Structured & Self-Funding Volunteer Programmes :Selection & Eligibility
This section on how to combat some of the common problems encountered by volunteers
is aimed primarily at long-term volunteers working in developing countries. It is written by
Katherine Tubb, director of 2Way Development, and is based upon her experiences of running
a not-for-profit sending agency.
Homesickness
Some of you will feel this common condition of travelling overseas, some of you won’t. One
thing I have witnessed on many occasions with homesickness, especially with younger long-
term volunteers, is that their placement seems like an eternity when they first get overseas.
The temptation to go home, back to normality, predictability and safety, is very high.
~ Cure Keep time in perspective. Sure, ‘there’s no place like home’... but home is always
there. The time you have will go very quickly! Short, well-timed trips home and people
visiting you may prevent you missing home so much. Try to join social groups for support
outside your workplace. One thing I always recommend is contacting your embassy for
advice about these. Also, introduce familiar activities into your daily routine. Joining a local
health club (if there is one) is good because it gives you an element of familiarity in your
daily life which can be helpful.
Communication Shock
Volunteering is all about different cultures, both personally and professionally. There are
elements of a culture that you may not be able to explain or understand – this is where
communication comes in. Language barriers and a different way of communicating could
be potential obstacles to your happiness when volunteering overseas. Volunteers can react
negatively to new ways of communicating by isolating themselves from their surroundings
and misinterpreting the behaviour of colleagues and friends.
~ Cure Allow yourself time to get used to your new home and work environment. Make
allowances and give people the benefit of the doubt until you are accustomed to your
surroundings. Be proactive in communicating – ask for information and assistance and for
people to translate.
Privacy & Independence
Your host organisation may feel responsible for your welfare and may want to ‘look after’ you
in a way you are not used to back home (particularly if you are a younger female volunteer).
This is especially relevant to volunteers who are provided with accommodation by their host
organisation. For instance, your host organisation may be concerned about you going out
unaccompanied late at night. In addition, your accommodation may have little privacy, with
people entering your bedroom without permission: something that may upset you but is
perfectly normal to the people you’re living with.
~ Cure Again, proactive, patient communication can go a long way towards resolving these
situations. Patience and an understanding of different points of view and ways of life are
important too.
Your Host Organisation
You may find certain elements of your workplace very frustrating when volunteering. The
structure of the organisation with which you are volunteering may have apparent failures
(from your perspective). Some of the problems that volunteers have mentioned to me are:
poor management; badly spent funds; overstaffing; time-wasting; lack of transparency; poor
strategic planning; and hierarchical staff relations.
The Ills and Cures of Volunteering
~ Cure What is different may not necessarily be bad. If it clearly is, your role is to SLOWLY
suggest ways that the organisation can improve. Please don’t suggest a radical change
in the running of your host organisation on day three (I know people who have done this),
save this till week seven!Your Role
You will see your time volunteering as helping. But how you want to help and what is needed
may not be the same things. A great deal of your time may be devoted to fundraising, for
instance, as a way of improving the capacity of your host organisation. You may be given
a lot of office work instead of field work, which could conflict with your objectives for your
volunteering experience. Initially you may not be given huge responsibilities and may not feel
you are achieving what you set out to do.
~ Cure 1 To start with (generally the first six weeks), you should not rely on the fact that you
are committing your time and have paid a lot of money to get to the country to guarantee
your integration and acceptance into your host organisation – this will take time. Work
closely with your host organisation in negotiating a role for yourself that both you and they
are happy with. Trust-building is really important in this process.
~ Cure 2 ‘Doing by learning’ not ‘learning by doing’ is a good mantra here. Don’t expect to
change the world in your first six weeks. And when you do start ‘doing’, see your achieve-
ments for what they are. I have worked with volunteers who achieve a lot in their place-
ment, even after the initial settling-in period, but still insist that they aren’t doing enough.
Write down your achievements, however small, and think carefully about the time you
have and what you should realistically expect to achieve.Support
The level of support you receive from the organisation you are volunteering with depends
upon the nature of your placement. For individual volunteers working directly with local chari-
ties, orientation, advice and support might not be freely available. You might enter a situation
where human resources are in short supply, and therefore you may not be assigned a
member of staff to act as your supervisor and may not have the opportunity to ‘job shadow’.
~ Cure It is important that individual volunteers take steps to support themselves, such as
asking for adequate support from colleagues and being explicit about what they need.General cures...
~ The six-week rule The first six weeks of overseas volunteering is a critical stage in adapting
to new surroundings. When you are living and working in a new country as a long-term
volunteer, you will have to adapt to a very different professional and home environment.
~ Slow down You probably will not operate as fast as you would in your home country
when volunteering. This is fine! Take small steps to achieve what you want from your
volunteering experience.
~ Knowledge is power Research the country you are volunteering in and the organisation you
are volunteering with before leaving your home country. Also, it can be positive to establish
communication with your colleagues in your host organisation before you depart. Expose
yourself to as much information as possible about the country you are going to, such as
images, documentaries, films and books, and try and talk to people who have been there.
Katherine Tubb
Director
2Way Development
http://www.2way.org.uk02: Choosing Your Volunteer Experience:The Ills and Cures of Volunteering