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7%OFFJudith N. Lasker - Hoping to Help: The Promises and Pitfalls of Global Health Volunteering - 9781501700101 - V9781501700101
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Hoping to Help: The Promises and Pitfalls of Global Health Volunteering

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Description for Hoping to Help: The Promises and Pitfalls of Global Health Volunteering Paperback. Series: The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work. Num Pages: 272 pages, black & white illustrations. BIC Classification: JKSN1; MBNH. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 229 x 152 x 18. Weight in Grams: 371.

Overseas volunteering has exploded in numbers and interest in the last couple of decades. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people travel from wealthier to poorer countries to participate in short-term volunteer programs focused on health services. Churches, universities, nonprofit service organizations, profit-making "voluntourism" companies, hospitals, and large corporations all sponsor brief missions. Hoping to Help is the first book to offer a comprehensive assessment of global health volunteering, based on research into how it currently operates, its benefits and drawbacks, and how it might be organized to contribute most effectively. Given the enormous human and economic investment in these ... Read more

Most people assume that poor communities benefit from the goodwill and skills of the volunteers. Volunteer trips are widely advertised as a means to "give back" and "make a difference." In contrast, some claim that health volunteering is a new form of colonialism, designed to benefit the volunteers more than the host communities. Others focus on unethical practices and potential harm to the presumed "beneficiaries." Judith N. Lasker evaluates these opposing positions and relies on extensive research—interviews with host country staff members, sponsor organization leaders, and volunteers, a national survey of sponsors, and participant observation—to identify best and worst practices. She adds to the debate a focus on the benefits to the sponsoring organizations, benefits that can contribute to practices that are inconsistent with what host country staff identify as most likely to be useful for them and even with what may enhance the experience for volunteers. Hoping to Help illuminates the activities and goals of sponsoring organizations and compares dominant practices to the preferences of host country staff and to nine principles for most effective volunteer trips.

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Product Details

Publisher
Cornell University Press United States
Number of pages
272
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2016
Series
The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work
Condition
New
Number of Pages
272
Place of Publication
Ithaca, United States
ISBN
9781501700101
SKU
V9781501700101
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-1

About Judith N. Lasker
Judith N. Lasker is N.E.H. Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Lehigh University. She is coauthor of When Pregnancy Fails, In Search of Parenthood, and Equal Time, Equal Value.

Reviews for Hoping to Help: The Promises and Pitfalls of Global Health Volunteering
Many scholars have discussed the theory behind global aid and the various perils in its execution. Dr. Lasker, a professor at Lehigh University, delivers instead a straightforward, data-driven review of a small health-related fraction of the enterprise, aiming to answer a few basic questions: 'Do volunteers help or hurt?' she asks. 'In what ways?' It turns out these questions cannot ... Read more

Goodreads reviews for Hoping to Help: The Promises and Pitfalls of Global Health Volunteering


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