Tasks and Aims of IYVS

Current programmes in International Voluntary Services

Today there are a large number of programmes and organisations who send volunteers internationally on a long or short term basis, and with a wide range of terms, conditions and goals. There are also differences in the programmes in terms of volunteers’ skills and requirements. One of the major differences between international voluntary services is whether they send skilled or unskilled volunteers. Skilled volunteers still form an important part of humanitarian aid and other development co-operation programmes in fields such as health care. Yet there is also a growing demand from young unskilled people from Europe to volunteer in the field of development co-operation.

Aims of International Youth Voluntary Services (IYVS)

The purpose and aims of youth voluntary programmes differ significantly from those organisations sending experts abroad: They are not primarily aimed at development objectives in the South but at raising awareness of development issues in their country of origin.

As almost all developmental youth voluntary services have a twofold approach of serving and learning, this often results in confusion concerning the aims and results of such services.

In order to prevent misconceptions concerning goals and achievable results of such services and to avoid unachievable demands on mostly unskilled young volunteers with little experience from both sending and hosting organisations, it is absolutely vital that the aims are clearly defined and accepted by all partners involved. Sending organisations must be clear about the mission of the voluntary services they offer. Organisations that provide placements need to define precise task profiles in order to find suitable partner organisations abroad and to agree on the terms of co-operation. Furthermore potential volunteers should be given complete and realistic information.

Therefore, before sending any volunteers, the sending organisations and their hosting partner organisations must discuss their expectations to find out if there are common aims and strategies as well as management capacity to implement a volunteering programme from which all parties involved can benefit.

The international volunteering sending organisations consider the following three approaches as central to what volunteers might realistically contribute in the field of development co-operation: the development model, which focuses on poverty reduction and skills transfer; the civil society strengthening model, which concentrates on supporting civil society organisations and their human resource needs, and the learning model, which focuses on personal development and cultural exchange.

The development model - a contribution to poverty reduction and social justice

Organisations send volunteers to participate in programs to reduce poverty, promote social justice and/or contribute to peace building. There is considerable emphasis on skills transfer and strengthening organisational capacity. This model fits within the development co-operation framework of the major donor countries, but the results of these voluntary placements are currently under scrutiny. In recent years, programmes have expanded to include South-North and South-South volunteering in order to avoid paternalistic features and promote dialogue on a par with all involved partners.

The civil society strengthening model – building democratic capacity

Civic engagement (community participation) can be an expression of compassion and charity, of mutual self-help or a desire for social justice. It has political, economic and cultural dimensions. When it encompasses individuals from different groups beyond the family or clan, sociologists argue that it builds ‘bridging capital’, the basis for sharing information, undertaking collective projects for the public good, and negotiating conflicting interests without resort to violence. NGO development proponents argue that increasing the number and scope of voluntary efforts is the very basis of a robust democracy.

The learning model - developing global citizenship

These programmes are especially geared to young people and stress personal, professional and cross-cultural exchange. Participants travel to other countries to learn more about global political and economic issues and to increase their understanding of global interdependencies in all aspects of their lives.

Many IYVS organisations use more than one model to argue their case, and while this is possible, it can lead to role confusion as each model has a different logic for recruitment, funding, partnerships and follow-up. The civil society strengthening model would focus on organisational capacity building. The partner organisation and its human resources needs is the starting point. In the development model, the development challenge is the starting point, and the focus is bringing together the interested parties in all sectors and at all levels from global to local to meet the challenge. In the learning model, the starting point are the individual volunteers and howthey can best become agents of change for themselves and their own community as well as for their hosts.

In youth voluntary programmes learning is the key objective