Good Intentions - The Ethics of Volunteering

This issue of the Just Change magazine takes a critical look at the changing nature of what constitutes volunteering and seeks to re-focus attention on the quality of volunteering and its potential impacts.

Volunteers are the backbone of many development organisations — in Aotearoa New Zealand, more than 90% of non-profits rely entirely on volunteers to function — but often volunteering is assumed to be intrinsically good without questioning how it impacts on recipient communities and how it can be made more effective.

The downloadable magazine - by non-governmental resource centre on international development and global issues, Dev-Zone - highlights the history of volunteering, Volunteering from a Māori perspective, Pacific perspectives on cultural obligations & volunteering, along with articles, interviews and case studies on the "loose and baggy monster" that is volunteering.

http://www.dev-zone.org/justchange/documents/JC%2011_Web (PDF file, 4.29 Mb. Note: large file size)*

* This document is in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. You need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download a free version from the Adobe site.