The Vetting Room: How to Tell a Genuine Overseas Placement From a Voluntourism Trip

Every January, a version of the same email lands in our inbox. It usually reads: I have found a placement in Ghana, it costs £2,400, the website says it is ethical, how do I know?

Honest answer: you cannot know for certain until you have spoken to someone who has been there. But you can get most of the way there in an afternoon, with a browser, a phone and a list of mildly awkward questions. This is that list — and the reasoning behind it.

Start with the question nobody puts on the poster

Most volunteering goes wrong not because of villains, but because of a quiet mismatch between what the volunteer wants (meaning, a story, a line on the CV) and what a community actually needs (consistency, skills, and money for local staff). When those two drift apart, you get the familiar picture: a nursery swamped by unvetted nineteen-year-olds, a school where the English teacher changes every three weeks, a building project that stalls the moment the volunteers fly home because nobody budgeted for bricks.

So ask, in plain terms: if I disappeared tomorrow, what would break? If the honest answer is a photo opportunity, think again. If the answer is a rota, a relationship or a piece of work someone has been waiting for, you are probably onto something.

The paperwork that actually tells you something

A UK-facing organisation making claims about charitable work is worth five minutes on the registers before you read another word of their brochure.

• Charity Commission for England and Wales — search the register, then check the charity number against the country and the cause it claims to work in.
• OSCR in Scotland and CCNI in Northern Ireland. Same drill, different register.
• Companies House — directors, filing history, whether the accounts look like a charity or a gap-year brand with a shop.
• The Fundraising Regulator and the advertising rules — the ASA's CAP Code governs marketing claims. Slogans such as 100% of your fee goes to the community are claims, not vibes. Ask for the breakdown that backs them up.
• Safeguarding and insurance — is there a written policy? Does their insurance actually cover you, and does it cover the activities you will be doing?

One caveat, and we mean it: registration tells you about governance, not morality. None of the above guarantees a good placement, and a tiny unregistered host with a terrible website can be superb. Use the registers to sort fact from marketing, then use people to sort good from bad.

Red flags we see again and again

• Photographs of children in institutional care, used as decoration. The sector consensus has been clear for years that short-term volunteers should not be visiting children in institutions. If a listing leads with it, walk.
• No experience needed attached to clinical, teaching or childcare roles. You would not accept it in Leeds. Do not accept it abroad.
• Programme fees three or four times the local cost of living, with no itemised breakdown and no explanation of what local staff are paid.
• A sales team that cannot name the local partner organisation, or gets vague when you ask for its contact details.
• Pressure to pay a deposit before you have spoken to a past volunteer. Urgency is a sales tactic, not a safeguarding measure.
• Animal experiences with riding, cub-petting or breeding attached. Sanctuaries do not need you to hold the animals.
• Anything where you would be doing a job a local person could be hired to do — especially when the listing boasts about how much the community needs you.

Twelve questions to send before you pay anything

1. Who is the local organisation, and can I contact them directly?
2. What is my role, written down, for each week?
3. Who supervises me, and are they paid?
4. What happens to my fee — can I see a simple split between overheads, local costs and any donation?
5. How many volunteers did you place here last year, and how long did they stay?
6. Can I speak to two people who went in the last twelve months?
7. What did they do that turned out to be useless?
8. Is there a safeguarding policy, and does it cover one-to-one contact?
9. What is the plan if I get ill or a relative dies while I am away?
10. What does the local community say they want next year — and who asked them?
11. Which visa or permit covers what I will be doing? (Volunteering is not always permitted on a tourist entry.)
12. What would you rather I did not do while I am there?

Question seven is the useful one. Organisations that have thought seriously about their impact will answer it without flinching.

The skills question, honestly

You do not need to be a surgeon to be useful. But be sceptical of anyone who tells you enthusiasm is a substitute for training. The placements that hold up tend to ask for something specific — conversational English practice, bookkeeping, sports coaching, gardening, website help, photography, bike repair — and then let local staff run the show. The ones that ask for a caring heart and a can-do attitude are usually asking you to fill a gap that should be a salary.

Using people instead of brochures

This is where our alumni network earns its keep. Una Exchange exists because returned volunteers are the only accurate review system this sector has. Before you book, find someone who has done the placement — not the provider's own testimonial page, but a person you can email, WhatsApp or meet for a coffee in Manchester. Ask what they actually did on a Tuesday morning. Ask what they paid for that was not included. Ask whether they would send a friend.

If nobody has ever written about a placement, that is information too.

The condensed checklist

Registry checked. Local partner named. Role in writing. Fee broken down. Two ex-volunteers spoken to. Safeguarding policy read. Insurance confirmed. Visa route confirmed. Exit plan understood. Gut feeling still intact.

Ten out of ten, and you can book with a clear head. Seven out of ten, and you should be asking why. Fewer than that, and the trip is probably about you — which is fine, but call it a holiday and save the fee.