation with publics, understood as people who are themselves involved in the conversation. It entails, therefore, a double conversation ».

Hence, drawing on post-development theory (Escobar, 1995), postcolonial theory (Said, 1978) as much as on the theory of individual society (especially Ehrenberg, 1994; 1995; 2008), this dissertation aims to fill this gap. I seek to have a holistic and critical approach to analyze the interaction between the main

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actors, namely the volunteers, the host community and the sending organization through a dialogue between a macro and micro perspectives.

Therefore, paper 1 answers the question how is volunteer tourism as poverty’s business packaged to the western society? Paper 2 explores, how young western volunteers consume poverty? Paper 3, takes into consideration the local point of view and attempts to shed lights on what they think about volunteer tourism? And finally, paper 4 examines, to what extent material poverty is central to the volunteer tourist journey?

In the next section, I develop the structure of the thesis and give a small account of the purpose of each paper.

1.2.Structure of the thesis

This dissertation is composed of four main chapters, each devoted to one paper.

In addition to this general introduction, a methodology chapter is also presented just after, and the thesis ends with a concluding global discussion.

Article 1: Volunteer tourism mystification: A global capitalism with a human face

The purpose of this paper is to understand the marketing of volunteer tourism by analyzing the websites of three leading volunteer tourism agencies. The dark side of the volunteer tourism market as a new form of exploitation and colonialism was highlighted both in and outside the academic circle (Wearing &

McGehee, 2013). Although there has been a rise of awareness, the volunteer tourism industry does not seem to be affected by these criticisms. The proliferation of NGOs and travel agencies acting in this field is proof of this. This paper tries to shed light on the veiled postcolonial and neoliberal discourse used by most of the sending organizations.

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Article 2: Consuming poverty in the volunteer tourism experience: An ethnographic study in a Nepalese orphanage

In this article, I drew on insights from both the post-development theory and research on societies of individuals to analyze the volunteer tourism phenomenon based on volunteers' narratives. The focus of this paper is on the way poverty is consumed in the volunteer tourism experience. In my analysis, I tried to explain how these postcolonial patterns are articulated and expressed in both narratives and practices.

Article 3: Beyond the smile: The infrapolitics of the host in a Nepalese orphanage

Central to the volunteer tourism experience is the encounter with the host community. Despite this fundamental role, most of the research is focused on the volunteers, while little attention is paid to the local community (Wearing &

McGehee, 2013). A beneficiary or exploited, the local community is often conceptualized as an object of action and not as active. The locals play the role of the submissive. I try to challenge this stable configuration of power, applying Scott's (1990) concept of Infra politic, to analyze local narratives and practices while emphasizing their everyday resistance.

Article 4: Lice work. Non-human trajectories in volunteer tourism

In this article, I study volunteer tourism by following the trajectories of a non- human actor. Based on fieldwork at a Nepalese orphanage and drawing on ANT, we describe how the louse interferes as an unexpected actor with volunteer tourism at the orphanage. We first analyze two configurations of head lice enacted through a Western morality of hygiene and Nepalese everyday life and show how these are deployed, contested and reconfigured onsite by volunteer tourism actors. By exploring patterns of absences and presences and using the concept of ontological choreography, I describe how these two configurations are challenged at the orphanage and how the situated orphanage lice work, offers new ways to explore how volunteer experiences and subjectivities are forged.

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Table 1: Synoptic Table of Dissertation Articles

Article 1 Article 2 Article 3 Article 4

Title

Volunteer tourism mystification: A global capitalism with a human

face

Consuming poverty in the volunteer tourism experience: An ethnographic

study in a Nepalese orphanage

Beyond the smile: The infrapolitics of the host in a

Nepalese orphanage

Lice work. Non-human trajectories in volunteer tourism

Research focus

Understand the marketing of volunteer tourism by analyzing in deep three sending organization’s

websites.

How is poverty sold to young western?

Understand the way poverty is consumed in the volunteer

tourism experience How poverty consumed?

Analyze the infra-politics of hosts and their veiled

tactics of resistance.

