ABSTRACT
Over the past decade, global (also known as international) service learning (GSL) has become a popular educational and cross-cultural endeavor, career formation step, and expression of international solidarity for individuals and institutions of all types (Lough, 2013). However, the rising number of sponsoring, intermediary, and host community organizations (defined below), all with inherent conflicts of interest, has attempted to meet this demand without any common standards of practice in place. The result has been a preponderance of organizations frequently serving the short-term needs of their own participants at the expense of their counterparts in the global South (Bortolin, 2011; Ngo, 2014; Tiessen & Huish, 2014). Few organizations incorporate comprehensive standards of practice that result in an intentional distribution of balanced or reciprocal benefits among all stakeholders over the long term (Smith & Font, 2014). Furthermore, of the disparate standards of practice in GSL that do exist, few originate in the global South (Duarte, 2014). This suggests that the organizations situated in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are inadequately positioned and/ or resourced to manage the aspirations of visitors and host communities alike, and that identified standards of practice may themselves be one-sided (Nelson & Klak, 2012).
