
Welcome!
Welcome to the Youthlinc Impact Modules. All participants will complete monthly impact modules that will address issues of bias, white saviorism, and mental health. These modules will help participants to understand themselves and others before traveling internationally. These modules help us become better humanitarians and set us up for sustainable best practices while we are serving abroad.
APRIL MODULE:
VOLUNTOURISM VS. HUMANITARIANISM
What is Humanitarianism?
What are common guideline for Humanitarian work?
What is Humanitarian best practice?
How do we ensure best practices are in place when choosing to volunteer or support an organization?
How does this apply to Youthlinc Service Year opportunities?
What to look for in organized volunteer opportunities
SECTION 1: What is Humanitarianism?
What is Humanitarianism?
Youthlinc’s Mission is “Creating Lifetime Humanitarians.” What is a Humanitarian?
The most common definition is “to be concerned with the welfare of humanity” by definition Humanitarians display “Acceptance of every human being for plainly just being another human, ignoring and abolishing biased social views, prejudice, and racism in the process.”
When we look closely at what Humanitarians embody we can breakdown Humanitarianism into Four main principles.
Four main principles of Humanitarianism:
- Humanity- Saving Human lives and alleviating suffering wherever it is found
- Impartiality- Acting solely on the basis of need, without discrimination between or within affected populations.
- Neutrality- Acting without favoring any side.
- Independence- the autonomy of humanitarian objectives from the political, economic, military, as separate and unrelated issues.
Humanitarian means harboring an attitude of compassion and empathy for every other person.
It means you recognize the similarities we all share.
What is Voluntourism?
Describes tourists volunteering for a charity or a development organization in a developing country for a short period admidst their other travel plans. These types of activities are usually organized by for-profit travel companies.
While usually well-intentioned, they are criticized from valuing profit or the experience of the volunteer over impact impact. They are also criticized for perpetuating situations of crisis and poverty in an attempt to gain volunteer aid. Finally, they are said to pump unskilled and unqualified labor into settings where they are often more of a nuisance than an asset.
How do Voluntourism and Humanitarian opportunities differ?
SECTION 2: What is Humanitarian Best Practice?
- An organization only prioritizes the experience of the volunteer, either for personal gain, experience or profit
- Promote or exploits vulnerable populations
- Promote that your work and only your work is saving people creating an imbalanced power dynamic and co-dependency
- Share and promote cultural, religious, or political ideas, to further an agenda
- Disregard communities’ needs and wants
- Provide solutions to problems through a single point of view Assuming that your solutions are the best and only way forward
- No assessments or reflection of impact and progress
- Solely focusing on short-term or immediate change
- Working outside of professional qualifications; Participating in projects without proper skill or qualifications to do so
Common Pitfalls of Service Trips:
- An Organization must prioritize the impact on a community. Quality organizations can provide a meaningful experience with a focus on both the needs and strengths of the community as well as the needs and strengths of its volunteers
- Promotes strengths and possibilities of vulnerable populations when given proper support and opportunities
- Working with the autonomy of humanitarian objectives from political, economic, military, religious, or cultural agendas
- Working along side with local representatives (community leaders and community organizations, locally-run NGO or non-profit organizations, local government agencies)
- Includes mutual buy-in and engagement
- Goals set with local partners to focus on both short-term and long-term goals
- Annual reviews, reports on progress, and reflection on what is working well for all vested parties before moving forward
- Must be willing to adapt, grow, and implement changes that reflect the populations being served
SECTION 3: Youthlinc Practices
What does Youthlinc do to align themselves with humanitarian best practices?
Since 1999 Youthlinc has strived to follow best practice models. Like many organizations we have grown and developed as humanitarian-aid best-practice models have evolved (and continue to evolve) for the better. Youthlinc approaches all of our programs with a growth and development in mindset. Connecting individuals and communities has allowed us to assess needs and collaborate on solutions both locally and internationally through diplomatic relations.