What locals think about VT?

Underline the role of the non-human actor in the VT using ANT.

How poverty shapes the volunteer tourism experience?

Author(s) Amira Benali Amira Benali Amira Benali Amira benali& Carina

Ren

Status

Submitted as a competitive paper to the peer review Consumer Culture Theory

conference

Submitted to Journal of Macromarketing

Abstract accepted: the XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology in the session

"Tourism is just another name of Power."

Submitted to Journal of Tourist studies

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1.3Theoretical background

In this dissertation, a combination of theories and concepts are used to make a step further in our understanding of the volunteer tourism phenomena (see Figure 1 for a mapping). Each of the four main articles composing this thesis mobilizes a particular concept or theory to answer its research questions and ultimately, the four research questions of this dissertation. All four papers take postcolonialism as the main macro context in which volunteer tourism is shaped.

In particular, post-development theory will be our main lens of analysis.

The post-development discourse calls into question the concept of development as a way to achieve universal progress. Escobar (1995) and many other critical researchers (e.g. Rist, 1996; Rahnema & Bawtree 1997 and al.) suggest that development discourse creates the "underdevelopment" countries and allows

"first world" countries to subjugate the others. The development discourse is based on two principal vectors: normalization and otherness. First, it suggests that third world countries need to follow the west to progress. The universality of the idea of progress helps to hierarchize countries and divides the world between developed and underdeveloped countries. The lack of advanced technology and the non-conformity with the capitalist way of life is seen as a sign of backwardness.

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Figure 1: Theoretical framework

Postcolonial theory Post-development theory

Organizatio n

Actor-network theory

Society of individuals Hero’s Journey Global Citizenship

Infrapolitic s

Interactionism

Volunteer

s Local

Poverty Business

Article 4 Article

2 Article 1

Article 3

Non-human Lice

Macro

Micro

Extended case Method (ECM)

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The second vector is otherness; the development discourse is based on the division between the developed and the underdeveloped countries. The other belongs to another category of people that need assistance.

I used an interactionism perspective as a way to construct and generate knowledge. In his seminal work, the presentation of self in everyday life (1978), Ervin Goffman shows that our life is a stage where individuals play different roles according to situations and the part of their personality they want to present to others. In the same vein, Deighton’s (1992) suggests that marketplace is a performance where both consumer and producer perform a role. Indeed, the unit of analysis of the actor’s narratives and practices was centered on their relationship with each other.

The dialectic between these two levels of analysis namely the macro and the micro or the global and the individual was facilitated by the use of concepts and other theories. On the one hand, these concepts are the patterns of analysis bringing observations and narratives from a micro level to a conceptual level. On the other hand, they are the articulation of the global forces into the everyday practices.

First, I used Actor-Network Theory, (Law 1992; Law et al., 1999; Latour, 1996;

2005), more as a methodology to identify the different actors involved in the volunteer tourism experience. However, I mobilized ANT mainly in paper 4, through the character of the head louse as a non-human actor, to shed light on the central role of the material poverty. Another theoretical lens was the society of individuals, particularly the work of Alain Ehrenberg (1994; 1995; 2008).

Ehrenberg (1994) suggests that consumption has recycled the ideals of the liberation movement of the seventies and build on it a model of personal realization and freedom where everyone could create her/his one spectacle to show who she/he is. The popularity of reality shows such, as "The Voice" is one of the most obvious examples of this transformation. The society of individuals was particularly useful to explain part of the popularization of the volunteer tourism phenomenon. Along with this theory, I used the concepts of hero journey and global citizenship to analyze the narratives of both volunteers (paper 2) and

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sending organizations (article 1) which illuminates the logic behind some volunteer's motivations as well as the archetypical images used by the sending agencies to hire new clients.

Finally, in article 3, I used the concept of infrapolitics (Scott, 1990) to enlighten the micro resistances tactics of locals in the orphanage and hence bringing the voice of the local to the stage.

