Brooke Arnold, VSO India
08 June 2010
Brooke Arnold, AVI/VSO volunteer in India, being interviewed for
the Asia Pacific journal of Advance Asia.
Where in Australia are you from, where are you now based
and how long have you been there?
I'm from Brisbane and am now based in New Delhi for at least 24
months; so far I have been in India for 6 months.
Describe your organisation and what your key goals
are.
VSO is an International charity that works through volunteers
for development to address poverty and marginalisation and believes
in putting poor people at the centre of our approach. VSO in India
works with government and civil society to get individuals and
communities involved and engaged in their own and nation's social
and economic development, become active citizens and support the
poorest to access their basic rights. We will fight the
causes of poverty by connecting people nationally and
internationally to share knowledge, experience and promote
volunteering to address inequality, discrimination and social
exclusion.
Our main focus of work in India is to work alongside with
partner organisations in building their capacity to mobilise
volunteers, primarily youth, to work on issues of poverty,
discrimination, exclusion and marginalisation, inclusion of people
with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS, to ensure that
their voices of the marginalised communities are heard and have a
say in the decision making processes. VSO and partners achieve
these goals by sensitising communities, trainings and workshops,
engaging government, civil society organisations, schools,
corporates, the media and other partners.
Why have you chosen this area of the not-for-profit
sector to focus on?
My current placement in India will bring me up to 3 years of
international volunteering in the development sector. I am working
as a Fundraising Advisor my role includes writing proposals and
developing the capacity of my organisation in fundraising and
resource mobilisation. I also have the opportunity to travel around
and complete short-term assignments with VSO Partners that request
help with fundraising, report writing, donor mapping etcetera, so I
am lucky to have such diversity in my work.
I have chosen to become a volunteer over an employee because I
feel that being a volunteer means more than just completing a task,
or writing a report, it about being an active citizen and
sharing my skills and building capacity of grassroots
organisations, that wouldn't be able to afford professionals to
train. I know that without the work of volunteers and professionals
that are willing to donate their time, many organisations would
find it difficult to continue their amazing work in development and
their valuable help in addressing community issues.
As a VSO volunteer, I came to India as a professional, with
skills, knowledge and experience to share with my organisation. To
get to this point, I studied International Business as my
undergraduate degree a few years back with the aim to work on
overseas development specifically. While I was studying I
volunteered in my local community for NGOs and the State Emergency
Service (SES), which gave me a great understanding of team work,
skills sharing and the understanding that the only way to make a
difference is to be an active citizen, no matter where you are in
the world.
Who has influenced you to become a
volunteer?
One early memory is of being in high school and watching a
documentary on UN peace keepers in Timor Leste and being overcome
with many emotions by the images on the screen, not that of the
peace keepers, but of the East Timorese citizens. Looking back now,
I think my dream of wearing a blue beret was a bit off the wall for
me, but feeling like I needed to do something to help, definitely
steered me into thinking a lot more about development issues,
especially in the Asia Pacific. Since then, I've personally seen
the real and tangible link found between volunteering and success
in development and I hope I can continue working as a volunteer or
can help encourage others to become active citizens in the
future.
What opportunities are there for Australians to get involved
with your work?
Australians and New Zealanders can apply for overseas volunteer
placements in fundraising, health education, advocacy and
communications roles via the AVI-VSO program. The roles are based
in resource poor environments, can be short or long term and
structured. They provide a fantastic opportunity for
professionals looking to expand their experience and skills,
particularly in resource poor environments, and seeing tangible,
immediate benefits to their work. The program offers roles across
Africa, Asia and Latin America.
For more information, please go to www.australianvolunteers.com/vso
What qualities have you seen in Indians and Australians
that make for good partnerships?
I think Australians and Indians have very similar work ethic and
do not shy away from hard work when there is an important job to be
done. I believe our similar values of prioritising community and a
love of sport, bridge a lot of differences and creates a good base
for partnerships to develop. Both values draw on team work, working
towards a shared goal and having fun while you're doing it! All of
these are integral for any formation of good relationships and
partnerships.