Let’s take a closer look at Youthlinc’s Service Year Program Model.
Youthlinc is a partnering organization
Youthlinc has two overlapping missions. We often refer to our primary mission that embodies all 5 of Youthlinc’s programs, which is to create lifetime humanitarians. However, there is a secondary mission that equally drives our Service Year program, which is to support our partners in achieving their missions.
Youthlinc’s mission is Creating Lifetime Humanitarians
Youthlinc’s secondary mission is to support our partners to achieve their missions.
In order to understand the challenges in each community, we work and collaborate the local experts. Youthlinc partners with locally run non-profit organizations, local government agencies, and community leadership teams. We cannot possibly begin to understand or know the needs of communities if we fail to include the populations being served in the conversations and planning to goes into promoting humanitarian welfare. By listening to the needs of the community and involving them at every step, we can ensure projects align with the community’s short and long-term goals. It is equally important that while working with our partners we have open communication about correcting approaches that are not effective and about ensuring that the communities desire to engage with us and our volunteers remains a value to them.

Youthlinc has 6 core areas of focus and we categorize all projects into “committees.” Committees include: Business Development, Community Health, Education, Vocational Training, Ecological, and Cultural Exchange. Throughout the Service Year, we empower team members to plan, oversee, and execute projects during the international trip. Youthlinc staff and In-Country Coordinators evaluate the last year’s projects and begin planning for the upcoming year, using past work as a framework for more effective impact. This includes in-depth communication with our partners and on-site visits by Youthlinc staff (as needed) to determine how to best move forward as partners on future projects.
- The communities in which we work want us there. We are there by their invitation, not imposing ourselves without joyful consent.
- Youthlinc values our relationships with each of the communities are dedicated to listening to their needs and wants.
- Youthlinc coordinates with local health professionals to determine common illness in the area. With this information we then hold a community health fair and focus on the education or preventative care and encourage communities to seek out the local health care resources.
- If there is an interest or need in the community to explore business development, our partners will assist Youthlinc in holding a business seminar that is adapted to and values the local community’s approach to commerce.
- Our partners have relationships with local women’s groups and then advocate to Youthlinc about what skills or trades they are interested in learning more about– then we support their Vocational goals.
- We work with the local school headmaster and teachers to facilitate an education camp. Lesson topics or focus is driven by the school, which include topics on English, literacy, mathematics, music and art, or STEM activities. We work in schools that want to host us and use only the time they are comfortable giving us. If school is still in session, Youthlinc teams will often have half days or a rotating schedule to classes. If school is out of session, then the school also students to register for a special English or STEM camp (as an extracurriculur) that they attend while we are in the area. These camps are always free to the students and Youthlinc provides lunch to the students if it is not provided by the school.
- When Youthlinc supports an infrastructure project we hire professional contractors and labor to oversee the project to completion. They then assign tasks to our team that are suitable given their particular skill level. When considering the budget for projects, we include cost of local labor, instead of taking away opportunities we provide opportunities for both our volunteers and the community.
- Youthlinc’s partners work extremely hard to improve the welfare in their local communities. As a partnering organization it is important to have mutual engagement and buy-in. To match those efforts, the Service Year program requires all participants to engage in local service, monthly meetings, and impact modules over a 9-month period. This prepares volunteers to travel abroad and provides a better understanding of the needs of their local communities– whether it be just across the street or around the world, Service is a bridge to connect communities to celebrate and improve the human condition.
Next steps in continued growth:
Best practices are always changing and adapting and we invite you to join the conversation. We hope these modules have given you the tools to evaluate your ability to influence and impact the world around you as an individual and as a global citizen. As you continue your path to becoming a lifetime humanitarian, we hope you continue to look for sustainable options for change, growth, and development and challenge others to do the same, including Youthlinc and other humanitarian organizations. It is only through questions, continued conversations, collaboration, and critical thinking that we can continue to develop positive changes in our practices as humanitarians.