Human zoos in 2018

The two sides of Ed Sheeran’s development work

“White saviour”, “poverty porn”, “reinforcing negative stereotypes” have been some of the phrases thrown at Ed Sheeran in recent weeks after he ‘won’ the 2017 Rusty Radiator award handed out by Radi-Aid. This annual award, along with the Golden Radiator, highlights the very worst and best fundraising videos in international development. The judges criticise videos […]

4 reasons why volunteering will help you settle in to London

Volunteering during your time at LSE has many benefits but one of the biggest is that can help you settle in to London. It’s not unusual to feel a little overwhelmed when arriving in such a big city, starting on your course and trying to do all those others things that life throws at you. […]

Five things I learnt from being the London Chair for SVN

With my last meeting as the London Chair for the Student Volunteering Network coming up it seems like a good time to reflect on how I’ve found the role and, hopefully, share some insight with new chairs or potential ones. Here are my top five learnings from just over two years in the role. 1. […]

Guest post: How travelling helped me reflect on my career and decide what to do next

Rosie Coleman explains why she took time off to travel and how it helped her career. Make sure you check out the video about her first three weeks in southern Africa too. I’d never taken a gap year. My travels had been holidays rather than extended periods spent overseas. After graduating from LSE in 2013, […]

Cambodia’s Fake Orphanages: The Dark Side of Voluntourism

This new documentary gives another insight in to the dangers of orphanage volunteering, focusing on Cambodia. The number of orphans in the country has reduced in recent years but the numbers of orphanages, particularly in tourist areas, has shot up. These are often funded by well-meaning international volunteers and have created a commodity of spending time […]

How to volunteer sensitively and be aware of power dynamics

Last week I spoke at the excellent ‘A refugee like me‘ conference run by the Wonder Foundation at The Baytree Centre. The two day conference, attended by young people from many countries including the UK, Sweden and Slovenia, was all about opening up discussions about refugees in the UK and practical advice about how to volunteer for […]