We welcome child-safe volunteering
We consider volunteering to be child-safe if it doesn’t cause, or risk causing, any harm to children or young people either in the short or long term.
Get your hands dirty
Volunteers at Bahay Tuluyan have the opportunity to get involved in many different aspects of our work, ranging from planting rice, to writing business plans or creating training modules. We look for volunteers who are not afraid to try new things. We also look for the right match between volunteers’ time and talents and our organizational needs.
Renee, Volunteer at Bahay Tuluyan for 9 months
“Volunteering at Bahay Tuluyan is what you make it. In this experience, I have found valuable opportunities to contribute to the organization while growing as a person. You will connect with children and staff alike as you become part of a mission bigger than yourself. If you come to Bahay Tuluyan with an open heart and open mind, both will be filled with new possibilities..”
Child-safe volunteering is
Respectful to children - volunteering does not create unhealthy emotional attachments with children or put them at risk of abuse or exploitation. It does not violate their privacy or interrupt their normal development.
Sustainable - volunteers don’t do the core work of the organization - they add value or deepen impact while building the skills/resources of the permanent staff. Their work fulfills strategic and organizational needs.
Based on skills - volunteers are appropriately matched to the tasks assigned to them.
Ethical - volunteering is driven by genuine desire to help, in whatever way is needed. It helps ease the workload of the organization and its staff. There is no personal financial benefit for anyone as a result of the volunteering.
Safe - volunteers are carefully screened, trained and supervised to make sure they cause no harm.
Long term - volunteers contribute over a sustained period of time (at least 1 month full time or 3 months part time).
Unsafe volunteering is:
Harmful to children - volunteers develop close relationships with vulnerable children and risk causing emotional, or other, harm when they leave.
Short-sighted - volunteer work is focused on the personal goals/agenda of the volunteer rather than the organization. There is no long-term meaningful impact.
Mismatched - volunteers do work that they don’t have the right skills for.
Unethical - volunteering is driven by incentives such as profit, influence or publicity. It causes disproprortionate or undue burdens on the organization.
Unsafe - there is a lack of screening, training and supervision of volunteers. This can lead to unsafe situations for everyone involved.
Short term - volunteers contribute for very short periods, leaving no meaningful impact. eg: once-off outreach activity.
FAQs
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Volunteers assist Bahay Tuluyan in a number of ways, depending on their skills, interests, time and the needs of the organization. An important guideline for us in relation to accepting volunteers is that when you leave we want to miss you but not notice that you are gone. In other words, volunteers do not take on primary responsibility for running our programs. Instead, they provide assistance to enable our staff and local youth volunteers to be able to do their jobs better. This means that tasks may involve helping to develop new modules, running capacity building activities or assisting in special projects that need extra manpower.
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Accommodation for volunteers can be provided within Bahay Tuluyan's centers for a minimal donation to cover costs. Accommodation may be quite basic and may be shared with other volunteers or staff. Volunteers based in Manila may choose to stay at our Makabata Guesthouse & Cafe
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Volunteers are welcome to stay for any length of time however we require a minimum stay of at least 4 weeks full time or 3 months part time. It normally takes volunteers a while to adjust to how we work, after which the most valuable volunteering often takes place.
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Bahay Tuluyan accepts volunteers through volunteer sending organizations and on an independent basis, depending on the needs of the organization and capacity for managing volunteers from time to time.
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We accept highly motivated interns completing placements of at least 1 month full time as long as we have appropriately qualified staff to supervise the placement. Please contact us to enquire before applying to volunteer as an intern.
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Yes, everyone who applies to become a volunteer at Bahay Tuluyan is screened carefully before being accepted. We reserve the right to refuse any prospective volunteer at any time.
We take child protection very seriously. Part of the screening process requires volunteers to provide police clearances and to disclose any criminal offences. All volunteers are required to abide by Bahay Tuluyan’s Child Protection Policy - violation of which may result in criminal action.
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Volunteers are expected to wear decent, casual clothes. Clothes that expose chest, midriff areas, spaghetti-straps and very short pants/skirts are not appropriate.
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Generally we don’t allow volunteering on a short term basis unless it is for a specific special event, such as a day of rice-planting, gardening or painting. We do not allow one-off interactions with children, such as ‘outreach’ activities or birthday parties because we believe these short-term interactions can cause emotional harm to children.
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If you are interested in volunteering in a way that is child-safe (see our guidelines above), you can apply by filling in our Volunteer Application form and sending us your current CV and police clearance. Once your complete application has been submitted it will be screened and then we will be in contact with you. Please expect the process to take at least 2 weeks - so make sure you plan ahead.
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No. We don’t allow short term volunteering/voluntourism. Please read our guidelines on child-safe volunteering above.
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Yes, even if you can’t meet our guidelines for volunteering, you can still help us in different ways such as donating, sharing our story, attending events at Bahay Tuluyan or helping out at special events.