Volunteer programs
Volunteer work
CECI has grown by amassing, over its five decades of existence, a storehouse of expertise in international volunteer work. CECI’s innovative volunteer cooperation programs are typically carried out in conjunction with Global South communities. The local communities’ participation makes sure that the processes, practices, and tools employed remain relevant to the local organizations and are appropriate to the constantly changing context to which they must react.
Thanks to the commitment and solidarity of thousands of volunteers, their desire to learn alongside the partner organizations, CECI’s volunteer cooperation programs give a stronger voice to civil society. Indeed, our partners are the prime movers in work having a positive impact on the development of their communities.
Volunteer cooperation at CECI: Building the strengths of individuals and partner organizations for equitable and sustainable development
Our volunteer programs are based on capacity building processes as a means of contributing to sustainable development.
- We plan our activities strategically, on an ongoing basis.
- Our programs have a specific geographical and sectoral focus.
- We allocate resources to priorities in these sectors.
These interrelations are what ensure that activities carried out locally have impacts on a national scale.
Within this framework, we currently have 400 Canadian volunteers working alongside Southern volunteers on mission with 120 Global South partners. Our strategy is rooted in values of equity, solidarity, justice, gender equality, and environmental protection.
Networking and collaboration build a solid foundation for volunteer cooperation projects. These interactions take shape within a broad framework of common sectors, collective action, and a desire to build on each person’s experience and expertise. The ultimate goal is to give a voice in the public sphere to the poor and excluded – in a word, to empower them.
Networking, along with the deployment of improved programs and services, enhances the credibility of the partners. This credibility enables them to influence policy more effectively.
Globalization presents immense challenges to populations and to national sovereignty, but it also provides opportunities to build new forms of solidarity.
Our > volunteer cooperation programs:
- offer a venue for individuals and organizations wishing to act collectively on specific development issues by putting their skills at the service of Global South poverty reduction organizations;
- foster development in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia, as well as public engagement in Canada;
- are based on short- and long-term volunteer mandates and on collaboration between organizations;
- are continually being adapted to changing contexts; CECI strives to refine its methodologies and assistance processes so as to better contribute to the development of Southern countries.
These initiatives are implemented in concert with World University Service of Canada (WUSC) with a view to capitalizing on the complementary expertise of the two organizations.
Issues
What with major global trends such as the proliferation of interactions among nations, increasing interdependence among national economies, and the persistence of inequality, millions of people are mobilizing to ensure that the benefits of development are enjoyed by all.
Many organizations have as their mandate to lower the hurdles to the fair sharing of wealth and knowledge.
CECI’s model of volunteer cooperation recognizes that Southern civil society is in the best position to offer services to populations and to advocate on behalf of marginalized groups. For these civil society organizations to make the most effective contribution to development, they must enhance their capacities and capitalize on the continual interaction between communities and organizations.
Our programs take the poverty reduction strategies of national governments, sectoral entities, and donors as important points of reference with which we must interact.
This is why it is essential for our staff, volunteers, and partners to stay abreast of domestic and international policy developments linked to our sectors of interest.
For example, the Uniterra program supports women’s rights advocacy organizations in various countries of Central America: together, they can take regional action on the issue of violence against women.
More than 191 member states of the United Nations have committed to fighting poverty and exclusion by attaining the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015. CECI’s and WUSC’s volunteer cooperation programs fit within this concerted effort on the part of the international community. Since our aim is to assist the growth of local communities and marginalized groups, we focus on the following sectors:
- sustainable economic development
- health and HIV/AIDS campaigns
- women’s rights
- governance
- non-formal education
Goals
CECI’s volunteer cooperation work is driven by two main goals:
- increasing the knowledge and expertise of local organizations, associations, institutions, and networks, and building their capacity to act effectively in their respective sectors;
- marshaling Canadians’ support for development cooperation; our volunteers – while preparing for departure, on mission, or on return to Canada – are excellent ambassadors of international solidarity in the eyes of their friends, family, and the public.
