I have wanted to travel and do volunteer trips abroad for as long as I can remember. I never thought I would be able to afford them, but then I found IVHQ! I decided to go for it.

I chose India because I was intrigued by the culture and diversity of the country. I thought, why not fly across the world for my first time abroad?!

IVHQ did a great job at preparing me for my time in India. Once you get accepted to a program and pay the registration fee, you receive a destination-specific booklet that provides you with information about the country and how to prepare, pack, and what to expect. It covers everything from what to wear to how to be safe.

In addition, there is an online volunteer training that helps you with the basics of volunteering abroad. There is a point of contact in charge of your program as well, and they are available by email or phone to answer any questions you have in the preparation process. IVHQ organizes your accommodation and airport pickup.

On my own, I really only had to organize my flight to/from India and my transportation to the airport at the end of my trip.

I oversee risk and sustainability at IVHQ. We know that two of the most important things to our volunteers are feeling confident that they’ll be supported to stay safe, and being sure that they’ll be able to make a worthwhile contribution while abroad. We also know that having a focus on social and environmental sustainability is not only good for communities and the planet, but is also good for IVHQ long-term.

My career path so far has been in sustainability roles for telecommunications and media companies in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. I’ve been lucky to work on some really inspiring projects in my career and these have given me a good background in creating and running initiatives that make a real difference in communities and have a positive impact on the environment. IVHQ is a great place for me to expand this experience.

The concept of volunteering abroad has evolved quickly over the last 10 years and I expect it’ll change even faster over the next 10. Those people wanting to travel abroad and volunteer in a community no longer have to commit to a two year Peace Corps program and I’m proud of role that IVHQ has played in making volunteering much more affordable and accessible to travelers all over the world.

Over the next 10 years I predict we’ll see two big trends:

• Community expectations will change. I think the communities that host volunteers will expect both more and less from volunteers in the future. Communities and projects that were typically very poorly supported by local states and other social structures historically appreciated whatever additional support volunteers were able to bring, but we’re already seeing this change. Community partners in the future will expect less in terms of the kind of transformative investments and skills exchange that may have been sought previously but they will expect more from volunteers in terms of their cultural awareness, responsible behavior and their ability to inject new ideas that stimulate innovation and enterprise. Communities in the future will see volunteers as sources of creativity, diverse ideas and youthful challenge, rather than as sources of hands-on labor.
• Volunteer expectations will change. We’re already seeing volunteer expectations changing and they will continue to shift significantly over the next 10 years. We’ve always had a big focus on transparency in relation to our fees and we know that volunteers will continue to expect a greater level of openness about where and how a volunteer travel provider spends any money that they pay for the experience - and rightly so. I also think volunteers will expect more in terms of understanding the long-term impact that they are contributing to and again I think this is a good thing. The generation of travelers that will be most influential over the next 10 years are more socially and environmentally conscious than those before them and they’ll demand greater clarity around how their time abroad genuinely makes a long-term impact. Of course, this goes both ways and volunteer travel providers will have to get smarter about how they manage and shape volunteer expectations before they head abroad. We already actively support people to create expectations that help them to be responsible and valuable volunteers abroad. We do this through our pioneering online training tools.

The volunteer travel organizations who understand how to balance these shifting community and volunteer expectations properly will become the most preferred options for responsible travelers over the next 10 years.