Summary of Feedback about MBIE Discussion Document - November 21, 2018

Thank you for the responses to the discussion document about the NZ labour inspectorate requirements regarding WWOOF volunteers. We received helpful emails with some interesting feedback that we have passed onto MBIE. Some of the emails are below. We also want to make it clear that the document was purely for discussion purposes and to get more ideas. It is based on what the government requires. However we don’t want to go down the path of having to sign contracts with WWOOFers as that is not a great start to welcome your guest. We have emailed MBIE, included host feedback, and showed them how Australia, Canada and countries similar to… Read More

WWOOF, Cultural Exchange and Tips on How to Make the Most Out of Your Profile -

A reminder about WWOOF and Cultural Exchange: WWOOF is about living and learning on organic farms and gardens. WWOOF hosts are expected to use ecologically sound methods and involve their WWOOFers primarily in organic growing, farming or gardening. Hosts demonstrate and teach WWOOFers a variety of organic gardening and farming practices. Joining in with daily family life is also part of the expectation. Cultural Exchange was created as there were people wanting to join WWOOF who were offering great experiences but not primarily focused on practicing organic principals. There were also WWOOFers joining who were not really interested in learning about organic farming practices. We do consider cultural exchange to… Read More

Summary of MBIE Meeting -

  The Long Awaited Meeting: Megan and I were only allocated an hour to meet with MBIE which was definitely not enough time to discuss everything I would have liked to. However we did get some useful information around what WWOOF needs to do to fit in with the labour laws. Below is a summary of what the MBIE officials said needs to happen; They said we need to separate the WWOOF volunteering experience from the food and board. According to MBIE if we are saying that it is an exchange, doing something for something, then it is considered gain or reward and therefore payment for work done. We need to show… Read More