Values
Everybody Benefits
Volunteering and participating builds skills, experience and confidence. It heightens self-awareness and self-esteem and it facilitates an exchange which helps develop ideas about our place in the world: the important words to add here are “for everybody”.
Our experience is that by connecting people in a positive way we have enriched lives. We ensure principles of empowerment and equality in everything we do, including with respect to the beneficiaries, our staff, volunteers and school groups.
Meeting someone from another country, spending time together and realising that underneath it all we’re all the same, empowers and motivates people to think about their lives and change their circumstances. These interactions are very powerful and emotional for all parties, and over the years we’ve seen some incredible stories come out of those visits.
However a trip abroad may involve visiting people whose rights have been abused or have had their rights limited or even removed. For example, it is a shock to meet people who don’t have access to basic rights like a proper standard of living or an education. Those people undeniably need more ‘help’ than somebody whose basic human rights are valued and upheld.
The trick is to approach the visit in a spirit of equality, and understand that the ‘beneficiary’ of any visit is as much the visitor as it is the host or the beneficiary. All the benefits of self-confidence, self-esteem and happiness apply to everyone in the equation.
Let’s get away from the idea that only the ‘haves’ can give something of value to the ‘have nots’. Everyone has something to give, even if they are materially poor. Nobody ever got rich just on money alone; leading by example and promoting values and morals can make as much of an impact as any amount of money.
Not “Saving the World”
We’re not making any claims to save the world, but clearly a combination of travel, learning and sharing does change attitudes and empower people. The right values have to be in place to create an environment where doors are opened in people’s minds. We have worked very hard to achieve this and continue to do so.
Our placements provide benefits for the visitor and for the people being visited – but we are not trying to over-sensationalise the idea or make it out to be something it is not. One person going out to a different country to ‘help’ could bring little benefit to the hosts and at worst could be a bad form of tourism and even exploitative. We have shown that with sensible expectations, proper information and volunteering ideas that are realistic, we can deliver what we promise.
Volunteering does not have to be about cynical marketing, or a callous selling of dreams and commercial opportunism. We work with responsible travel company Adventure Alternative which funds a lot of our administration and handles the logistics but it is Moving Mountains and the communities which determine the content of the visit and ensure that the donated funds are properly spent.
The Controversy About Volunteering
There is a lot of controversy and debate about volunteering, yet there will always be a desire in people to help others. The issue revolves around how the relationship and attitudes of the visitor and host are managed and the integrity of what is being done in the name of ‘development’.
There is an argument presented that says that volunteering is used to market commercial tours using emotionally driven messages and packaging. People may feel they have been exploited and that the project or programme has somehow been ‘used’ for nothing other than commercial gain.
The main principle of volunteering should be one of humanity and people making a difference. At Moving Mountains we place people according to their interests and skills but also according to the needs of the community or programme in any particular area. We differentiate between skilled and unskilled assistance and plan accordingly.
Skilled volunteers work with staff to help deliver a programme, unskilled volunteers take part in group events which we have been running for many years and have been proven to be beneficial and fun for all. We don’t accept volunteers just for the sake of it.
The beneficiary is the priority
One of the biggest pitfalls of volunteering today is that the aim of personal development for the visitor overshadows the aims of the international development organisation or NGO. We believe that the objectives of the charity should determine the nature of any volunteering visit. The local stakeholders must be involved in deciding the nature of any visit and how the benefits should be shared out.
At Moving Mountains every visit by any group or individual is assessed and agreed by the local Moving Mountains NGO and by the local stakeholders. This could be the parent’s committee or co-operative or educational authority or combination of different organisations and groups.
In addition, every visitor raises an amount of money which is donated to the local MM NGO and used to help fund a particular programme or such as employing teachers and counsellors and field workers.
Additionally, every visitor is required to learn about the programme they are visiting and expected to communicate with the local Moving Mountains staff before arriving. There are laws for people visiting schools and clinics which protect children, plus a healthy dose of respect for the communities being visited.
Opportunities for Volunteers
Our Trust Deed defines one of our objectives as providing benefits, experiences and opportunities for volunteers through global citizenship and youth development. It’s not only for the well-off, they are not a luxury and they don’t deny someone else a job.
We have a wealth of accumulated experience running volunteering placements and development education trips for groups from less advantaged, low-income communities in areas of the UK and Ireland. We also invite volunteers from Kenya and Nepal to work with the charity.
Our Equal Opportunities Policy provides the framework to ensure that we treat everyone equally, regardless of background, gender, ethnicity, etc. We select and prepare volunteers and visitors properly and we would love people to stay involved with Moving Mountains afterwards of course.
For us, visitors learning about the work of an NGO is an education in itself and an adventure. The simple aim is to offer an experience that encourages exploration and innovation and puts people in a place where their stereotypes, opinions and morals would be challenged. We see this as development education, not volunteering.
Our visitors engage with teachers, counsellors, social workers and community health practitioners to examine what words like development, poverty, community, discrimination, prejudice and education can actually mean. They are encouraged to look at solutions in terms of the Millennium Sustainable Goals and how different communities tackle these problems.
Properly run, these programmes really do challenge people to consider how globalisation is changing the world and the ways in which we will have to adapt in order to flourish.
Fair Trade Volunteering
We are founding members of Fair Trade Volunteering which provides clear guidelines on how organisations should prioritise and manage their volunteering programmes with the benefit of the host as important as the personal development of the visitor.
Ultimately it’s about being fair and honest, and not sending people out on irrelevant trips which do nothing for the host and make false claims to the visitor. We have been working hard at making sure our trips have integrity and meaning for a long time now and all of our visitors understand that they are part of a long-term development aim.
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