In this issue
4 Pääkirjoitus / Editorial
6 Kutsu kevätkokoukseen / Invitation to Spring Meeting
7 Kuulumisten vaihtoa
10 Tule mukaan toimintaan
11 Kamu-toiminta: Ystävyyttä, apua ja läsnäoloa (on the Finnish website)
13 Join our activities
14 Ammattikoulussa avustamista ja futistreenien ohjaamista – Assisting at vocational school and leading football training
17 Volunteering around the world: Unique experiences and connections in Costa Rica
27 Tulevat tapahtumat / Upcoming events
Theme articles
19 Tools for decolonisation
22 Yhdessä oppimisen äärellä (on the Finnish website)
24 Arjen auringonsäteet – kohtaamisia ja kumppanuutta vanhustyössä (on the Finnish website)
Editorial: Partnership at the heart of international volunteering
About four years ago, I was getting ready to volunteer. I joined the European Solidarity Corps and spent six months volunteering at the office of the youth exchange organization Grenzenlos in Vienna, Austria. Before I started volunteering, I was full of excitement and had many questions and uncertainties. How will things work out in a new country? Will I find my place at the volunteer workplace? Will there be tasks that I can handle? How will I adapt to a new environment and culture? How will everyday life and independent living go? Will I make networks, friends, and contacts?
Once I started my journey, things went smoothly and well. Looking back, I can say that the key to a successful experience was partnership. International volunteering involves many partnerships and collaborations. Sending and coordinating organisations as well as volunteer workplaces need reliable and responsible partnerships with each other in order to support volunteers properly. Partnership is crucial for a functional, fair, and thriving work community at volunteer placements, where volunteers can contribute their skills and learn. Networking and creating connections are essential during training, camps, and volunteer meetings – creating new partnerships to navigate through the volunteer experience. The partnership between a volunteer and mentor guides the direction of the volunteer project and provides support and reflection opportunities. Additionally, as volunteers do their work, they are creating a partnership between the volunteer workplace and the local community – a partnership focused on collaboration, understanding, and appreciation.
In my volunteer project, the partnership between the sending organization Maailmanvaihto and the receiving organization Grenzenlos was extremely successful, smooth, and significant. The collaboration between the organizations and open communication provided reliability: I knew that support was always available, I would be heard, and solutions would be found together. Going abroad is always exciting, but a functional network serves as good support and security.
In this magazine, we delve deeper into the partnerships of international volunteer work. We explore, among other things, meaningful connections arising in elderly care, collaboration among voluntary organisations for developing their decolonisation assessments, and partnerships between local people and volunteers built by the Buddy programme.
Susanna Halme
Board member of Maailmanvaihto
Editor-in-chief of MaailmanVaihtoa magazine