What we try to do here in Allianssi Youth Exchanges is to include a special “local motivation session” into each of our camp leader training. In this session we talk about the camp leaders’ responsibility in trying to multiply the models set by the work camp in the local community. What this means in practice is that the camp leader, in addition to his or hers other tasks regarding the campers, should keep an eye on the momentary possibilities to tell about their camp and who is the NGO behind it and what does the NGO do in general.
This might mean chatting with the local people a little extra, telling people what the volunteers do and why, how did they find their way there as in small rural communities it might not be as self-evident for the individuals that people from i.e. urban areas would voluntarily like to go to someone else’s community far away to work free for their communities benefit.
By talking to the local people, when they necessarily don’t have the courage to step up themselves and ask ‘What is happening here?’, the camp leader will bring the information to them. Bringing the information about the possibilities of international volunteering in small local communities can also mean grabbing the sleeve of a local youth worker when bumping into one and proposing if the there are some young people who like to hear about their possibilities about going abroad, getting new friend etc., in other words, doing what those international volunteers came there to do for them.
Thus, the “local motivation” in this case stands for the leader finding (or provoking) the opportunity to organize an event to let locals and youth using the foreign volunteers to demonstrate in practice what volunteers can do in the community and an then again gain for themselves at the same time. This could be working together, playing and learning games, info sessions, etc; each example that can be taken from daily life to initiate action and dialogue on a local level.
