Volunteers and Development

Introduction
Before I comment a bit on the training course, a few words about preparing for the weekend. I know students nearly always put a low, low priority on preparing for a new learning experience, but I can tell you, in this instance it would be a BIG, BIG mistake. If you do not want to feel FRAZZLED by Saturday lunch time, go research!!! Seriously!!!!

Main areas for you to look at are,

• HIV and AIDS - get the stats, get the impact, look at ways it is being tackled.
• Have at least an understanding about what the IMF, World Bank, UN, GATT, World Trade organizations and others are and how they relate to each other and development.
• Find out what "Neo-Liberalism" and "Community development" are and how they differ.
• globalization - a commonly used word but what does it mean to different groups of people? Look it up.

Friday Evening
Meet, greet and scene setting. Always a bit of fun. And good to see Bridg, Vanesa and Naomi again from the PFC weekend. Bit of catching up done there. But a major surreal moment was to happen in the bar after the formal session. I was listening to, ok eavesdropping in on, a conversation (as you do) whilst getting the drinks in. Ivory Coast, Ghana, early 1970's. Enter into my life again Liz Hind.......after 37 years!!!! Liz was a colleague of Jenny's at Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast, 1969/70. We had not met or even, I suspect, thought about each other for all that time, and yet here we are propping up the same bar in Brum......a bit of a Casablanca moment I think you must agree!!!!! Of all the ..........etc.
Saturday
Big issues all day. The morning sessions tackled how development affects and is affected by power groupings, debt and globalization. This is where good preparation would have paid off. Unfortunately I must still be a student at heart!!!!! And boy did I suffer brain ache!!!
The afternoon and evening started and ended with a game, sandwiching heavier sessions on HIV/AIDS and Community Development. The first game, "The Trading Game" was a lot of fun. It involved representing countries trading in the same manufactured product - USA against Bangladesh. I am sure you get the picture. Bit of advice, be really, really nice to the banker. The end game, and I can tell you it really felt like it by 19:00 hours, involved a mythical country, "Mapunta", and the agencies we had discussed during the day and involved trying to aid development in the country. The game tested whether you had picked up on the main issues. I have to say, very difficult to muster myself for this finale. Never has the pleasures of a bar been so anticipated!
Sunday Morning
Three sessions covering VSO/volunteers and development, followed by advise on how you could increase the impact of your work in the placement and, perhaps, beyond in a wider context. I found the video of the Ghanaian experience from the volunteers and the employers points of view very interesting and revealing. Sunday's sessions were more akin to the the PFC approach and allowed you personalize the information easier.
In Conclusion
Another well structured, informative and testing weekend. And another group of lovely people to meet. BUT DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE HAND!!!!!! Otherwise, the following two days will pass in a blur!