2.1 The characteristics and motivations of an international volunteer

In this section, we discuss the characteristics and motivators that are relevant and necessary for international volunteering. International volunteering involves hard work, sacrifice, and being pushed beyond your comfort zone. It is important that you have the necessary characteristics and motivation to sustain you.

2.1.1 The characteristics of a volunteer 

Characteristics are features or qualities that define and identify a person. We all have physical characteristics such as height, skin tone, hair texture, body shape, and so on. What is more important are emotional characteristics or personality traits such as integrity, loyalty, humour, generosity, sincerity, self-control, patience, determination and tolerance.

Task 1 – What are important characteristics for a volunteer? 

All tasks arecompulsory in order to successfully complete the course. Your answers must be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 500 words.

Think about your own personality traits. Which words would you use to describe yourself? List three characteristics you think would be most important and influential in your role as an international volunteer, and why.

There are several characteristics which are particularly important for an international volunteer (adapted from AIESEC, 2018):

• Courageous – you may find yourself in a new environment, facing the stark realities of a world which is often very different to what you are familiar with. You will need to be brave to tackle these challenges.
• Patient – while you might have big dreams of changing the world, the reality is that volunteering requires patience. Things will not always move as quickly as you would like them to or go according to plan, which is all the more reason to be tenacious and make a real difference.
• Creative – as a volunteer, you will be asked to do many amazing things, but with limited resources. You will be faced with complex problems and will have to figure out innovative ways to address them.“A good volunteer takes instructions and executes them. A great volunteer doesn’t just do their work perfectly, but also finds newer, better ways of getting it done.” (AIESEC, 2018)

• Humble – it is crucial to remember why you are there. You are not there to prove yourself, or how valuable or indispensable you are. You are there to help and learn how to make a meaningful contribution.
• Proactive – Projects Abroad offers you 24/7 supervision and full support while you are volunteering. However, in some cases, it is important that you show initiative.  This will help you develop a strong work ethic which will be very helpful later in life! 
• Passionate – sometimes the situation will be dire, or you will feel that you are not making a meaningful contribution, or the work might be boring. Remember that all your duties as a volunteer – even tedious admin – make a difference to the organisation and ultimately, their mission. It is important that you feel passionate and enthusiastic about the cause so that you can sustain momentum. 
• Collaborative – volunteering is about working with others towards a goal which is greater than any individual. You will be required to work in teams where everyone – including you! – brings something they can contribute to the table. By being collaborative, empathetic, respectful, and dependable, you will be an asset to any team.   

As you can see, these characteristics will be helpful in your role as a volunteer. Carefully consider whether you have the necessary personality traits to succeed as a volunteer and to make a valuable contribution. You may even have additional character strengths which set you apart from others, and which you could harness to reach your full potential as a volunteer.

Extension activity

Click on the following link to complete the VIA Survey for Youth, a short survey that will reveal some of your character strengths. The survey is based on the “Classification of Character Strengths and Virtues” (Peterson & Seligman, 2004):  Character Strengths Survey (Values in Action (VIA) Institute on Character, 2020)

According to Paul Tough (Thomson & Ahluwalia, 2012), there are several unique personality traits which are necessary for success. These traits are:

Figure 1 Traits necessary for success (Thomson & Ahluwalia, 2012)

You will notice that some of these overlap with the characteristics that make volunteering that much easier and rewarding. It is vital to reflect on whether you have the necessary characteristics to be a volunteer.