Tearfund Case Study

Tearfund Ireland's 'Just Care: Just Volunteering’ Resource

Since 2013, the faith-based INGO Tearfund Ireland (TFI) has been speaking out against volunteering in orphanages and residential care settings overseas. TFI believes that whilst volunteering in orphanages is usually done with the best of intentions, it supports a system that harms children’s development and increases the risk of abuse. TFI advocates for an Alternative Care model which enables family and community-based care, through which the rights of the child can be better protected.  TFI’s commitment to this topic runs throughout the organisation and extends across the NGO community. TFI is a founding member of Comhlámh’s Orphanages Working Group (OWG), and was a key contributor to the OWG’s powerful ‘Children First’ Report in 2019.

As TFI continued to advocate against volunteering in orphanages, the TFI Development Education Officer increasingly saw the value that a Development Education approach could bring to TFI’s work in this area; Development Education enables people to grow their own understanding of complex and controversial issues without feeling as if they are being ‘preached at’. On a pilot basis, TFI introduced the theme into a Development Education residential weekend for youth leaders, and received positive feedback about how the session really ‘opened their eyes’.   


A staff member in Irish Aid’s Development Education unit was impressed by the Children First report and invited TFI to speak to them about using Development Education as a ‘way in’ to this challenging topic. This eventually resulted in TFI gaining funding from Irish Aid to produce Ireland’s first DE resource on Volunteering and Orphanages. Throughout the resource development process in 2020-2021, TFI drew on the knowledge and expertise of the Comhlámh OWG and others in the volunteering and faith based sector. This ensured that ‘Just Care: Just Volunteering’ represents a range of perspectives.


TFI’s decision to develop the resource collaboratively, with input across the Development Education and NGO communities, has been impactful in that it has opened up possibilities for the use of the resource beyond TFI’s usual target groups for Development Education. The resource already has elicited interest from a wider sphere; for example, TFI has been asked to deliver a set of Development Education sessions for alumni of an overseas volunteering programme for third-level students.  The timing for a launch mid-2021 was opportune. All international volunteering is on pause due to the pandemic, thus providing a space for sending agencies to take a step back to reflect upon and change long-stranding practices. 


Commencing in Autumn 2021, TFI will roll out the resource across their target groups of youth leaders, using a blended online/face-to-face approach. TFI expects to see youth leaders reporting increases in their level of knowledge, skills and confidence in handling this difficult theme, which over time will lead to wider impacts, as leaders integrate the resource materials into their youth work practice. 


The impact of the resource on the target groups and beyond will not become apparent until the resource is fully rolled out; however, TFI’s process of developing Development Education approaches to volunteering in orphanages tells its own story of impact. TFI’s decision to use Development Education as a key approach to this controversial topic demonstrates how DE and International Programmes departments within an INGO can support and enhance each other’s work. 


Images:

  • Just Care: Just Volunteering resource cover (picture 1 and main page)
  • Word Cloud image from Just Care: Just Volunteering resource (picture 2)
  • Tower Tumble: an activity exploring the impact of institutional care on the life of a child (picture 3)

Credit: Tearfund Ireland 


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