While this dissertation uses different concepts and theories to grasp the complexity of the volunteer tourism phenomenon, some connections and relationships need further analysis. For instance, the relationship between the local project and local organizations, as well as the relationship between the local projects and the sending agencies need to be studied. Unfortunately, the time limitation prevents me from exploring these connections. As they said, a good thesis is a finished thesis.

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1.4.Reference

Baudrillard, J. (1998). Société de consommation: Ses mythes, ses structures (Vol. 53). Sage.

Brown, S., & Morrison, A. M. (2003). Expanding volunteer vacation participation an exploratory study on the mini-mission concept. Tourism Recreation Research, 28(3), 73-82.

Buckley,R.C. (2006) Adventure Tourism. Oxford: CAB International.

Burawoy, M. (2005). For public sociology. American Sociological Review, 70(1), 4-28.

Callanan, M., & Thomas, S. (2005). Volunteer tourism. In M. Novelli (Eds.), Niche tourism, (pp.183-200). Oxford, Great Britain: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Chouliaraki, L. (2012). The theatricality of humanitarianism: a critique of celebrity advocacy. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 9(1), 1-21.

Conran, M. (2011). They really love me!: Intimacy in volunteer tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(4), 1454-1473.

Deighton, J. (1992). The consumption of performance. Journal of Consumer Research, 19(3), 362-372.

Ehrenberg, A. (1994). Le culte de la performance. Paris, Calmann-Lévy.

Ehrenberg, A. (1995). L'individu incertain. Paris, Calmann-Lévy.

Ehrenberg, A. (2008). La fatigue d'être soi: dépression et société. Paris : Odile Jacob.

Callanan, M., & Thomas, S. (2005). Volunteer tourism. In M. Novelli (Eds.), Niche tourism, (pp.183-200). Oxford, Great Britain: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Escobar, A. (1995). Imagining a post-development era. In J. Crush (Eds.), Power of development,(pp. 211-227). London, Great Britatin: Routledge.

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Guttentag, D. A. (2009). The possible negative impacts of volunteer tourism.

International Journal of Tourism Research, 11(6), 537-551.

Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2008). Justice tourism and alternative globalisation. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 16(3), 345-364.

Jenkins, R. (2005). Globalization, corporate social responsibility, and poverty.

International Affairs, 81(3), 525-540.

Latour, B. (1996). On actor-network theory. A few clarifications plus more than a few complications. Soziale Welt, 47(4), 369-381.

Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling The Social: An Introduction To Actor-Network- Theory. Oxford: Oxford university press.

Law, J. (1992). Notes on the theory of the actor-network: Ordering, strategy, and heterogeneity. Systems Practice, 5(4), 379-393.

Law, J., & Hassard, J. (1999). Actor Network Theory And After. Oxford, Great Britain: Blackwell.

Mostafanezhad, M. (2013). The geography of compassion in volunteer tourism.

Tourism Geographies, 15(2), 318-337.

Mostafanezhad, M. (2013). The politics of aesthetics in volunteer tourism.

Annals of Tourism Research, 43, 150-169.

Palacios, C. M. (2010). Volunteer tourism, development, and education in a postcolonial world: Conceiving global connections beyond aid. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 18(7), 861-878.

Rahnema, M., & Bawtree, V. (1997). The Post-development Reader. London&

New Jersey, Zed Books.

Rist, G. (1996). Le développement. Histoire d'une croyance occidentale. Paris, Sciences Po

Said, E. (1978). Orientalism: Western representations of the Orient. New York, Pantheon.

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Scott, J. C. (1990). Domination And The Arts Of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts.

Ann Harbor, MI, Yale university press.

Sin, H. L. (2009). Volunteer tourism—“involve me and I will learn”?. Annals of Tourism Research, 36(3), 480-501.

Smith, V. L., & Eadington, W. R. (Eds.). (1992). Tourism Alternatives: Potentials And Problems In The Development Of Tourism.Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Stanford, D. (2000). A review of the education of tourists to achieve sustainable tourism. Unpublished Masters Thesis, Lancaster: Lancaster University.

