Every year, thousands of fresh-faced young philanthropists head out into the world on a mission to “do good”. Whilst their positive attitudes and genuine desire to contribute to international society are to be lauded, the enthusiasm, skills and education of international volunteers are wasted unless their recruitment and placement is properly managed. Unless skills and needs are properly matched, these international helpers may end up burdening the very people they are trying to assist.

In the New York Times article, “Too Many Innocents Abroad” (January 8, 2008), Richard Strauss outlines the problems that the Peace Corps is having in this regard. The article argues that genuine experience and wisdom are needed in designing and implementing actual sustainable solutions for developing countries.

Connect-123′s mission is to drive equal value to our volunteers and to the local organisations where they work.  Cognizant of  the potential for negative impact described by Strauss, we take the time to understand the needs of both applicant and host and then carefully match skills with projects. Our tailor-made approach means that we can create or find successful internship and volunteer opportunities for undergraduates, graduate students, as well as professionals.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 at 11:43 pm and is filed under Advice, Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.