Ethical Red Flag Checker

Does the program place foreign volunteers in an orphanage, children's home or residential childcare?

Aligned with UNICEF / Lumos / Save the Children guidance — refuse this category.

If this is a medical program, are unqualified volunteers expected to perform clinical tasks (injections, sutures, exams, deliveries)?

If this is a wildlife program, does it offer hands-on contact with captive wild animals (riding, bathing, walking-with, cub interactions)?

Does the destination country currently have a 'do not travel' advisory from your home government?

Will the program show you a written percentage breakdown of where your fee goes?

Can the program tell you what share of the fee reaches the local partner?

Do they have a written refund and cancellation policy you can read before paying?

If the role involves children, do they require a background check from your country of residence?

If the role involves children, will they share their written child safeguarding policy in advance?

Do they have a clear no-photos-of-identifiable-children policy?

Will you have unsupervised one-to-one access to children at any point?

Are qualified local staff in charge of the day-to-day work?

Can the program name and describe the local partner organisation?

Does the role match skills you actually have (i.e. you'd be qualified to do it at home)?

Will they tell you specifically what you'll do day-by-day (not 'support the community')?

Is there a 24/7 in-country emergency contact?

Is there formal pre-departure preparation and on-arrival orientation?

Do they have a documented medical evacuation procedure?

Does their marketing use 'save', 'rescue', 'underprivileged', 'forgotten' or similar savior language?

Are identifiable children's faces prominently used in the program's marketing photos?

Do they promise 'life-changing impact' or 'transform a community' in a 1-2 week trip?

Can they connect you with 2-3 recent volunteers from this specific placement?