Tomazos, K., & Butler, R. (2010). The volunteer tourist as ‘hero’. Current Issues in Tourism, 13(4), 363-380.

Tourism Research and Marketing (TRAM). (2008). Volunteer Tourism: A Global Analysis: a Report. Atlas.

Wearing, S. (2001). Volunteer Tourism: Experiences That Make A Difference.

Trowbridge, Great Britain: Cabi.

Wearing, S., & McGehee, N. G. (2013). Volunteer tourism: A review. Tourism Management, 38, 120-130.

Wearing, S., & Neil, J. (1999). Ecotourism: Impacts. Potentials and Possibilities.

Hungary: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Weber, K. 2001 Outdoor adventure tourism: A review of research approaches.

Annals of Tourism Research, 28(2), 363–380.

Wheeller, B. (1993). Sustaining the ego. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1(2), 121-129.

Peace Corps n.d. Retrived from https://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in- History/Peace-Corps.aspx

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Chapitre2.Methodology

The understanding of the volunteer tourism phenomenon requires a deep analysis of the lived experience in order to grasp the internal dynamics that govern the relationship between guest and host. A qualitative approach methodology was adopted (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994). Ethnography was used as it allows the immersion in the daily life of social groups or communities and thus, the understanding of their social and cultural environment including their roles, activities and rules (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007).

An important challenge to this study was the length of the ethnography. It took only two months over two periods of time. This is certainly one of the limitations of this study. This is due to my teaching duties and relational with my first supervisor at that time. The study was mostly on my own cost and during my holidays. The only support I had was from a Swiss foundation for the second study. Moreover, in terms of the robustness of this ethnography, it is important to note that this ethnography is not about Nepal, it is rather about a volunteer tourism journey. From that point of view, it is important to note that in average a volunteer tourism journey lasts one month, so my stay was to some extent representative to a typical journey in an orphanage. Finally I used several methods of data collection such as Facebook and blogs that allowed me to see how volunteers live this experience from a different perspective. I was also involved in the orphanage’s life even after I left and was considered part of the family. The contact with the orphanage and volunteers never stopped.

Eventually, studying this phenomenon from different perspectives and in different contexts allowed me to overcome some of the study’s limitations and led to a better understanding and interpretation of the data.

Another crucial point is the immediate acknowledgment that a reflexive ethnographic approach is imperative. Indeed, the analysis of a specific culture in a particular time and space while disregarding the macro context is not relevant in the case of volunteer tourism.

In fact, beyond being an alternative tourism market under the moral economy umbrella (Mostafanezhad, 2013), the volunteer tourism is a contemporary

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phenomenon reflecting a societal shift on the local and global scales (Butcher &

Smith, 2015). First, just like other forms of tourism, it links the global north to the global south under a specific power relationship. Second, it involves a very intimate interaction between individuals articulated through volunteering, which is embedded in a development discourse. Third, it reflects the contemporary society of individuals under the rise of autonomy and the culture of performance (Ehrenberg, 1994). Consequently, a micro level analysis could not be truthful without taking into consideration the global forces and macro connections that shape the individual experience. In order to overcome this challenge, I adopt the extended case method (ECM).

In the next section, I will introduce the ECM and its main features, with reference mainly to the work of Burawoy (1991; 1998; 2009). Then I will give a detailed account on the field and the methods of data collection.

2.1.The extended case method

“The extended case method applies reflexive science to ethnography in order to extract the general from the unique, to move from micro to macro, to connect the present to the past in anticipation to the future, all by building on persisting theories” (Burawoy, 1998, p.5)

The Extended Case Method (Van Velsen, 1967; Burawoy, 1991; 1998; 2009) is a methodology adopting a reflexive model of science using the participant’s observation as technique of research. Like Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1994, it aims to contribute to theory, not by trying to generate new ones, but by suggesting the reconstruction of the existing theories.

ECM is based on three main elements. First reflexivity, it recognizes and highlights the intersubjectivity of the researcher and the subjects under study.

