Ethical volunteering was set up and is run by Dr. Kate Simpson. Kate has been working in and researching international volunteering since 1998. In this time she has run international volunteering projects, completed a PhD (at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) on the gap year, international volunteering and its impacts on participants and provided training to a range of organisations. 

As a result of all this work Kate became increasingly aware that while there were some excellent international volunteer programmes, there are also some terrible ones. Problems range from volunteers who are imposed on host communities, to projects that turn out not to exist, to volunteers who exploit their hosts hospitality to projects that are a waste of everyone's time and money.

Working out the difference between the good and the bad before you travel can be very difficult. So based on Kate's PhD research she produced 'The ethical volunteering guide' to try and help potential volunteers identify the good projects out there.

This website seeks to build on the information in 'The ethical volunteering guide' and offer volunteers and organisations alike information on how to make international volunteering a valuable experience for volunteers and hosts alike.

This website and the guide have been produced with the support of the following organisations:

Quest Overseas, Mondo Challenge, Comhlamh, Tourism Concern

Kate has donated all her time for free

Services
As well as managing the website and producing the guide Kate also does freelance work within the international volunteering sector. Projects Kate has worked on include:

• cross cultural training for volunteers
• leadership development for staff- focusing on developing the educational value of international volunteering projects
• workshops on international development issues