said…

“people and places is a new style of volunteering organization that seeks to address the current issues in the volunteering sector. It offers a high degree of transparency in terms of where volunteer money is going. In addition, all the projects are driven by a real local need and there is a systematic approach to gaining feedback from the local communities. All these things are essential for ‘responsible’ volunteering”
Justin Francis, Director of Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism awards and co founder of responsible travel.com

A few years ago, three travellers met by chance in a Gambian garden. Professor Harold Goodwin, Sallie Grayson and Kate Stefanko were there for different, yet related, reasons – Harold was advising the government on its national tourism guidelines; Sallie was using her business skills in a volunteer placement; Kate was designing a holiday for a newspaper readers’ offer.

Discussions rapidly centred on volunteer travel, with one overwhelming and recurring theme – the extant chasm between marketing and reality in so many volunteer offers. Both sides in the equation – volunteers and local communities – oftenfind themselves being sold a project idea that bears little resemblance to the real situation.

“We began to ask ourselves what we could do to address such potential exploitation … our initial idea was to ‘name and shame’ through targeted campaigning, but then we had a better idea: to achieve positive and long-term change, we would develop our own unique model of ethical volunteering, whereby all parties would be best-served and which would be totally open and honest in all its activities, including financial matters.We would prove that a community driven, responsible and transparent model could and would work.” says Sallie Grayson

Thus in the winter of 2005 people and places was born.The first volunteer was placed in April of 2006 and people and places now recruits and matches skilled volunteers for projects insome 20 communities in Africa and Asia.Skills needed cross the whole spectrum from bicycle repair mechanics and IT experts thru health practioners and educators to business people and builders.