people and places
people and places offers a service of integrity to thinking people - people who want to use their skills and experience and know where and how their money is spent.
Winner of the 2009 Virgin Responsible Tourism Awards citation
"people and places has exercised leadership in a sector bedevilled by poor practice and established a replicable business model. Committed to reporting transparently on the money that volunteers pay, they ensure that the volunteers meet their full costs and are not a burden on the community; and carefully match the skills of volunteers to the needs of that community without replacing local labour. They have taken the ground breaking step of having their work externally audited and publishing it online. These four principles set not only a practicable standard for operators to aspire to, but offer valuable guidelines for tourists seeking legitimate and socially beneficial volunteering experiences.”
peopleand places match volunteer skillT to local need in Africa and Asia, enabling volunteers and local communities to gain mutual benefits. We work with overseas partners – local people who are part of their community. We offer a service of integrity to thinking people who want to use their skills and experience to make a real difference, and know exactly where and how their money is spent. We operate with full transparency in all that we do, including financial transparency, and our local partners have committed to that same transparency.
Ethical Policy
people and places was established to recruit and place volunteers in local projects run by local people for the benefit of their communities and environment. people and places is not run for the benefit of shareholders. All profits after operating expenses are covenanted to the charity TravelPledge and used to serve the needs of the communities we work with. people and places serves the needs of local projects, by recruiting and placing volunteers on their behalf. We have no political or religious affiliations.
Our core values are mutual respect, service, partnership, transparency and sustainability [1 see below]. We believe that people who are willing and able to contribute their experience, time and money for the benefit of others should be provided with quality volunteering opportunities and be well supported throughout.
Individual projects are proposed by our local partners and discussed with people and places before we start to recruit and place volunteers. Our partners are local people who are part of their local community; they ensure that the volunteering experience is good for the community and/or their environment, as well as for the volunteers for whom they provide a high level of care. We screen ALL volunteers through the Disclosure Service of the UK Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the equivalent for volunteers who are nationals of other countries.
people and places is overseen by an Advisory Committee that includes former volunteers, as well as professionals and experts in the fields of education, health care, social work, wildlife and the environment.
Social Responsibility
Our starting point for every one of the projects is the local community – the needs of the community and the local project are paramount. Only with a comprehensive understanding of the community and the project will
people and places match volunteers to placements.
Along with our partners overseas, we exercise due diligence on each project before we offer placements for volunteers. We also exercise due diligence in the matching of people and places – each volunteer is individually matched to each individual project. people and places uses the Disclosure Service of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).We ensure that enhanced screening will take place for every volunteer working.
The sustainability of your volunteer input is vital. Each project is programme-driven to ensure its sustainability and avoid dependency. Our volunteer placements do not reduce, inhibit or jeopardise local employment.
people and places volunteers work alongside local employees, not instead of them.
Each volunteer is comprehensively prepared for the new cultural experience. We ensure that appropriate reading matter is recommended, there is a full pre-placement briefing, and in-situ orientation briefing regarding basic language, local customs etc.
people and places is committed to equal opportunities, and strives to locate appropriate experiences for less physically able volunteers.
Economic Responsibility
The cost of your volunteer placement is paid directly to the relevant local partner team. people and places is paid a fee by the project for which we provide our recruitment and placement service.
We practise financial transparency in our working practices. Each project is costed individually, and you will receive an explanation of how and where your money is spent.
Included in the placement cost is a donation to the project, ensuring that appropriate labour, materials etc can be paid for in support of the volunteer's work. Details of these donations and what the money will be spent on are provided separately for each placement.
We ensure that as high a percentage as possible of all volunteer spend benefits the local community and remains within that community. We recommend locally owned accommodation, and ensure that wherever possible all board, food, transport, supplies etc. are sourced, bought and paid for locally.
Environmental Responsibility
In our office we reduce, reuse and recycle paper. We use recycled paper and keep print to a minimum. We recycle our ink cartridges through The Woodland Trust. We encourage our local partners to adopt similar environmental policies. However, local voluntary initiatives may sometimes find it difficult to adopt these practises.
We work with environmental and alternative technology projects.
We encourage volunteers to offset carbon emissions from their flights through Friends of Conservation or The Woodland Trust
our responsibility to projects
We provide selected and screened volunteers with the appropriate skills to assist projects. We work with our local partners to meet their needs for a sustainable flow of volunteers to maintain and develop their local projects.
We provide briefing in the UK which complements the in-country briefing provided by the project management teams, and we enable returned volunteers to network together and to be in contact with volunteers going out to the same projects.
our responsibility to volunteers
We work to ensure that your volunteer experience is as safe, meaningful and worthwhile as possible. Each volunteer has full 24-hour emergency contact details and support from the local team backed up by UK support from people and places.
We provide high quality volunteer experiences and take your feedback seriously. It helps us to enhance the volunteer experience and to maximise the positive impact of the volunteer contributions.
We encourage volunteers to network with each other and produce a regular electronic newsletter to assist this process.
