Why ICS?

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