Keeping it real….explained
Our motto of keeping it real not only relates to our vision of how we feel projects should be structured and the importance of providing authentic and real insight in local culture but also to our overall responsibility as a travel provider, an entity that invests and partners with communities all over the world, an organization that strives to operate with high ethical standards, and as informed and responsible global citizens.
There are three broad categories that WV focuses on as we continue to evolve, grow, and do everything we can to ensure we are doing no harm and hopefully making positive contributions in the world.
We approach development with an environmental mindset for many reasons:
To help reduce and not contribute to global warming
Teaching and showing various environmentally friendly technologies, methods, and ways of life to participants with the hope they learn and become more environmentally conscious
Environmental projects are often less expensive without the loss of quality allowing WV to take on larger scale initiatives
In addition to the above motivations, we are also aware of our footprint as travelers. WV has adopted a policy of not using any single use plastic for all of our trips. Volunteers and participants use reusable water bottles and we do our best to reduce the amount of unnecessary waste. Throughout our trips and time spent in communities we also take out any garbage or waste that has been produced and the message of not littering and leaving behind trash is echoed throughout the trip.
Our future plans are to assess and understand our full carbon footprint and to start implementntting steps to offset that impact with the ultimate goal to be carbon neutral.
Environment
World Volunteer is a social enterprise meaning that our goal is that of any other business and that is to be profitable. The differentiator is that we use the profits made to reinvest, scale, and explore new project ideas. We value this model as we’re not reliant on outside grants or support and feel this adds to our sustainability and ability to grow.
In addition to investing in communities and projects, investing in our team and staff is equally important to ensure personal happiness, growth, and job satisfaction.
Investing
The partnerships that we have and make determine the success of our projects and trips. We feel that we have an obligation to be fair, honest, nondiscriminatory, and transparent with all partners. This includes communities, vendors, staff, schools, and anyone or entity involved with WV.
From a community partnership perspective we:
Make long term commitments (2-5 years)
Meet with all stakeholders multiple times prior to investing
Draw up clear roles and responsibilities not only for the duration of the project but also who will manage the structure/project site after competition
Hold community and stakeholder feedback sessions bi-annualy in addition to local staff meeting frequently
The notion of do no harm is very important to WV as we do not want to work on any project that is not wanted, needed, and without community participation. We also want to be extremely careful with local traditions and culture and do nothing that will endanger or harm them.
From a staff & vendor perspective we:
Are an equal opportunity organization and do not discriminate based on gender, race, religion, sexuality, etc.
Make payments on time
Hold annual staff training
Fair compensation