[1] We are aware that there is a 'radical' critique of volunteering as neo-colonialism. Sometimes this critique goes beyond name calling. We are happy to debate our practise - only through critical reflection and debate can we further develop and refine our approach.
We have - voluntarily – undergone an independent audit carried out by The Responsible Tourism Partnership –our claims in our responsible travel policy have been checked and double checked,Read the report here.
We are the first organisation to complete such an audit with The Responsible Tourism Partnership, who are currently working on a number of other such audits - but we are the trail blazers!.
people and places was established to recruit and place volunteers in local projects run by local people for the benefit of their communities and environment. people and places is not run for the benefit of shareholders. All profits after operating expenses are covenanted to the charity TravelPledge and used to serve the needs of the communities we work with. people and places serves the needs of local projects, by recruiting and placing volunteers on their behalf. We have no political or religious affiliations.
Our core values are mutual respect, service, partnership, transparency and sustainability [1 see below]. We believe that people who are willing and able to contribute their experience, time and money for the benefit of others should be provided with quality volunteering opportunities and be well supported throughout.
Individual projects are proposed by our local partners and discussed with people and places before we start to recruit and place volunteers. Our partners are local people who are part of their local community; they ensure that the volunteering experience is good for the community and/or their environment, as well as for the volunteers for whom they provide a high level of care. We screen ALL volunteers through the Disclosure Service of the UK Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the equivalent for volunteers who are nationals of other countries.
people and places is overseen by an Advisory Committee that includes former volunteers, as well as professionals and experts in the fields of education, health care, social work, wildlife and the environment.
Social Responsibility
Our starting point for every one of the projects is the local community – the needs of the community and the local project are paramount. Only with a comprehensive understanding of the community and the project will
people and places match volunteers to placements.
Along with our partners overseas, we exercise due diligence on each project before we offer placements for volunteers. We also exercise due diligence in the matching of people and places – each volunteer is individually matched to each individual project. people and places uses the Disclosure Service of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).We ensure that enhanced screening will take place for every volunteer working.
The sustainability of your volunteer input is vital. Each project is programme-driven to ensure its sustainability and avoid dependency. Our volunteer placements do not reduce, inhibit or jeopardise local employment.
people and places volunteers work alongside local employees, not instead of them.
Each volunteer is comprehensively prepared for the new cultural experience. We ensure that appropriate reading matter is recommended, there is a full pre-placement briefing, and in-situ orientation briefing regarding basic language, local customs etc.
people and places is committed to equal opportunities, and strives to locate appropriate experiences for less physically able volunteers.
Economic Responsibility
The cost of your volunteer placement is paid directly to the relevant local partner team. people and places is paid a fee by the project for which we provide our recruitment and placement service.
We practise financial transparency in our working practices. Each project is costed individually, and you will receive an explanation of how and where your money is spent.
Included in the placement cost is a donation to the project, ensuring that appropriate labour, materials etc can be paid for in support of the volunteer's work. Details of these donations and what the money will be spent on are provided separately for each placement.
We ensure that as high a percentage as possible of all volunteer spend benefits the local community and remains within that community. We recommend locally owned accommodation, and ensure that wherever possible all board, food, transport, supplies etc. are sourced, bought and paid for locally.
Environmental Responsibility
In our office we reduce, reuse and recycle paper. We use recycled paper and keep print to a minimum. We recycle our ink cartridges through The Woodland Trust. We encourage our local partners to adopt similar environmental policies. However, local voluntary initiatives may sometimes find it difficult to adopt these practises.
We work with environmental and alternative technology projects.
We encourage volunteers to offset carbon emissions from their flights through Friends of Conservation or The Woodland Trust
our responsibility to projects
We provide selected and screened volunteers with the appropriate skills to assist projects. We work with our local partners to meet their needs for a sustainable flow of volunteers to maintain and develop their local projects.
We provide briefing in the UK which complements the in-country briefing provided by the project management teams, and we enable returned volunteers to network together and to be in contact with volunteers going out to the same projects.
our responsibility to volunteers
We work to ensure that your volunteer experience is as safe, meaningful and worthwhile as possible. Each volunteer has full 24-hour emergency contact details and support from the local team backed up by UK support from people and places.
We provide high quality volunteer experiences and take your feedback seriously. It helps us to enhance the volunteer experience and to maximise the positive impact of the volunteer contributions.
We encourage volunteers to network with each other and produce a regular electronic newsletter to assist this process.
[1] We are aware that there is a 'radical' critique of volunteering as neo-colonialism. Sometimes this critique goes beyond name calling. We are happy to debate our practise - only through critical reflection and debate can we further develop and refine our approach.
We have - voluntarily – undergone an independent audit carried out by The Responsible Tourism Partnership –our claims in our responsible travel policy have been checked and double checked,Read the report here.
We are the first organisation to complete such an audit with The Responsible Tourism Partnership, who are currently working on a number of other such audits - but we are the trail blazers!.
Social Networks
people and places is listed in the following categories
Travel & Holidays / Volunteering HolidaysTravel & Holidays / Ethical Holidays
Charities & Campaigns / Campaigns & Voluntary Work
