IYV joint campaign

Topics for the debates

Accessibility of Voluntary Service [detailed version]

The world of voluntary service is not as open as it might seem. It could sound paradoxical, however there are many obstacles, which could discourage people from volunteering.

The following are examples of the kind of obstacles that can be met: no access to Internet, rural areas with lack of information on voluntary service programmes, age (bad feelings in a group of youngsters), physical handicap, language barriers, very little or no money, no travel experience, parents/family do not like the idea of travelling abroad/workcamps and therefore will give no support to the volunteer, etc.

Work-camps - a step towards peace ? [detailed version]

Most international voluntary service organisations started their activities shortly after the first world war, focusing mainly on promoting peace and reconciliation. The initial idea behind this could be described as follows:

Organising voluntary exchanges -> participants are confronted with each other, and will see their differences -> in the camp, where they work together towards a common objective, they can start to tolerate "the other" -> they can even start to respect "the other" in his difference -> in the end they will be less eager to fight each other -> promotion of peace in society

The simplified scheme is an extreme presentation, but can be used for any kind of confrontation between cultures, ideologies, opinions. The important thing is not necessarily the presence of a huge and potentially dangerous conflict as such, it is in how you learn to deal with difference.

A work-camp brings together people from very different cultural, social, economical and educational backgrounds in a situation which can be called at least "uncommon". By putting them together, almost inevitably, you will end up with smaller or bigger conflicts (sometimes even unrecognised). Since a work-camp is about everyone participating in the camp life, volunteers will have to find ways either to solve the conflict, or to live with it without being frustrated.

In this sense, a work-camp is not really a "conflict-avoiding" activity, but becomes in a way a conflict-generating activity (although - as said before - the conflict is in many cases very minor and hardly affects the atmosphere of the camp). The end objective is not to deny differences, but rather to acknowledge their existence, overcome them and live with them without it developing huge proportions and leading to war. In this philosophy, out of the micro-experience of work-camps, volunteers evolve towards people that are less eager to end up in a situation where they reduce "the other" to an enemy to be fought. And they can start to pass on this experience to others.

Supporting returned volunteers [detailed version]

While there is growing agreement and understanding on what is needed to make international voluntary service as beneficial as possible, little is known about what happens to long term volunteers (LTVs) upon their return home and what is the long-term impact of volunteering abroad on LTVs and their own communities.

Upon their return, very often LTVs feel just as disoriented and confused as when they first arrived in the host country. They are likely to "suffer" from a "reverse culture shock" and go through a new intercultural experience - this time feeling strangers at home, misunderstood and out of place in the family, study, work and other familiar environments. The "rite of passage" which started abroad continues: realising changes happening within oneself can be just as lengthy and painstaking.

Against this background, sending organisations need to evaluate the necessity and desirability of accompanying, providing support and monitoring LTVs' re-adjustment and re-orientation process in their home country. Support and understanding should help returning LTVs to channel positively their desire to feel useful, to build on their past experience, and to find ways to engage with others in action and reflection.

A legal status for volunteers: facilitating engagement and mobility (visas) [detailed version]

Once I asked a volunteer abroad what it meant to be a volunteer ?

"It is not easy to explain... : For example, when applying for my residence permit, the man in the Local Government Office told me: 'You are neither a worker, nor a student, or an Au Pair; a volunteer doesn't exist!' After three times with at least one hour to wait, I finally had my permit. I was happy. However, they gave me a residence permit for workers. But I'm a volunteer! I didn't go back because I was fed up with the Local Government Office. I hope that me and my organisation will not be checked".

This girl was lucky. Many other people willing to contribute with their skills and powerful motivation to volunteering abroad never succeeded in joining their programmes. They did not get their visas. The authorities of the host country rejected their petitions arguing that they were neither supported by a study programme nor by a work contract.

These are only some examples of the many different obstacles that volunteers do actually face - visa refusals, excessive and confusing bureaucratic procedures to get residence permits, taxation over expenses as if they were a paid workers, loss of social benefits, lack of recognition of their voluntary service- because, legally, "a volunteer does not exist".

Inter-regional exchanges between North, South, East and West [detailed version]

International voluntary service has been characterised essentially by two components: an international group (or an individual from another country) work within the frame of a given locally defined project. An international project bears the potential for intercultural learning, empathy with and solidarity between the volunteer/s and the local population. If the countries of origin of the volunteers among themselves or with the local population are very different from the country where the project takes place (inter-regional or inter-continental), it also bears a number of additional obstacles on the way to reach its set objectives.

The topic will be discussed under three different angles to be discussed by volunteers, activists and decision makers of organisations:

  • The philosophy of international voluntary service between different regions in the world: voluntary service between development, tourism and intercultural learning
  • The partnership with organisations all over the world and the connections with them (networks): questions related to the system of fees between sending and hosting organisations and the question of regional co-ordination
  • The partnership with institutional actors (UNV, EU, Council of Europe and others)

We would like to confront you with some provocative statements and ask you to react

We are aware that some of the issues ask for some previous knowlegde on the issue. We have therefore subdivided the issues in statements to be discussed by volunteers in a project (questions about Philosophy) and statements to be discussed by activists / board members / staff (question of partnerships).

 

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