Much of our current research about volunteering in later life has been conducted with respondents who dedicate their time and effort to volunteer in their home communities. Some, however, choose to travel to developing countries to volunteer in a number of initiatives. Little research has been done that focuses on what influences their desire and motivation to volunteer in this particular context, what meaning is derived from it, and how it impacts their perception of wellbeing and health in later years. Using an interpretative phenomenological methodology, this project attempted to discover how older Canadians experienced the phenomenon of volunteering in developing countries, asking the questions: What are the factors that lead some older people to choose to travel to volunteer in a developing country at this particular time in their lives? What were the circumstances in their lives that enabled them to be able to make this choice? What meaning did/do they derive from it? In what ways did this experience impact their perceived life satisfaction, health and well-being? The data gathering strategy involved collecting information directly from those who have participated in this phenomenon: interviews with 12 participants, ranging from age 62 to 80, were conducted. In order to understand the context of this experience, the research design also involved gathering demographic data about the participants’ life situations. Interview data gathered from the study were initially analyzed using coding techniques of the constant comparative method. The interpretative phenomenological analysis led to the discovery of core categories in the data, which were then clustered into a conceptual framework. A wealth of concept-rich data emerged to form four key properties that contribute significantly to further understanding about this phenomenon: a significant, disruptive event had occurred in their lives, at a time preceding their volunteer experience; the conviction of being led or guided into pursuing this choice; the discovery of feeling instantly welcomed into a place of belonging, where each felt instantly at home and connected in meaningful ways; and an experience of marginalization, isolation and loss of meaning upon their return home, necessitating a need to ‘re-balance’ their lives and find ways to continue to find meaning. This research study will inform the discourses about elder health and wellbeing, and volunteering in later life, particularly about the social movement of elder volunteering in developing countries. It will contribute to theories of how, and in what ways, older adults achieve meaning and purpose by positively negotiating life transitions, re-inventing themselves, learning and adopting new roles, and creating new behaviours and identities, all of which can contribute to healthy aging in later life. / Graduate

The primary aim of this study is to investigate young people´s motives and expectations for participating in the action two “European Voluntary Service” (EVS) under the Youth In Action programme supported by the European Commission at the youth center Villa Elba in Finland. The study also aims to identify which competences the young people think they have developed through EVS. The study consists of one group interview and one focus group interview with ten EVS volunteers in total who accomplish short-term EVS and long term EVS during one month respectively nine months. The methodology is based upon a qualitative research approach and in order to reach a better understanding of the respondents’ motives for participating in EVS, the theories modernity, reflexive project of the self and the individualized society were chosen. The study is also based upon background information about EVS and earlier research. The results indicate that the EVS volunteers’ main motives for participating in EVS were: acquiring new skills, meet new people, and experience an adventure in another country. The most common competence developments turned out to be in the areas of language, social and initiative skills. Moreover, the study demonstrates that many young people in Europe face difficulties in getting into the labour market and becoming independent. The main reason is the economic recession which has severely affected the situation for young people in Europe and this is also confirmed by earlier research. Even though the respondents had positive opinions about their EVS project, criticism was raised towards the European Union´s ideas of creating a feeling of European Citizenship through programmes such as EVS.

While the study of volunteer tourism has been growing over the past decade, there is limited literature that takes a global approach, whereby one explores the perspective of a number of stakeholder groups in such experiences. The aim of this project was to fill this gap by looking at the volunteer tourism experience from four perspectives, namely the volunteer, the organization, the host family, and the community at large. The focus in this case was on the experiences and expectations of these groups. The research was qualitative; based primarily upon interviews. The research for this project took place in Ghana. It was found that the three local stakeholders (the organization members, the host family members and people from the broader community) generally viewed the experience similarly. Volunteers often expressed views that set them apart from the other groups. Main themes for the groups generally revolved around cultural differences, communication and progression through stages of the experience. The stages of the experience showed three main stages, those referring to the time before the volunteer, during the volunteer???s stay and the time after the volunteer???s departure. Cultural differences included discussions of culture shock, stereotypes, and mis-communications in cross-cultural dialogue. Communication was a major issue, and was to be found lacking between all groups. In regards to communication there was also a suggestion for continuing contact and relationships between the locals and volunteers beyond the volunteer???s time in the community.

Volunteering overseas has become a popular activity among individuals from developed countries. Governments in these countries often provide volunteer opportunities as part of their aid programs. In Australia, the Australian Government’s Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID) program offers opportunities for hundreds of skilled Australians to volunteer overseas every year in a range of sectors, organisations and roles. The program and its assignments aim to build the capacity of host organisations in priority fields identified by Australian and partner governments. This thesis seeks to understand how the experience of volunteering is represented by AVID, as well as the range of experiences had by current and former volunteers. The study draws on discourses of development, in particular colonial discourses and the role of volunteers in development. Content and discourse analysis is applied to 10 texts produced by AVID to understand how these representations construct and contribute to discourses of development and power relations. In addition, perspectives of volunteers collected via a survey and interviews are analysed to understand the views and experiences of AVID participants. The findings are compared, revealing both alignment and disconnect between the stories being told about volunteering and the broader realities of the volunteer experience.