Second, ECM celebrates the deepness and richness of the knowledge generated from particular cases and micro analysis in reconstructing existing theories. Thus, the uniqueness of each case is what drives to reconstruct and revisit existing theories. Third, while interpretative research in general disregards

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the macro context, ECM builds a bridge between the micro process and the macro forces. It stipulates that global forces shape the micro process and individual situations.

2.1.1.Reflexivity

The ECM’s main feature is the adoption of a reflexive model of science to explain and analyse phenomena; a “model of science that embraces not detachment but engagement as the road to knowledge” (Burawoy, 1998, p. 5).

To be honest, I was not fully conscious of taking a reflexive approach when I started my PhD. I was trying to convince myself that I was neutral and that I had no theoretical background that could interfere and bias my interpretation. I was also claiming being apolitical; being only interested in the individuals’ stories. In fact I was trying to be an ideal researcher as I was taught at school. Once on the ground I was asking myself if I was not taking part and influencing, somehow the experience of the other volunteers and locals. Sometimes, I was forcing myself to wear a mask and avoided even to react to some situations. But it was not possible. During my stay there, I lived with the locals, participated in the everyday life of the orphanage and took care of the kids. I took part in this very skinny matrix and got sick because of the cold water and the lice invasion. I had to share my life, my room and my stock of Swiss chocolate with the people I was studying. I also had to support Charlotte and wait for an email from her lover, and to convince Alison to stop consuming cannabis. I did all that while staying in that orphanage in Nepal. And overall, before being a researcher, I am a Tunisian woman, coming from the south to study the south in a western university. I am a woman from the south who, witnessed the Arab revolutions and worked in a refugee camp. After all, isn’t this global context of revolution, international aid intervention and personal engagement in Tunisian Red Crescent that motivates this PhD?

Obviously I was trying to apply a positivist approach to my participant observation. Again, it was not possible and not even recommended.

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Reflexive science and ECM, in contrast, engage in a productive dialogue between observer and informants. Intersubjectivity is considered as a ”gold mine” of information as it sheds light on hidden stories that could not be reached without proximity with informants (Burawoy, 2009). The uniqueness is extracted from this active engagement, and this is what Burawoy (1998; 2009) calls intervention.

However, the researcher has to be aware of her/his own engagement and the domination position within the context of study. “The intervening social science cannot avoid domination, both dominating and being dominated. Entry is often a prolonged and surreptitious power struggle between the intrusive outsider and resisting insider” (Burawoy, 2009; p.56).

In my ethnography, I had different domination relationships with my informants.

My status as a researcher and university teacher gave me some credibility and power with both volunteers and locals. I was respected and my advices were taken seriously. However, it was also for some informants a source of wariness.

Charlotte for example confessed that as soon as she knew that I was a researcher; she started being careful as she felt under observation. It was the same with the orphanage members. It was clear that I had a superior position compared to other volunteers but I also shared some intimate moments with them. The fact that I look like Indian, that I was always underlying my country of origin also helped to establish closer ties with them. At the same time, I was the oldest among the volunteers -almost nine years difference- and as mentioned; I was the “most educated” among all.

It is important to note that these particular relationships were very inspiring and helped me to shed light on some new sides of the volunteer tourism experience that were not reported in previous studies. The uniqueness of each situation informs the existing theory. In the following section, I will describe the second element of ECM.

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2.1.2.Connecting the micro to the macro

Unlike the grounded theory, ECM does not look for similarities among different cases to generate theories. It rather highlights anomalous cases that were dismissed by previous works. It then challenges existing work and try to reformulate/ reconstruct theories. “In constituting a social situation as unique, the extended case method pays attention to its depth and thickness. Causality then becomes multiplex, involving an individual connectedness of elements, tying the social situation to its context of determination” (Burawoy, 1991, p. 281).

Particular situations are then analyzed in depth and interpreted in their context of production. Thus, ECM links the micro process to the macro forces that shape them.

