Why three?
First, I want to share a little of our history.
When uVolunteer first started, we offered volunteer projects in two countries: Costa Rica and Bolivia. Things were great.
We had a near 98% success rate. Our volunteers had very few complaints and our programs were running smoothly.
Soon, our volunteer numbers kept increasing, and we decided to create new programs in other destinations to keep up with the demand. In just a year, we were in eleven countries!
But, not long after we had expanded, the complaints started to roll in - frequently enough for us to notice that something was not quite right!
Trust me - the last thing a volunteer organization wants is unhappy volunteers in far-flung destinations.
So why did expanding lead to such a dramatic difference?
Like many other volunteer programs, we were operating as a sending organization, which simply means we were responsible for recruiting the volunteers and then sending them to a local nonprofit or NGO (known as a receiving agency.)
The problem was that our idea of “volunteer management” didn’t necessarily align with that of the local organizations. What we considered standard practice was far above the service some of our local partners were prepared to provide to our volunteers.
We decided to pivot and immediately change the direction of the organization!
If we wanted to keep providing volunteers with great service, then we needed to focus on a select few destinations. And more importantly, we needed to have our very own local volunteer management team in place.
uVolunteer became both a sending and receiving organization and closed all other destinations apart from the three we operate in today: Costa Rica, Ghana and Thailand.
We choose these three destinations because:
- They are safe destinations to travel in and free from civil unrest.
- They have great communication and transportation infrastructure.
- It’s easy and cheap for travelers to explore the country by the public transport system.
- They are welcoming of independent travelers and single female travelers.
And last but not least, they are all are locations that our staff have lived, worked and traveled in extensively.
This change of strategy immediately fixed our complaints issue and continues to enable us to provide a quality volunteer management service that we are proud of. And a success rate back up in the high nineties!
It also makes us very confident in offering our programs to you knowing very well that we can provide the support you need locally.
We may open projects in other destinations in the future ...
But for the moment - we are happy to offer a boutique volunteer travel experience in just 3 destinations.