Projects
Expertise
For CECI, the skills and expertise of societal actors, national and local governmental structures, and civil society organizations are an indispensable part of their self-development efforts; therefore, they are central to our development approach as well. We strive to:
- build on the partners’ accomplishments and the exchange of expertise among people, organizations, and networks;
- recognize the significant contribution of Southern civil society organizations that deliver services to populations and communities and give a voice to excluded or vulnerable groups;
- foster dialogue between civil society and government on issues affecting populations.
Capacity building
Capacity building refers to a participatory process in which our partner organizations sustainably improvement their organizational and sectoral knowledge, skills, and expertise. These organizations are, in fact, central to all our activities, and sustainable development is the ultimate goal.
Our volunteer programs build capacities by being:
- geared towards development (improving collective knowledge with a view to increasing levels of economic and social development in a given sector, such as health, education, or equality);
- centered around partnership (the partners are no longer bit players but hold the reins of projects, planning, and decisions);
- based on an in-depth analysis of the sectoral, political, and socioeconomic contexts in which the organizations work;
- geared toward regularly planned and evaluated results.
After analysis of the sectoral issues in collaboration with the various stakeholders, CECI implements a strategy consisting of:
- support for partner organizations and institutions in targeted sectors;
- mobilization and engagement of highly qualified Canadian volunteers for short-term mandates (two weeks to four months) or long-term mandates (four months to two years);
- adhering to the principle of non-substitution: volunteers do not do development work in place of local people; rather, they support local people in their self-development process, with reference to their basic needs;
- incorporation of the principle of gender equality; our programs aim for women’s representation and full participation in the benefits of development (lien vers 2.5);
- promotion of networking and collaboration among Global South organizations with a view to reinforcing the power to act collectively and regionally.
While Canadian volunteers are dedicated to integrating into and understanding the internal affairs of the partners, they do bring a unique outside perspective that can help capitalize on the strengths and meet the challenges of the organizations.
Each volunteer mandate is an opportunity to raise questions, find solutions to fundamental issues, establish relationships among organizations and important players in a given sector, react innovatively to sectoral and organizational challenges, and learn alongside the partners.
For their part, when Southern volunteers leave their environment in order to learn in a new context, they benefit from opportunities to discuss best practices emerging from their experiences. Thus, volunteers learn from their peers through observation, training, and discussion.
On their return from a research trip, an international conference, or an exchange mission, they bring to their organization a new critical perspective that can shed light on sectoral or organizational strengths as well as spheres of activity in which improvements are necessary.
Another major innovation involves mobilization of private-sector and institutional volunteers for short specialized missions as part of the Leave for Change program. This program offers employees of companies and partner organizations an opportunity to convert part of their annual vacation into a two-to-four-week volunteer assignment.
CECI staff in Canada and the host countries play a central role in the implementation of this international volunteer effort. Constantly on the lookout for networking and collaboration opportunities, they participate in:
- facilitation of issue analysis and decision-making processes among the partners;
- sustained support for the partners;
- selection, training, and supervision of volunteers and partners;
- exchanges between peers, volunteers, and partners with a view to identifying each one’s interests.
Thanks to the CECI staff, the strengths of each volunteer are pinpointed and their efforts are channeled toward common development objectives.
Partners
Global South partners are the driving force behind our programs. They include both grassroots groupings and national-level federations and associations, as well as governmental entities. These partners are key stakeholders and it is they who take the reins of the capacity building process.
Capacity building is not something that is designed externally and then parachuted into the partner organizations; rather, it emerges from within these organizations themselves.
While our partners vary greatly in terms of their size, experience, and the scale of their operations, our development programs always encourage the partners to draw on their own experience, expertise, and knowledge. Their development takes place in a spirit of sharing of knowledge and know-how with a view to spurring on collective action.
