ETHICAL VOLUNTEERING
ETHICAL VOLUNTEERING
Overview
Last update: March 2026
At Marine Conservation Philippines, we believe that volunteering should create meaningful, measurable, and lasting impact for marine ecosystems, local communities, and the participating volunteers themselves. Our work is rooted in science, partnerships, and sustainability. Volunteers are part of a broader mission to strengthen marine protected area management, build local scientific capacity and support evidence-based conservation
We are committed to delivering programs that are ethical, responsible, and community-driven, guided by international best practices in science, volunteering, conservation, and safeguarding. This means ensuring that every activity contributes positively while avoiding unintended harm.
To maintain ethical integrity in our volunteering program, we do not allow volunteers to perform tasks beyond their qualifications. We do not engage in exploitative or staged experiences. We do not support programs that prioritize social media over substance, and we do not participate in activities that could harm ecosystems or communities (even if popular due to the volunteer experience or the optics of the activity.)
Ethical volunteering is not a fixed standard, it is an ongoing process.
Since the founding of Marine Conservation Philippines in 2015, We continuously review and improve our practices to ensure we:
Meet evolving global standards
Listen to local communities
Deliver genuine conservation impact
Provide meaningful participation for engaged volunteers
Core principles
1. Community-Led & Locally Relevant
Our projects are designed in collaboration with local stakeholders, including government agencies, communities, and reviewing local best scientific practices.
We respond to locally identified needs—not volunteer preferences
We support long-term conservation goals, not short-term outputs
We prioritize capacity-building within the Philippines
2. Do No Harm
We follow a strict “do no harm” approach in all activities.
Projects are designed to avoid ecological, social, or cultural harm
Volunteers are placed only in roles appropriate to their skills and training
We avoid activities that create dependency or undermine local systems
We actively challenge “voluntourism” models that prioritise experience over impact.
3. No Displacement of Local Employment
We are committed to ensuring that volunteers do not replace paid local jobs.
All essential operational roles are filled by local staff. Where volunteers as part of their learning (most frequently on the divemaster program) must take on logistical duties, they do so under professional supervision.
Volunteers contribute additional capacity, not core labour
We prioritize hiring, training, and promoting Filipino team members under a equal opportunity framework for marginalized groups.
This aligns with global volunteering standards that emphasise volunteers should not substitute paid workers or distort local economies.
4. Skills-Based & Structured Contributions
Volunteers and interns are engaged in structured, supervised, and meaningful roles, including:
Marine biodiversity monitoring
Scientific data collection and analysis
Community education and outreach
Capacity-building with local partners
We ensure volunteers are properly trained and supported to contribute responsibly and effectively.
5. Environmental Integrity
As a marine conservation organization, environmental responsibility is central to everything we do and conservation outcomes are prioritized over volunteer experience.
All diving and fieldwork follows strict ecological best practices, and we minimize environmental footprint across operations, with a comprehensive recycling program and carbon offsetting through tree planting efforts.
6. Child Protection
We maintain a strict safeguarding policy to protect children and vulnerable individuals.
Volunteers do not engage in unsupervised or informal work with children
Activities involving children are structured, supervised, and purpose-driven
We prioritize long-term community relationships over short-term interactions, and have local staff hired as school teachers to deliver consistent and professional high impact tuition.
This reflects international safeguarding standards, which emphasize protecting children from harm, exploitation, and inappropriate relationships.
7. Ethical Volunteer Management
We are committed to providing a high-quality, responsible volunteer experience: We provide participants with clear expectations and role descriptions through pre-departure guidance and onboarding. We provide ongoing supervision, mentorship and opportunities for learning and professional development.
8. Transparency & Accountability
Ethical volunteering requires transparency, not just good intentions. We hold ourselves accountable through:
Publishing our results and achievements
Ongoing monitoring of conservation impact
Honest communication about program outcomes and any failures we encounter.
Continuous improvement based on feedback
Volunteers are given the opportunity to voice criticism in end-of-stay debriefings, and to do so anonymously post departure.