Successful Volunteering Overseas. What makes a successful, effective volunteer abroad?
By Sven Mauleon with the help of overseas volunteers and OpenmindProjects dedicated staff
Some volunteers make it. They are very successful and happy. How come?
Some volunteers abroad have great technical skills yet don’t quite make it. Why not?
Some overseas volunteers have great social skills but don’t make it. Why? This is the easy one. You must bring some knowledge, skill to the project. It is not enough just being nice.
If you want to know why go on reading, and then if you want to discuss this important issue with us, email us or join our OpenmindProjects Volunteer Community, www.openmindprojects.org/community
Consider! Can you volunteer overseas and really expect to make a difference without being prepared? If you think so, you can stop reading here!
If you think not, go on reading. You can also go to our Cross Culture and Volunteer Training page, http://www.openmindprojects.org/cross-culture-training-in-thailand-for-the-volunteer-overseas.html
Ask yourself! What about your technical skills, special knowledge, expertise that you bring? What about your knowledge about the place you are going to? How well do you interact with people, especially people who are different, have other values, speak another language?
And be honest with yourself! What are you up to? What can you cope with?
Making people listen to you, want to learn from you, requires trust, understanding, appreciation, credibility and patience! Some volunteers and volunteer training organizations focus on the services provided to the volunteer such as pick up at the airport, travel reservations, travel insurance, sightseeing, volunteering at an organized placement etc, etc.
OpenmindProjects focuses on the services provided to the placement, your services and ours to them! How otherwise can you make a difference, if you as a volunteer require more than you give?
So what makes a successful volunteer overseas? The OpenmindProjects experience
Our experience stretches over a period of nearly 10 years in the fields of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Nepal with volunteer overseas from all over the world, the US, UK, Scandinavia, Australia, Canada, Germany, France , China, Japan, and many more countries
Not surprisingly, our most exceptional volunteers through the years have been people who are focused, socially skilled, sensitive to other peoples’ feelings and needs, patient, flexible, adaptable, innovative and open minded to new experiences and ideas. They are not only the most successful but also the most satisfied volunteers! And they have all found our cross culture and volunteer training immensely helpful!
Conclusion: Volunteers Overseas should be explorers with clear objectives and like a challenge, something out of the ordinary, taking them at times out of their comfort zone, which will ultimately enrich them.
Why volunteer overseas? Focus, objectives! What do you want to give and get out of your volunteering?
Our successful volunteers have volunteered for both selfish as well as altruistic reasons – they wanted to learn something, grow, have a useful and interesting experience, improve their CV/resume but they also wanted to help! They were willing to share knowledge and skills even under difficult conditions. Upon returning from volunteering overseas assignments, they often tell us they felt a great sense of satisfaction from “giving back”. Many felt they got more than they gave, for which they were very thankful to the local people they helped. Says one: ‘Volunteering is the ultimate culture immersion experience, the way to see the world, to learn new languages, cultures, different beliefs and traveling out of your familiar surroundings, you are taken out of your comfort zone and forced to think what really enriches you both personally and professionally.’
Successful volunteers reported that their own knowledge and skills are enhanced through teaching others. Knowledge transfers both ways!
Who makes a successful volunteer overseas?
In much of the research focused on successful volunteers, a core set of personal traits is identified as essential. Among those qualities most often cited are flexibility or adaptability, patience, openness, innovativeness and integrity. Of course the best volunteers are not only those who possess these innate qualities, but also those who are well prepared for their assignments. Being an effective volunteer requires lots of preparation and is, in fact, hard work as well as being an exciting and wonderful opportunity to travel and see the world.
Flexibility
We provide detailed Volunteer Handbooks yet, despite these excellent tools, unforeseen circumstances and situations arise in the field. Volunteers who were flexible and adapted (to unforeseen realities such as days without electricity, sudden changes of and difficulties to plan, culture, behavior and value differences) would be able to do a better job, show less frustration I front of their hosts. “Sometimes it felt frustrating when you arrived to school to find out the day was spent elsewhere as a sport’s day and you were left alone without anybody telling you’ said a volunteer, ‘but then I thought, Ok, I will prepare for next day’s work and make some more teaching tools, flash cards”
Patience
We have learnt that our international volunteers need patience. Life tends to be different than in the volunteer’s home country. Concepts of time and punctuality differ. This has been frustrating to volunteers who had very high and commendable expectations of what they would accomplish during their 1- 4 months assignments. Successful volunteers often took time, to observe, ask questions and better understand their new environment. By avoiding forcing a work plan the first day, volunteers found themselves more comfortable and, more importantly, made their local hosts feel more comfortable.
An open mind
Volunteers who respected people and showed tolerance for other ways of doing things found it easier to work with local people. They did let go of their ‘shoulds’ and remained open-minded to different, sometimes less work than they expected. They managed to appreciate what was valuable to them, and what was feasible to achieve. They tried to learn and build on local knowledge, ideas rather than replace them.
Creativity
Volunteers functioned better in their new environment when in a a new situation they managed improvise instead of giving up and when they found ways of using simpler means to achieve their teaching or other objectives compared to home.
Integrity and responsibility
Volunteers who were perceived as reliable and accountable have always been appreciated and therefore found it easier to work successfully with local colleagues.
Being prepared
Successful and satisfied volunteers showed a strong sense not only of what they hope to give but also of what they hope to gain from the experience. They showed this already in their volunteer applications and at the volunteer training in Thailand before they went volunteering. ‘The best volunteers are those with clear personal goals’ say some our our local staff in charge of volunteer training.
Cross cultural skills
Culturally competent volunteers tended to provide education and services that were respectful of and responsive to the needs of local colleagues. We could see that a really culturally competent volunteer would be aware of his/her own values and maybe prejudices and had taken time to learn about the other culture. ‘Cross cultural skills means not just knowing what people from other cultures do and behave but also understanding why’ says Sven Mauleon, the founder of OpenmindProjects, ‘and I always emphasize this when I discuss culture with new volunteers’. ‘By understanding local work conditions, our volunteers will be prepared to assess training objectives and to teach what can realistically be learned’ he continues.
‘There are many examples of cross-cultural problems experienced by volunteers ‘says Thaweesilph Lunchaiapha, co founder of OpenmindProjects and himself born in a poor rice farmer’s family.
‘Some of the most important are: different ideas of time, of cleanliness values, interests, lifestyles, even thing like where people sleep, eat, dress, and go to the bathroom; and, of course different teaching and working styles.’
An awareness of these distinctions helped successful volunteers to bridge the cultural gap with their students and to focus on their commitment to help.
Communication Skills
Good listening skills are critical to a successful volunteer experience. When you first arrive at your site, listen closely and observe others to develop an understanding of how people communicate, greet and never take it for granted that you interpret what is said or done in a correct way! Some of the worst experiences local people and volunteers have had were due to misunderstandings!
Asking open-ended rather than leading questions is key to avoid misunderstandings. Successful volunteers are aware of the importance of nonverbal communication, unconscious, spontaneous and culturally determined.
Impediments to Successful Volunteering Overseas
There are a range of psychological, emotional, rational and practical barriers to volunteering. Volunteers naturally lack the accurate and comprehensive information about where, how and with whom to volunteer before they come to a new placement. Nothing substitutes the real experience!
Being a good volunteer entails not only patience and adaptability but also a certain degree of stability, so opting for an assignment following any kind of a personal or professional crisis is not a good
