Volunteer Travel - History

History

Originally most volunteer vacations were undertaken by people with a direct connection to a particular cause and were considered more as short term, intense volunteer projects rather than vacations. Many of these organizations were long-standing international development assistance organizations which placed short-term volunteers on community development project sites.

Inception of volunteer travel can be linked to Volunteer services incoproated in 1958. These services and that of the U.S. Peace Corps, established in 1961 during the John F. Kennedy administration, have paved the way for volunteer travel and volunteer vacations throughout the world. However, some would argue, and with good reason, that the connection between travel and volunteering in the Modern Era can be traced back to the work of Herb Feith in Indonesia in 1951. Feith's contribution, the Volunteer Graduate Scheme, today known as Australian Volunteers International, may very well have paved the way for the connection between travel and volunteering that has evolved in the 60 years since. --During the 1960's and 1970's a movement of volunteerism and study abroad programs became popular among college age individuals. The first known volunteer travel operation began with Earthwatch in 1971. Earthwatch wanted to engage the general public in the scientific process by bringing together individual volunteers and scientists on field research projects. This grouping of scientists and volunteers provided an alternative means to funding, as well as provide a dedicated labour force for field scientists