To help the needy in areas that are mired in a humanitarian crisis, possibly by sending humanitarian volunteers directly to places affected by war, earthquake or typhoon. However, the posting itself is preceded by rigorous preparation, which ADRA Slovensko attaches great importance to.
The humanitarian and development organization ADRA Slovakia was the first Slovak non-governmental organization to participate in the volunteer initiative "EU Aid volunteers", which was launched some time ago by the European Commission. It was a logical step, since he has long been dedicated to building meaningful volunteering at home, but also in the world. Until now, it has been preparing young people for its "missions" in the so-called developing countries. She recently expanded her portfolio to include the management of humanitarian volunteers. The project manager of ADRA Slovakia, Alena Horváthová, describes in an interview how the entire preparation for such a volunteer stay in a country plagued by a humanitarian crisis looks like. Why did the European Commission embark on a project to train and send humanitarian volunteers in the form of the "EU Aid volunteers" initiative? The European Commission as the main funder of the project with its slogan: "We care. We act." expresses its goal clearly enough – intervention must be done wherever a natural disaster or social conflict requires intervention. Because it concerns all of us and in Slovakia we should be in solidarity with the needy. And that all the time, not just once a year - in the run-up to Christmas. Every year, events such as typhoons, floods, extreme drought, landslides, earthquakes, military conflicts or civil wars deprive millions of people, especially in the countries of the Global South, of a roof over their heads, food, work, safety and the possibility of providing for their families.
What is your personal volunteering story? Already during school and subsequently in addition to work, I was involved as a volunteer in various activities at home and abroad. This year, for example, I helped with the study support program for children in India, last year I participated in the collection of food for the needy in Slovakia. In ADRA Slovakia, I managed the HVM (Humanitarian volunteering management) project for two years, which builds the capacities of non-governmental organizations that would like to prepare and send humanitarian volunteers to post-conflict countries.
How specifically can such volunteers (mostly young people) help in humanitarian aid? This assistance varies depending on the country they travel to. We always agree the exact content of the volunteer's work with the partner receiving organization to which the volunteer goes, depending on their needs and the current situation. The sent person is then involved in providing effective assistance, i.e. ensuring the basic survival needs of disaster victims, saving lives, as well as the subsequent restoration of the country, but also in preventing similar situations.
How many volunteers have you so far joined the so-called developing countries like ADRA Slovakia sent? We sent (under the SlovakAid banner) twenty-four people to communities of internally displaced people in Georgia, members of the Roma community in Albania, typhoon victims in the Philippines, socially excluded families in Kenya, budding activists in Ukraine, migrant people in Lebanon, traumatized people after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc. But these were development volunteers. Their workload and the training itself differ from that which suitable candidates undergo in the framework of humanitarian volunteering. Just as immediate humanitarian aid differs from long-term development cooperation, the missions of the sent people also differ.
You mentioned Georgia, which had a war conflict with Russia ten years ago, this year there were elections there. How can Slovakia help this post-Soviet country through volunteering? In Georgia, due to two frozen conflicts, there is a high number of internally displaced persons, the so-called IDPs. We currently have a volunteer in Tserovani near Tbilisi – a place where more than eight thousand displaced people and their descendants live in two thousand houses since 2008. She works in the organization For Better Future (translated as "For a better future"), which is made up of resettled women themselves. For example, they operate a protected workshop for the production of original enamel jewelry. Our volunteer Martin takes care of support and better visibility of the activities of this social enterprise, promotion of its idea and products. He is also in charge of leisure activities and teaching English to local children. Thanks to his experience in the field of PR and HR, these days he is preparing a schedule of meetings where he would teach unemployed youth and other unemployed adults how to effectively write a resume and cover letter, how to prepare for a job interview, how to improve communication skills. There are really still many areas for improvement and topics that a volunteer can contribute his expertise to.
As part of the "EU Aid Volunteers" initiative (and the HVA - Humanitarian Volunteers in Action project), you will send volunteers to Albania in a few weeks. What is your experience with this country? Thanks to the excellent cooperation with the partner organization ADRA Albania, we were able to send several volunteers there in the past. The content of the work always depended on the discussion with the partner organization and the needs of the community. Thanks to pre-departure preparation and mentoring, we don't worry so much about safety. We always receive positive reports from stays. Now we had a volunteer Veronika there, who worked in the village of Fushe-Kruje with local socially excluded children in the field of inclusive education and animation. Recently, small activists there went on a march through the village and proclaimed the slogan: 'Dua Shkolle!' (in translation: 'I want school!'), which showed all adults that education is important to them and that they cannot be beaten. Her work and motivation of Roma boys and girls to attend school regularly is bearing fruit.
