Australian Volunteers in PostConflict Situations

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Australian Volunteers in Post-Conflict Situations

• Melissa Conley Tyler
• Goetz Walter
• Formerly International Conflict Resolution
  Centre, University of Melbourne, Australia
• m.conleytyler_at_unimelb.edu.au

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Post-Conflict Situations
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Aim of Presentation

• Describe potential issues faced by volunteers in
  post-conflict situations
• Report on results of a study of Australian
  volunteers experiences in post-conflict
  situations
• Provide recommendations for volunteer management

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Volunteering in a (Post) War Zone

• Potential Effects of Humanitarian Work

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Health and Mental Health

• Humanitarian aid workers have
• Mortality of 1.9 times normal (Schouten
  Borgdorff 1995) with deaths caused by intentional
  violence (68), motor vehicles (17) and
  unintentional violence (7) (Sheik et al 2000)
• Elevated levels of anxiety and depression (Holtz
  et al 2000)
• High risk of post-traumatic stress disorder
  (Eriksson et al 2001)

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A Difficult Environment

• Humanitarian emergencies generate stress among
  workers due to
• Risk of violent personal assault
• Likelihood of encountering moral and ethical
  dilemmas
• Witnessing human rights abuses
• Witnessing traumatic events or dealing with
  victims of trauma
• (McCall Salama 1999)
• These dangers apply also to volunteers

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Learning from Volunteers

• Results of a Study of Australian Post-Conflict
  Volunteers

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Research Conducted

• Literature Review
• Literature review on post-conflict situations,
  humanitarian aid workers and international
  volunteers
• Interviews with VSAs
• Consultation with 4 Australian Volunteer Sending
  Agencies
• Focus Groups with Returned Volunteers
• 4 focus groups with returned volunteers

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Focus Groups

• Focus groups conducted face-to-face and via
  telephone
• Focus groups advertised through Volunteer Sending
  Agencies
• Volunteers must have returned from 6 months to 2
  years prior
• Placement countries included Cambodia,
  Afghanistan, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Sri
  Lanka (self-selected)
• Mix of male/female and ethnic groups

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Benefits of Volunteering

• Volunteers reported that they gained in skills,
  self-confidence and cultural sensitivity
• They reported permanent changes in their value
  system and how they see the world
• Volunteers reported that communities had also
  benefited, mostly in low-level peace-building and
  community development
• Volunteers modest lifestyles enabled integration
  with local community

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Challenges of Volunteering

• Security
• Volunteers reported few security issues
• Trauma
• Dealing with people who had experienced trauma
  was a major challenge
• Reintegration
• Many volunteers reported unexpected culture shock
  upon return to Australia

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Caveats

• Small-scale
• Small numbers
• Only some post-conflict countries represented
• Volunteers surveyed may have had high levels of
  resilience
• Focus groups
• May discourage talking about trauma

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Recommendations

• Implications for Management of International
  Volunteers

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Volunteer Suggestions

• Pre-Departure
• Better management of volunteer expectations
• Training to deal with traumatised people
• Training on conflict, trauma, healing, PTSD
• Post-Return
• Debriefing and social networks

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Further

• Results of study being published in the next
  issue of Australian Journal on Volunteering
• Article on the international volunteer experience
  in the last issue of AJOV further anecdotal
  work should be encouraged
• Contact m.conleytyler_at_unimelb.edu.au