In my Ethnography for example, the volunteer tourism experience in an orphanage in Nepal is examined in relation to development discourse and the postcolonial context in general. Other theories are also used to illuminate the understanding of the experience. For example the Actor Network Theory (ANT) is used to show how the material poverty is central to the experience of volunteerism. The incident of having head lice, an unexpected case, informed the necessity to consider the non-human actors while problematizing this phenomenon. But in order to understand why it is important, it was fundamental to interpret this situation considering the power relationship between guest and host. This is how existing knowledge is challenged and alternative interpretation and linkage between micro and macro reconstruct theories.

2.1.3.Reconstruction of theory

Qualitative research and ethnography usually confront the critic of not being able to generate theories and generalities. ECM and Grounded theory have both tried to overcome this fundamental critic. Grounded theory uses a generic approach by comparing cases and gathers similarities to generate new theory. ECM has another way to consider theory; as explained before, it rather follows a genetic approach (Burawoy, 1991); it seeks anomalies, and distinctive cases and

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differences to challenge existing theories and reconstruct/ reformulate them. It actually draws on existing theories in order to understand a particular social situation. “The importance of the single case lies in what it tells us about society as a whole rather than about the population of similar cases” (Burawoy, 1991;

p.281).

For example, when one of my local informants told me that his children’s English is better than the one of normal people, I had to consider the postcolonial context and the particularity of Nepalese society based on caste system to enlighten his narrative and understand how locals perceive international volunteers and why learning English is so important in today’s world.

Overall, ECM advocates for extending theories and continually challenges existing knowledge rather than creating a new one. In the next section I will continue with a description of the field.

2.2.Methods and data collection

The data was collected progressively during the four years of research, following the theoretical insights and the evolution of the research questions. I draw on a range of data, involving participant observation, informal conversation, interviews and also virtual data (Facebook and blogs). Two field studies were conducted in an orphanage in Nepal over two periods of time. In addition, I was actively engaged in a sending organization in Switzerland, at first as a participant in a volunteer tourism program, then as a facilitator giving information session to potential volunteer tourists.

2.2.1.The field: the Nepalese orphanage

As said above I carried my ethnography in an orphanage in Nepal. To follow the volunteer tourist experience from the starting point, the field of study was selected in the same way, as a person who was looking for an international volunteer experience for the first time would do. The only criterion for the search was the destination, in this case Nepal, as it is one of the most common

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destinations for volunteer tourism. It’s a country known for its extreme poverty, and also as one of the most attractive destination for trekking because of its geographic position, landlocked in Himalaya and having the top of the word, the Mount Everest. Apart from this, the online search and hits served as tools to inform the final choice, as would have done another volunteer.

After thorough search on the Internet, I selected an international organization, which offered opportunities for young people to go abroad for intercultural understanding.

Two months of ethnographic fieldwork were carried out in an orphanage called HOPAD (Helpless, Orphan, Poor, Affected, and Dalits) Child & Women Promotion Society. The study was done over two periods of time from December 2013 to January 2014 and from January 2015 to February 2015.

HOPAD is a non-governmental organization (NGO) located in Kathmandu valley, in a small village near to Patan in the district of Lalitpur (Photo1). The orphanage has twenty-one kids ranging from three to eighteen years old. Some of the children have one living parent or even two and have been abandoned.

This is very common in Nepal due to the socio economic conditions. (See table 1). The president of HOPAD lives with his family in the same building with the orphans. A caring mother who is in charge of the kids and cooking for them is living as well in the orphanage. She is actually the president’s sister. (See appendix 1 for more information about HOPAD)

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Photo 1: The orphanage's location Photo 2: A photo of the orphanage’s building

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Photo 3: The orphanage’s family

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Table 2 : orphan's socioeconomic characteristic

Name Gender Status of Guardian (alive/Dead/Disabled)

