Deployment Volunteers

One of the topics of a lively discussion on our Support-Gang conference call on 01/18/09 was the large number of offers we get from people who want to volunteer for deployments. Here is a summary of some of the things that were talked about and some of the things we need to think about. Everyone is invited to add to the discussion. You do not have to be a member of the Support-Gang to do so. We just ask that you sign your comments. We would especially like to hear from people who have had experience as deployed volunteers for both OLPC deployments and for other organizations.

What we know:

Many offers to volunteer for deployments come in to RT (source: S-Gers)

They fall into 3 main categories:

• Retired people, usually, but not always, professionals
• Young people wanting a service project for school vacation or year off
• Families taking an extended trip to an area, often a sabbatical

The time they want to commit ranges from about 2 weeks to a year.

Volunteers for some deployments have been a "major distraction" (source: Brian Berry)

(Has anyone had or does anyone know of a positive experience with volunteers on a deployment?)

Bryan himself :-) He started as volunteer... (YP)

Volunteers present special challenges (source: S-G meeting discussion)

• Need to consider living conditions for volunteers
• Need to consider requiring health and accident insurance
• Some countries are dangerous and present a danger to the volunteers
• Volunteers want a cross-cultural experience
• Volunteers may not have any special skills needed by the deployment
• Volunteers may not speak the language of the area of the deployment

(Please add to the list if you like)

Volunteers can present special opportunities for the deployment: (source: Caryl, Yama, Lisa, cjl)

• Many volunteer "clearing houses" and organizations exist that can take care of concerns such as insurance, living conditions, some training, matching volunteers with projects and the like.
• Many volunteers know they are expected to pay all of their own expenses.
• Many volunteer programs collect an additional contribution toward the project as part of the cost of the volunteer project which can be an important source of funds for the project (in this case, the deployment).
• Some volunteers can be successful even if they lack proficiency in the target language of the project.
• The volunteers can have a positive experience even if they don't really help that much...it is excellent PR.
• Lifewater International has been very successful with their use of volunteers.

What I think (Caryl...S-G volunteer, has deployed to TX for American Red Cross hurricane relief)

• Because of liability risks, OLPC should not take part in sending out volunteers to deployments.

Nobody who doesn't know what he's doing should either (YP)

Volunteer liability can be shared with the partner in the deployment country if possible. Sverma 17:19, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

• OLPC could refer potential volunteers to clearing houses

As of a couple days ago working with one that came to SG, gotta find name, contact (YP)

• Deployments should be encouraged and helped to contact and work with clearing houses to get programs for volunteers with their programs set up

What I think (Mel)

I did have a very positive experience with volunteers the other week; the IMSA team was a trio of high school students with very little formal technical experience, but they worked hard and learned fast and were absolutely crucial at setting up the infrastructure for the CFS deployment. Two things made this happen: documentation for (nearly) all the things they were doing - and incredibly dedicated and intense mentoring. The mentoring would not have been cost or time effective if the students had not gone on to want to train other teams to do the things that they themselves had just done (so at a deployment, you don't train volunteers; you train volunteer trainers.)

What you think (Sign your opinions)

What we need to know:

• What deployments would be willing to work with a volunteer clearing house
• What sort of skills would they like the volunteers to have
• What is the minimum time they would feel a volunteer would need to commit to a project
• What are the best clearing houses (let's make a list)

(Please add your signed comments to this list as you see fit)

What we should consider

Exploring tools that could be useful in setting up successful volunteer programs. (Again, add your signed comments to this list as you see fit)

Other Stuff

(Add anything and everything you think is pertinent to the topic and discussion)