Which humanitarian crisis did people from Slovakia pay the most attention to and where did you send volunteers? Ukraine is still close to us, and thus also the crisis there, where we as ADRA were also involved in humanitarian aid, development cooperation in the form of building the capacities of the civil sector and sending volunteers. Even now, we have sent one volunteer there. Another one recently returned to us from the Philippines, which at the beginning of November commemorated five years since the rampage of Super Typhoon Haiyan. Our director was also there to volunteer for two months. ADRA created a public collection to help restore the country, in which the people of Slovakia actively participated. We have been dedicated to educating fishermen and prevention so that repeated disasters (due to climate change) do not cause so much damage and loss of human life in the future.
So how did the mentioned HVM humanitarian volunteer management project look in practice, in which you were also involved in ADRA Slovakia? The project was built to help recipient organizations improve their processes and system for managing humanitarian volunteers. For this purpose, trainings were prepared on topics such as: safety in the field; ascertaining the needs of the organization and the logistics of volunteers; volunteer management and awareness raising for humanitarian projects. The organizations were assisted by experts from the sending organizations in the form of online mentoring in the preparation of internal documents (safety manual, evacuation plan, communication strategy, etc.) and documents necessary for certification. Our ADRA was one of the broadcasting NGOs.
The HVM project has ended. What will happen after its completion? In the summer, our ADRA was the only one in the Slovak Republic to receive a certificate from the European Commission for sending humanitarian volunteers through the "EU Aid Volunteers" initiative as a safe and high-quality sending organization. The HVM project was aimed at building the internal capacities of the involved organizations (in this case there were ten of them). In the ongoing HVA (Humanitarian volunteers in Action) project, it is already a matter of sending and receiving experienced junior and senior humanitarian volunteers. We will select those in these days and they will travel to guest organizations in July 2019.
What does the pre-departure preparation for selected people consist of before they are sent? The selected candidates are familiar with the issue of humanitarian aid and EU interventions in countries where a humanitarian crisis has occurred or is ongoing - whether caused by human actions or a natural disaster. A separate module is devoted to safety and health protection at work, volunteers will familiarize themselves with the principles and safety rules, as well as possible evacuation scenarios. It is also important to understand the project management of the organization and the implementation of humanitarian projects directly in the field. Without getting to know intercultural sensitivity, but also with PR and the way of communication, it would also not be possible - as reports from the humanitarian mission must be given - not only to close ones and one's own organization, but also to the media, funders and the general public. ADRA Slovensko still requires volunteers to have a two-month pre-departure internship directly in our office so that they understand the goals and activities of the organization.
What should be the desired outputs of the "EU Aid Volunteers" program? Already during online mentoring and well-set monitoring, we can work together with the volunteer on the high-quality fulfillment of the goals of the stay, which we agreed on before the deployment. A well-prepared and implemented volunteer stay should be beneficial for all parties involved, i.e. not only for the sent person, but also for the sending and receiving NGO. At the same time, we should not forget the local people themselves - the recipients of aid. Of course, in a region torn by a humanitarian crisis, all sorts of things can go wrong and the stay is extremely demanding, many factors must be monitored at once. But project errors, unwanted situations, cultural missteps, and security risks can be eliminated precisely by high-quality management of humanitarian volunteers.
How to prevent ineffective volunteering outside the EU countries? By reading the real needs of the organization, recognizing the volunteer's motivation before the trip, quality preparation of the volunteer mission even before it starts, and then monitoring it. And although it may sound like a learned phrase from a project document, you really don't need to forget to express feedback. We at ADRA do not forget the verbal appreciation of a job well done and the final evaluation of the project together with the partners.
How do you react to outbursts on social networks that you should volunteer and help mainly at home, and not somewhere abroad? Our organization helps effectively in the world, but also at home. And since we have humanitarian and development aid experts in the team, it should be used where it is needed. To help in the so-called developing countries makes sense not only from a moral point of view, but also from the point of view of preventing, for example, unwanted migration and the phenomenon of refugees, which we fear so much at home in the Slovak Republic. If the situation in regions torn by civil war or famine is unresolved and unbearable, the population is forced to leave their homes. However, humanitarian workers and volunteers can intervene on the spot by not only solving the consequences of the given situation, but also going after its causes. But the answer to this question is, of course, more complicated... In any case, you can start with volunteer activities at home. There are really plenty of opportunities.
Text: Boba Markovič Baluchová Photo: ADRA Slovakia https://www.adra.sk/hva_vysielanie_dobrovolnikov/)