Age Grade Caste

Male Female Alive Dang 18 Nursing Chettri

Child 1 M orphan (Unknown) HOPAD 18 12

Child 2 F orphan HOPAD 15 10

Ethnic group

Child 3 M M. Death F.r alive Rukum 16 10 Chhetri

Child 4 M Alive Pyuthan 16 10 Chhetri

Child 5 M Alive Pyuthan 15 9 Chhetri

Child 6 M Father unknown & Dang 15 8 Chhetri

Child 7 F Death (orphan) Humla 14 8 Chhetri

Child 8 F Alive Humla 13 6 Dalit

Child 10 M Death ( orphan) Pyuthan 14 5 Chhetri

Child 11 F Death ( orphan) Dang 11 4 Dalit

Child 12 M orphan HOPAD 6 UKG Unknown

Child 13 M orphan HOPAD 9 2 Unknown

Child 14 F orphan HOPAD 9 1 Unknown

Child 15 F orphan HOPAD 10 1 Unknown

Child 17 M Alive Dang 15 9 Chhetri

Child 18 F orphan HOPAD 17 7 Dalit

Child 20 F Fat.death Mo. Alive Salyan 16 7 Unknown

Child 21 F Chhetri

As shown Table 1, the population of orphans echoes the complex composition and internal hierarchy of the Nepalese society. The population of Nepal is

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divided between the mountains and the hills, the district of Lalitpur being located in the second region where Hinduism and the caste system are dominating. Half of the children belong to the Chhetri caste that makes 41% of the inhabitants in the hills and was dominating Nepal until the recent end of monarchy. Below those “pure” are the members of the tribes, of the ethnic groups originally living in the mountains, and even below – or excluded – are the impure, the Dalits or

“untouchables”. Three orphans are Dalits while only 3% of Lalitpur population has this status . We can guess that most of the six children of unknown origin belong or to the ethnic groups or to the Dalits. But it is just an interpretation. It remains true that in HOPAD they all live under the same roof and eat the same food together. That explains why I was not immediately aware of this dimension of the Nepalese society.

2.2.2 Sending Organization description: ICYE

ICYE, which is the abbreviation of International Cultural Youth Exchange, was chosen based on some criteria such us transparency and equal traveling opportunity.

ICYE was created in 1949 by a group of young German who were hosted by families in US. The organization was created and since many countries had joined. The initial program was launched after the World War two as an initiative from the United State of America ministry of cultural affairs to restore the relationship between the two countries. Now ICYE is present in 38 countries both from the south and the north. In that sense, in contrast to most of the volunteer tourism organizations, the exchange experience is reciprocal and bilateral.

ICYE has a database with many international exchange opportunities across the world. It is possible to choose the country and the type of project (education, gender, journalism…).

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So in my case, I chose the volunteering in an orphanage; (HOPAD) in Nepal.

Once the project chosen, I have completed an application form. (see an example of the form on appendix 2) Then, a phone interview was fixed for the short-term trip (one month to 4 months). In my case the interview lasted one hour, the program coordinator asked me many questions such as my motivations, my expectations, how I think I can be useful etc. Then, I attended a collective briefing session in Bern where I met other volunteers going to different destinations. Two volunteers who have done the same experience animated the briefing session. The overall idea of this session was around intercultural exchange and the importance of the learning dimension. They also gave us more information about the money distribution. They explained that 50% of the money stayed in ICYE Swiss to allow people from other countries, in particular, the global South to come to Switzerland. As explained, ICYE aims to give equal chances for all the countries to join the program, Participant pay according to the living cost of their countries of origin and not the hosting countries. This way for example, the volunteer from Switzerland pays for the volunteer from Peru and reciprocally, the volunteer from Peru pay for the one from Switzerland.

I paid 1260 CHF for 5 weeks in Nepal including accommodation and insurance but not the flight ticket neither the visa fee. (See the contract on appendix 3) After my journey I was invited to a post trip debriefing with other volunteers, the idea of the debriefing journey is to talk about our experiences and give our feedback.

Further involvement with ICYE

The participation in an exchange programme with ICYE includes an annual membership in the organization and gives the right to some activities and the reimbursement of the transport fees each time a workshop is organized. It also means you become a volunteer and ICYE could call you to animate information sessions or make interviews or even host volunteers. In my case I was called many times to animate information sessions in French, I was able to participate only 2 times, as the session takes place usually in Lausanne during the week after 17:00.