Working at the community level is the strength of the Indian
community and organisations, where as Australians are more used to
a business/corporate work mode, so together we can work together in
great combination in partnership.
What are the greatest challenges for working in an Indian
organisation and how are these different from challenges in
Australia?
Some of the greatest challenges of working in India, I feel are
the same Asia wide, like the daily battle of Indian Stretch Time
versus Indian Standard Time and battling the heat, the cold and the
rain and trying to get to the office still looking somewhat
presentable.
Working in an Indian organization can also have its challenges
because of different organizational structures and priorities,
cultural and language barriers. Although these issues crop up from
time to time, I feel that the preparations VSO provide via
pre-departure and in-country orientation inform new volunteers and
help them to adjust. The thing I find that helps me through the
challenges is picking out a great moment out of the many that has
happened to me while I have been in India. Whether that is helping
to take 52 street kids to the zoo one day, having a good chat with
my vegetable seller, visiting the hill tribes in rural Orissa and
helping to build an organization's capacity in fundraising, or just
sharing some Plum Pudding with my landlord at Christmas, the happy
moments will always outweigh the negatives, sometimes you just need
to remember that.
What are your plans for your organisation in the next
3-5 years?
For VSO India, our main focus now is to build up our brand and
presence in India as an NGO, a local Indian entity and also as a
change agent and mobiliser for mass volunteering across the
country. Our new strategy that starts this year focuses on Active
Citizenship and Mass community volunteering in over 10 states of
India. We have a goal to actively engage with 1 million youth
across India in the next 5 years and we have very ambitious plans
and proactive and energetic partner organisations that will help us
reach this goal by 2015.
My volunteer placement here in India ends in November 2011,
after that I don't know where I will end up exactly, but will
definitely be staying in the development field, hopefully in Asia
working towards health equity and social justice and increasing the
capacity of organisations to respond to the challenges that their
countries face. In the future I might try to move into work
in Africa as well, but I think there are many places left for me to
work and explore and I hope I can keep travelling, learning and
sharing skills for a long time yet.
What do you know now that you wish you knew before you
arrived in India?
As I was preparing to come to India I had this notion that India
would be really hot all year round, so I was packing accordingly.
Only 2 weeks out from my departure did I Google the weather of
Delhi and was shocked to find that I was arriving at the start of
winter, where the temperature would drop to a freezing 4 degrees
and the whole city would be absorbed by the thickest fog I have
ever seen. This should have given me a really good indication that
you can't expect things of Delhi, if you do, you will be proven
wrong!
Work wise, the biggest change for many people from overseas
coming to India or other countries is that you have to give
yourself time to sit, read, listen and ask questions in the
beginning of your placement. My friends and I found that we came
here being very task orientated people, but found that this doesn't
always work out, its important to learn the culture of your
organization, the area you live and work in, and understand and get
to know your colleagues. There is a lot to take in and get used to
in the beginning that requires time and patience, instead of the
goals and timeframes many of us were used too.
I think the biggest shock for me was realizing that being a
single woman, living and travelling alone can be difficult and
sometimes a bit scary. After living in Australia and Cambodia, I
found that being a strong willed, determined and confident woman
meant that I could pretty much do anything I needed or wanted to
do. In India it can be a challenge finding a place to live,
travelling alone on trains, being out at night or just trying to
get an electrician to show up! Despite these challenges I still
feel like a strong, confident and independent person and I still
manage to get things done, it just takes longer!
You recently attended the Advance Emerging Leaders India
Summit in Delhi. What was the most important element of this
Summit for you?
Most importantly it was meeting people and hearing about where
they are from, who they work for, and gaining a better
understanding of how different industries feel about different
issues, and their plans in going forward to tackle key challenges
that affect India and Australia alike.
After attending the Summit I feel more positive about our
ability to all work together in the future, despite the differences
of goals in each industry. We all share the goal of building
stronger relationships between the countries and improving and
strengthening the relationship of Australia and India. As an
Australian residing in India I know that there is a great potential
for the 2 nations to learn from each other and build each others
capacity to improve as global leaders, and shining lights of Asia
and the Pacific.