Annual Report 2017.docx

Voluntario Global Annual Report 2017 In this report, we have compiled our achievements for the year 2017 and outlined what we hope to achieve in the present year, as we continue working towards our vision of a fairer society and equality of opportunity for all. Valeria and Armin founded Voluntario Global in 2006 when they saw a window of opportunity for a mediating institution that would allow for a mutual exchange between the local communities of Buenos Aires and foreigners eager for a deeper insight into them. Initially we assisted in just one school support project, yet gradually other organizations contacted us and were added to our Network. Today we work with 17 different projects in Buenos Aires, and have founded two Cooperatives of our own: Su Lavanderia, in 2008, and Pacheco Community Center, in 2014. Today, Voluntario Global, as a large network of volunteers, institutions and organisations, aims to generate awareness, knowledge and tolerance through cultural exchange and reflective analysis, to enhance our understanding of the tools required for the social transformation that we seek: ultimately, an economic, social and cultural system that isn't based on self-interest or predation but rather on ties of cooperation, friendship and acceptance. In 2017, we have seen an average of 7 foreigners each month come to Buenos Aires to volunteer with us. Most of them came from United States, United Kingdom and Germany. They worked in various projects, from Teaching English to helping in a Soup Kitchen, most of them visited our community project Pacheco Community Center and got involved in organized activities with young people from the local areas. At the beginning of the year, we welcomed our first volunteers in Pacheco, Constanza and Melina. At Pacheco Community, we work toward local development and try to reach sustainability in its three dimensions: environmental, social and economic. We believe that by creating more community experiences, we empower people, youth especially, so they can build their own future and have a better life. Our second cohort graduated in December 2017, a class of 11 students between 17 and 25 years old.

Working in a network and more specifically being the promoters and coordinators of this network imposes on Global Volunteer the challenge of knowing how to listen to each organization, its needs, its desires, the habitual problems and emerging conflicts and potentialities of the community where they carry out their social activities . We renew every year, for 11 years, the commitment to send indispensable volunteers to develop and help in the tasks, monetary resources to support them and we dedicate time to meet with each organization and help them think and develop strategies for the difficulties of each.

Beyond the commitment of Global Volunteer with each organization, we believe that a network is a link that strengthens them when they meet and exchange. For this reason, another of our objectives is the realization of a minimum of three meetings a year to remind everyone that they are not alone in difficult times and that sharing our experiences is educational for all. This year we were able to organise four general meetings. For the first meeting, the idea was to promote critical thinking among the organizations that are part of our network. Starting from the premise that social organizations build on the reality that surrounds them, we set out to think about the realities of each organization and reflected together. Thus, through exchange, we built an idea of how, in daily practice, we exercise critical thinking. In the second meeting, we discussed social organizations as an active part of participatory democracy, because they result from people coming together, organize themselves and fight to be heard. Our third meeting revolved around education and the idea of naturalizing concepts, what we usually see as normal in our lives, what we sometimes think is the only way to do things without giving them too much thought. For example, we think that having a job will allow us to cover for our basic needs, that the school is the only place where we learn, that ownership corresponds only to who can buy it or that doctors are the only ones who know about and can decide about our health. Through critical thinking we elaborate a denaturalization of the most important issues for which social organizations and their communities construct alternatives to the naturalized order. And for our last meeting, which was organized in Pacheco Community, we analyzed the different ideas and activities that were established in the previous meetings and we agreed on the need to build alternatives from a participatory democracy, where education, economics and communication are common places for discussion, where everyone can and should participate in order to achieve a more just and equitable society. All in all, we believe these meetings foster critical thinking, serve to strengthen our bonds and to meet other people who work like us, in community, and it is very important for us all to talk about our communities’ issues and our daily life at work, which is something we all have in common and so we can learn from one another. to us. Knowing that we have common goals but work on different topics, it is important for me to transmit the knowledge of each organization, analyze the issues and tensions that cross the activities that develop and prevent or enhance and propose solutions and strategies that other classmates tried, propitiate the exchange.