ENGAGING FOR SUSTAINABILITY
In recent years ‘voluntourism’ has become extremely popular among those wishing to spend time in a different country and give something back at the same time. However, in some cases, despite the good intentions of those wishing to donate their time and skills, the intentions do not always match the outcomes.
Time spent abroad volunteering is not a replacement for a ‘traditional’ holiday. Although rewarding, volunteering is a very challenging experience. So, how do you ensure that your experience is truly ‘sustainable’?
Action
Drawing on our many years of experience throughout Asia, we provide travelers with a safe and highly experiential service-learning program in and around the communities selected. Based on the needs of each community these programs typically involve community action projects, historical and cultural tours, and fun team-building exercises. Community needs come first in deciding the exact activities within a GROUND program.
Orientation
Upon arrival and throughout the service-learning experience , we support facilitated orientation sessions that provide travelers an opportunity to reflect upon their activities and their own personal growth, impact and development. For some travelers, this could also mean a second visit to the community towards the end of the 18-month service-learning process in order to assess and reflect upon the impact of their activities on the communities. We also actively use social media with each community hosting their own dedicated Facebook page. This enables the travelers to stay up to date with the progress within the community.
Demonstration
GROUND will survey the beneficiaries of the students’ community action projects village families, for example to obtain their feedback on the impact that the student projects had on their own livelihoods. We then translate and provide this to students in order to help them understand and reflect on the impact that the projects actually had on the communities.
HOW IT WORKS?
GROUND programs work by putting the communities’ development needs first. This means we put programs together differently than many other organizations. A typical GROUND program will feature a healthy mix of culture, contribution to a sustainable service-learning project, local community immersion, cross-cultural interaction and lots of fun and some downtime:
CREATING TRANSFORMATION
GROUND’s journeys are developed with the objective of transforming young travelers through positive experiences. Building leadership skills, resilience, and cross-cultural connections are the foundation of this transformation.
LEADERSHIP BUILDING
They say that travel is the best form of education – and it’s easy to see why. You have to get accustomed to every new environment. Every challenging scenario weathered and every decision made is a reflection of the skills we need in everyday life. It’s a lesson in how to communicate, tolerate and innovate; all skills that great leaders share.
For a young person, being involved in a local community project is an incredibly powerful experience and an opportunity to look for leadership within themselves. Whether it be helping to construct a new toilet block, building a playground for school children or teaching basic English lessons, the time spent on project has the ability to not only build confidence in one’s abilities, but it can change one’s outlook on life for many years to come.
RESILIENCE
Resilience comes from adapting successfully to profound change, especially involving hardship or difficulty in things we normally take for granted. Stepping out of one’s comfort zone can be very stressful and stimulates not only shock, frustration, and fatigue, but also self-reflection, inspiration, and triumph a cycle of reactions that can go forward and backward, up and down, fast and slow. Building resilience is a challenge to our emotional, intellectual, moral and cultural values, and it all starts with change.
While participating in one of GROUND’s journeys, travelers are likely to find themselves immersed in unfamiliar or difficult circumstances because of cultural differences and lifestyle changes. However, the most satisfying personal growth is often achieved by positively dealing with a host of stressful situations while adapting to a larger world-view of cultural norms. Building resilience means developing a reservoir of personal strength based on self-reflection, an attitude of flexibility and tolerance, and remaining open to the challenges and positive effects of change.
CROSS-CULTURAL CONNECTIONS
GROUND’s journeys blend together countless aspects of cross-cultural relationships by encouraging travelers to cooperate both within and outside of the team. Travelers will overcome language barriers, establish strong personal relationships and open their minds to new possibilities by being guests in a completely unknown environment. As they progress through their journey both cultural and socio-economic boundaries fade away, leaving space for collaboration, understanding, and empathy.
These factors open opportunities for students to develop their interpersonal skills through cross-cultural communication, which can later be applied to various aspects of life, and also help understand different cultural contexts and the way they can influence people’s attitudes, beliefs, and values.
Partner Panel
