Experience reports Europe Austria
29.12.2015

Volunteering at Enchada - Development Policy Network in Vienna

"World Café, laughter circle and tourism ethics"

Sarah Pallauf on her collaboration with Enchada

In 2010 and 2011, I had the opportunity to "get a taste" of the development policy sector twice, each time for a few months. Thanks to a tip from a friend, I ended up at a first meeting of Enchada, the development policy network of the KJ, where they were looking for new organizers to plan a so-called development policy basic course. Through a colorful brainstorming session, the favorite topic was found pretty quickly: it should be about "fair travel", the title of the seminar was "Fair inclusive".

Looking back, the preparations for the three-day seminar, which all interested people could attend, were quite time-consuming, but I can honestly say that I always enjoyed them immensely. We were a great team of 5-6 committed young people who were very eager to invent games, look for different methods, contact speakers for the guest lectures and draw up schedules for the weekend. The preparation sessions were always exciting and extremely entertaining, and it was often almost unbelievable how much we came up with on the topic and how well we complemented each other!

The step of putting what we had read and worked out into suitable forms was an exciting and not entirely easy one. Sometimes it is difficult to estimate which method will be well received, how long something will take and with how many participants a certain game or themed unit will still work well.

The team definitely worked very smoothly, we were supported by a full-time Enchada employee who took care of organizational matters (accommodation, catering during the seminar, financial matters) and at the same time supported us with all the preparations. I always had the impression that everyone had an equal say and found it very enriching that the entire seminar was really planned by us and that we didn't have to follow a preconceived plan. In addition, the atmosphere at Enchada was always very appreciative and open towards us volunteers, which I found very positive.

In the end, due to the great interest, we organized the seminar twice, once in autumn 2010 and once in winter 2011. Each time we were eagerly awaiting the final number of participants, but for each seminar we quickly found a colourful mix of 13-18 committed, studying and working young people from different corners of Austria, as well as two "exotic" participants from Italy and Moldova.

I would definitely rate the first seminar as successful, and it was nice to see this assessment confirmed by the participants' feedback. I realized how exciting I found it to familiarize myself with a development policy topic and then lead various units during the weekend. On the other hand, it was also enriching to see what could be improved - our "problem" was most likely that we had planned too little time for a very dense program. This kind of insight can only be gained through practical experience...

... and we even had the opportunity to implement our ideas for improvement at the second seminar in 2011. A new group was waiting for us, we had greatly reduced the program, developed some new ideas and were looking forward to the weekend.

The schedule made the weekend a lot more relaxed this time, which we as the organizing team also noticed very much. [I probably don't need to add that the two and a half days always flew by anyway]. The atmosphere with the new participants was of course different again, a new speaker came for the guest lecture - and the change was good.

What I particularly remember from the weekend sessions was the "Round Table on Sunshine Island", where participants in small groups played the roles of luxury hotel managers, Greenpeace activists and representatives of the local community in a discussion about the development or naturalization of a South Sea island. Heated discussions ensued, sketches of endangered turtles were made, plans of the island were drawn and - as in reality - some groups joined forces in their common interest. I was impressed by how much the seminar group got involved in the role play and it was a new experience to see how quickly you come up against (seemingly insurmountable) limits.

I and the others in the organizing team also reached our limits when we realized how difficult it is not to forget the ideas that were developed and communicated during the weekend after the seminar, but to take them with us, carry them out and perhaps even implement projects based on them. We also quickly realized that the seminars were mainly attended by people who were already very critical, reflective and probably also many fair travelers ... I still ask myself how we could change the target groups, how we could make the step into milieus and groups that have never dealt with this topic before - but at the same time I am also aware that this step is a difficult one and needs to be carefully considered.

The conclusion of my work at Enchada was definitely that development policy is exciting. Planning a seminar is time-consuming, but very rewarding.

And above all: volunteering is fun and for me it means - without having to fill in timesheets, without receiving a payslip or cash at the end of the job - being wholeheartedly committed to something, doing it with conviction and voluntarily and learning a lot in the process. I like.

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More information:

Enchada is always looking for volunteers for a wide variety of activities and is also very flexible in terms of time.