A
fantastic learning experience, an opportunity to contribute, a culture addict’s
dream
From January to April this year I volunteered as a team
leader on the International Citizens Service (ICS) programme with the YMCA in
Kaolack, Senegal. It was a fantastic learning experience, an opportunity to
contribute to the development of a disadvantaged community and the perfect way
to discover a new culture. I would like to share with you a few thoughts on why
I believe this programme is so appealing and what I have learnt through participating.
ICS is a British government initiative, funded by the British
Department for International Development (DfID) and volunteer fundraising. It
has three primary objectives – volunteer personal development, positive
host-community impact and continued active citizenship. These goals are
achieved by sending British young people (aged 18-25) overseas to work with one
of several partner organisations on community development. The British
volunteers are partnered with local volunteers, in a multicultural team, to work
towards the Millennium Development Goals. So far over 4000 British young people
have taken part.
Through the
ICS placement these young people have the opportunity to experience working in
a multicultural team for positive change, while learning about another culture and
global social issues. As a team leader (fortunately there is no upper age limit
for team leaders) I was responsible for coordinating the team, writing project
documents, liaising with the project supervisor and coordinator, and helping
the other volunteers to achieve their personal development goals. As a fluent
French speaker I was also required to interpret and translate (FR <> EN)
on a daily basis.
Volunteers running a health
information session with local children
So why
volunteer for this programme? Personally, I decided to volunteer because I
wanted to use my language skills in a context relevant to my specialisations
(social sciences, NGOs, international organisations, etc.). The majority of the
other volunteers took part in order to become more attractive to potential
employers, whether by gaining practical work experience or by improving their
knowledge of global issues. Having the opportunity to contribute in a positive
way to a disadvantaged community and to integrate into a different culture were,
for me, added bonuses that made ICS an obvious choice.
Another
advantage of the programme is that it is essentially free to participate.
Volunteers must fundraise, (strictly) not pay, a small proportion of the funds
required. The remainder is paid by DfID, making the opportunity more accessible
to young people from low-income families.
The Programme
After
completing the online application, each successful volunteer is placed with an
NGO specialising in development. I was placed with Y Care International, the
international branch of the YMCA, and following a selection day in London I was
assigned to the YMCA in
Kaolack, Senegal.
Every volunteer receives pre-placement and in-country
training on working in a multicultural team, the YMCA, the Act2Live project and
the Millennium Development Goals. As a team leader, I received additional
training on dealing with conflict, organisational structure, planning,
monitoring and evaluation.
Working in
Senegal was challenging. Not only did we have the unfamiliar heat to get used
to, but we also had to adjust to a new way of working, to a culture where
formality and hierarchy are highly valued, where personal relationships always
take precedence over practicality and where punctuality is a rare luxury. But
who doesn’t love a challenge?
ICS and local YMCA
volunteers after a cleaning exercise
I learnt so
much during the placement, both in terms of personal and professional
development. Professionally, I became comfortable with an unfamiliar variant of
French, since I was required to speak, write, interpret and translate between English and French on a
daily basis; I gained practical experience writing formal documents in French
and English, including planning, monitoring, evaluation and risk assessment
documents; I reinforced my knowledge of global social issues, human rights and
development through our everyday work and additional training which took place throughout
the placement.
Personally,
I learnt to coordinate and work effectively in a multilingual and multicultural
team and improved my ability to stay calm and composed in high-pressure
situations. I also found that knowing your objectives in any undertaking is
imperative if you want to achieve the best possible results. The other
volunteers in my cohort all gained confidence, knowledge of global social
issues and experience of working in a different cultural context.
The
highlight of the placement for me was the Development Challenge, for which each
team is allocated funding to carry out a self-guided project in their host
community. After conducting research, which highlighted insufficient food and a
lack of skills as issues in the community, we planned and implemented a micro-gardening
project in local religious schools. These school often lack the funds to
provide sufficient food for the children in their care; consequently, the
children resort to begging and are often marginalised as a result.
Building micro-gardens
with marginalised youth
– our Development Challenge project
In
conclusion, I have to emphasise how much ICS benefits so many people in so many
different ways. I urge you to take advantage of the opportunity if you can and
to encourage any young people you know to seriously consider applying.
Read more
about my experience at: Llama in Senegal
