Become an Experteer and Travel Intentionally

Mark Horoszowski, CEO & co-founder of Moving Worlds, helps travellers volunteer their real skills around the world by becoming experteers.

Mark is a part of our Travel Massive Seattle chapter and is here to tell us a little more about the difference between voluntourism and experteering.

Can you guess? Read on to find out more.

What is your initiative about? Who does it help?

MovingWorlds is about helping people travel more intentionally. We match young professionals with organizations based on their skills –we call it Experteering.  

In some countries one of the biggest barriers to progress is a lack of expertise access, so by connecting people to locally-led organizations that are looking for specific skills we help these countries build sustainable solutions to serious problems. In the process of helping these orgs, our volunteers experience deep personal growth and development, so it’s a win-win on both ends.

What inspired you to create this initiative? 

In 2010, I spent a year traveling and volunteering my skills around the world. I was talented in business development, marketing, and management and was looking to apply these skills in a meaningful way. However, the more I searched, the more frustrated I was by the number of “pay to volunteer” programs who focused more on the volunteer’s experience than on creating real change. In 2011, I teamed up with Derk, my co-founder, who saw the need for more skilled volunteer in global development and we came up with Experteering.

Is there a unique story of how it came to be?

I actually started my trip around the world with plans to ski on every continent! I began in Asia and  climbed for 3 weeks to ski down Mera Peak in Nepal, but was shocked at how unfulfilled I felt.

In the lead up to my travels, I had made some connections with the Nepal Wireless Project, an education and health initiative in the remote areas of Nepal, so I put the skis down and went to volunteer with them at one of the schools they support in the foothills near Annapurna.

That experience was so powerful for me that it ended up changing all my plans! I gave up the skis for the chance to engage in a more meaningful way.

What has been your biggest success or accomplishment? 

We’ve helped unleash over $5M worth of professional skills around the world and hope to double that amount next year.

Can you share an inspiring story when you felt your project was most fulfilling?

Here is a copy of a testimonial email I got today:

“MovingWorlds has been (and continues to be) an incredibly important part of my story. Without the connections I have made through MovingWorlds, I can honestly say that I would not be in the place where I am right now. 

When I was last in touch, I was working on my second Experteering project. I took on a huge project in Honduras with Honduras Child Alliance to write an English curriculum. Through that project I was able to not only visit a really great place twice, I was able to design the project start to finish and develop skills in consulting, training, and too many other things to count. I found direction. Prior to MovingWorlds, as I think you know, I had left my career in education in search of something new and more meaningful on a global scale. While I was in Honduras I got to see a really interesting project in action. The kids were learning how to code using the program Scratch developed by MIT. They were also partnered with kids in the US who were also doing the same projects and exchanged video letters with them like modern pen pals. I was intrigued, and I was encouraged by Eve (the executive director of HCA) to reach out to the company who set the whole thing up. Well, many months later and lots of discussion, I took a job with that company called Level Up Village. I wouldn’t be in this place, incredibly happy with the work I’m doing, without my two experiences with MovingWorlds. Talk about a success story!”

What do you hope your initiative will accomplish in the next 2-5 years?

We’re currently sending hundreds of people every year, but our vision is to support tens of thousands of exchanges – there is no shortage of skilled professionals, and the need for them is just as big. However, we also know that there are major challenges for people – like time off from work and finances – that make it hard for many to embark on these Experteering projects. As such, we’re working with companies like Microsoft, Siemens, and Kering that are sponsoring their employees to go Experteering because of the personal growth development that happens on these trips.

We think that your boss should give you more time off to travel and volunteer (and pay for it!)

Purposeful Traveler is a series that profiles inspiring people or projects making a purposeful change to the way we travel. You can connect with Mark and Moving Worlds on Travel Massive, Facebook and Twitter.