On what it is to volunteer

I recall some serious discussion emanating from the in-country HQ during my first VSO posting about the “volunteer” title.

In short, the argument was that the title immediately demeaned the individual in many people’s eyes.

You’re working for free – therefore your input is devalued.

The V word meant that people overlooked the experiences that VSO recruitment demanded.  It overlooked what qualifications you had.  It also meant that in some cases employers didn’t feel that they had the right to demand standards of under performing staff – because they were just volunteers.

Of course the suggestion was – we weren’t volunteers we were consultants.  Potentially trading one label with a stack of baggage with another.

So the truth is we do get paid – although it tends to be referred to as an “allowance” rather than a wage.  But as I sit here right now typing this, my colleague who sits across the room, gets a quarter of what I do. And my allowance is just for food and bills – hers must also cover housing, health care and family commitments.

By local standards we have a good lifestyle but even in a town where the most luxurious item I can buy is a tin of tuna, I can only just about live on my wage.

Call ourselves consultants and there’s an immediate promotion in our standing. But don’t consultants just tell you what you should do whereas volunteers do it?

On one occasion at KOTO we had “real” consultants in.  I was, one of half a dozen volunteers each chosen for their expertise and experience.  In my case it was a dozen years in others it was over 30.  The consultants, however, couldn’t see past our titles – referring to us in a report as “well meaning amateurs”.

Guess how angry we were?  And of course what they meant was – there should be less of volunteers and way more expensive consultants like them.

Having said that,  what’s expected of a consultant rather than a volunteer perhaps best fits the VSO model.  Capacity building, sharing knowledge, not so much doing as showing people how it can be done.  Then again, the most effective volunteers I have met are the ones who’ll pitch in whatever the job.

I recall Michael of Blue Dragon in Hanoi saying that the best volunteers wouldn’t quibble at having to clear up sick if one the kids they work with was ill.  I’d certainly go with that.

Those KOTO consultants are not the first I have come across who were snobbish about the volunteer tag.  Another NGO worker I met referred to us as the “plankton of the NGO world”.  Even back home not enough is understood about VSO  and potential employers can come to conclusion that you’ve essentially just been travelling for the past two years – or worse – growing dreadlocks, being flaky and “finding yourself”.

Even VSO itself can often seem to forget just how stringent its recruitment is.  Next month we have been informed we will be paid 15 days late.  I’m not happy and have argued for a reasonable explanation.  It would never happen in the VSO London HQ so why should “volunteers” at the sharp end, surviving on a pittance, have to suffer it?

In the interests of balance I should say that we have been told we are entitled to a small loan to tide us through.  But would that ever happen in London?  Sorry, can’t pay you right now but, tell you what, we’ll bung you a few quid till we’re flush again.

Is it because we’re just volunteers that we don’t get the same rights? Three years into VSO work and I am yet to find a way of raising concerns with VSO head office.  There’s no 360 degree reviews here. We can be complained about – but we can’t complain.

Going back to the titles – maybe volunteer consultant is the best of both worlds.  The gravitas of the C word and humility of the V one.

On the reflection though I’m somewhat proud to be a volunteer.  Where VSO works, it works because it’s grass roots.  We don’t come with fancy titles nor SUVs.  We don’t furnish people with instructions and leave them to get on with it.

On the whole we are here for at least a year – though that is changing and much shorter posts are now becoming available

But maybe it’s time organisations and individuals were challenged to rethink their thoughts on what a volunteer is.