‘Peeling back the layers’: Power dynamics and saviour complex in South-South volunteer tourism

South–South volunteer tourism is expanding rapidly yet remains empirically and theoretically underexplored. This paper examines how privilege, cultural hierarchy and saviourism manifest among non-Western volunteers, challenging the assumption that cultural proximity produces more equitable volunteer–host relationships. Drawing on 20 semi-structured interviews with volunteers from 16 countries, inductive thematic analysis identifies six interconnected dynamics: benevolent intentions and unintended consequences, the saviour complex, cultural superiority, power imbalances, commodification of poverty, and ethical awareness. The findings show that volunteers often reproduce paternalistic behaviour and romanticise poverty, framing their engagement as personally transformative rather than community-driven. By introducing relational privilege alongside mobility privilege and volunteer elitism, the paper illuminates context-specific hierarchies within the Global South. Spiritual motivations also emerge as a distinctive driver of participation. These insights extend postcolonial critiques of volunteer tourism and highlight the need for ethical, community-led programme design that strengthens local agency and long-term capacity building.