The focus of the Bachelor thesis is to analyze how states in the Global South are being othered by states in the Global North that fund international development volunteering (IDV). A focus is put on states that fund IDV as part of their contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. For this purpose, relevant literature from critical tourism studies, research on IDV and critical as well as postcolonial approaches to international volunteering are being introduced. This builds the basis for conducting a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of data from four IDV organizations’ websites. The sources to be analyzed are the descriptions of countries in the Global South on two websites and the pictures on the websites of four organizations.  From this data collection three themes emerge in the discussion: Othering based on socio-demographic aspects - like gender, race and age - normative aspects and the representation of places. All three aspects contribute to the othering of places and people in the Global South through international development volunteering.

This diploma thesis investigates international volunteering in the context of professional, personal and social development of young volunteers. In the theoretical part, definition, history, forms and subjects involved are presented, together with the impacts and ethical questions related to the field. Next, the professional, personal and social development is defined and international volunteering is put in light as a source of important skills. The empirical part is concerned with one specific form of international volunteering - workcamps. Firstly, organisation INEX-SDA, which sends hundreds of youngsters to workcamps each year, is introduced. Next, methodology and results of an original qualitative research focused on the role of workcamps in workcamp-participants' lifes are discussed. The results suggest that workcamps have various impacts on and connectedness with the participants' development, the professional as well as the personal and social. By some, the workcamp's impact on their life and development is perceived as subtle, while others see significant effects, workcamps had on their life and skills. Whole spectrum of skills and values that can be acquired on workcamps is revealed and described in relation to career and personal life. Key words international volunteering, international...

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Магистерская диссертация посвящена изучению формирования межкультурной коммуникативной компетенции у школьников 10 классов в процессе изучения иностранного языка при участии в международных волонтерских программах. Целью данного исследования является теоретическое обоснование, разработка и экспериментальная апробация модели формирования межкультурной коммуникативной компетенции у обучающихся десятых классов в процессе изучения английского языка при участии в международных волонтерских программах. Структура работы состоит из двух глав: теоретической и практической. В первой главе приведен теоретический обзор нормативных документов Федерального государственного образовательного стандарта среднего общего образования (ФГОС СОО) и научной литературы по теме формирования межкультурной коммуникативной компетенции у обучающихся старших классов на уроках иностранного языка, описаны особенности коммуникативного подхода в обучении иностранному языку, изучены двадцать семь волонтёрских программ и определены наиболее подходящие в рамках российских реалий, составлена и описана педагогическая модель формирования межкультурной коммуникативной компетенции у обучающихся десятых классов на уроках английского языка при участии иностранных волонтёров. Во второй главе описан материал исследования, педагогические технологии и деятельность обучающихся, учителя английского языка и иноязычного волонтёра в процессе формирования межкультурной коммуникативной компетенции в рамках курса внеурочной деятельности “Страноведение”, приведены результаты опытно-экспериментальной работы. Результаты экспериментальной работы подтвердили идеи о построении системы управления процессом формирования межкультурной коммуникативной компетенции старшеклассника, в котором ведущая роль принадлежит учителю английского языка, управляющему учебным процессом, сопутствующая роль принадлежит волонтёру, выступающему в роли фасилитатора коммуникативного процесса, который придаёт общению на иностранном языке более естественный характер. Материалы исследования могут быть использованы в преподавании таких учебных дисциплин как методика преподавания иностранного языка, дидактика внеурочной деятельности, практикум по межкультурной коммуникации. / The master dissertation is devoted to the study of the formation of cross-cultural communicative competence among 10th graders at English lessons with the assistance of international volunteers. The aim of this study is the theoretical justification, development and experimental testing of the educational model for the formation of intercultural communicative competence of the tenth grade students in the process of learning English with the assistance of international volunteers. The structure of the work consists of two chapters: theoretical and practical. The first chapter provides a theoretical review of normative documents (Federal State Academic Standard for High Schools) and scientific literature on the topic of the formation of intercultural communicative competence among high school students in foreign language lessons, describes the features of the communicative approach in teaching a foreign language. Twenty-seven volunteer programs have been studied during the research and the most suitable within the Russian realities have been pointed out. Moreover, a didactical model for the formation of intercultural communicative competence among the tenth grade students in English lessons with the foreign volunteers` participation has been compiled and described. The second chapter provides the information about the research material, the pedagogical technologies used in the process of forming intercultural communicative competence within the extracurricular activity course “Country Studies”, and presents the results of the experimental work. The results of the experimental work confirmed the ideas about building a management system for the formation of intercultural communicative competence of a high school student, in which the leading role belongs to the teacher of English who manages the educational process, the minor role belongs to a volunteer acting as a facilitator of the communicative process. It helps the foreign communication sound more natural and English-like. These results can be used within the courses of foreign language teaching methods, didactics of extracurricular activities, intercultural communication practice.