Volunteering offers a life-changing experience for young people; an opportunity to engage with social and developmental issues, to effectively contribute in local communities and to develop personal skills. Audacious Dreams International volunteers leave the programme as better-informed active citizens with new skills for life – and to offer to potential employers.
The Audacious Dreams Volunteer Abroad programme aims to create the following impact:
Diversity – working as part of a diverse team, with volunteers from different parts of India and across the globe, allows for the diverse perspectives to contribute to learning about each other, the challenges of the community and the world around.
Personal development – Personal development of volunteers is an important aspect of the programme. Volunteers are supported by Audacious Dreams staff and Team leaders, to learn from the challenges and experiences on placement.
Project Impact – Along with personal development Audacious Dreams Volunteer Abroad also aims to achieve a clear development impact in the rural communities. Volunteers are placed in organisations that value and will benefit from the contribution of the volunteers.
Shared working and learning – Audacious Dreams International volunteers greatly benefit from learning and working as equals in cross cultural teams.
Community integration – Audacious Dreams International volunteers learn also from living with local families in the village, engaging with various community activities and becoming an integral part of the community.
Supported learning – Volunteer learning is supported and encouraged through all parts of the journey; through trainings, guidance and mentoring.
Active citizens – Audacious Dreams Volunteer Abroad aims at creating a community of active citizens who understand the power of community development and are motivated about bringing about a positive change.
Q. Do I need to pay something?Audacious Dreams Volunteer/Intern/Study Abroad programme is run by Audacious Dreams Foundation which runs various community development programme in the grass root level. We are not intended to ask you to pay anything beyond the direct volunteer expenses including accommodation, food and volunteer related domestic travel. However, as part of the programme, you will be required to fund-raise a pre-decided amount that will be utilized for programme expenses. You will be supported through the trainings and it is a great opportunity to build your skills in raising funds.
Fundraising is an interesting way to show commitment and build ownership in the programme. It is also a way to share about Audacious Dreams Volunteer/Intern Abroad with as many people as one can in the community. The amount is set keeping in mind the diverse backgrounds to which the volunteers belong in the group.
Q. Will I get any scholarship?
We have several scholarships to support international volunteers. We do offer domestic scholarship depends on the availability of funds during your travel (Please apply for scholarship via mail at programme@audaciousdreams.org)
Yes. The trainings are spaces to prepare for the programme, get to know your team and they also provide a great opportunity to develop skills of design and facilitating sessions, exploring social issues etc. Audacious Dreams Volunteer Abroad is an intense experience which will stretch you to your limits. You will be outside your ‘comfort zone’ for the duration of volunteer/Intern period. This requires a period of adjustment on your part to develop coping strategies, to reflect, learn and move forward. Hence you will be required to attend all trainings and orientation before and after the programme to make this journey as smooth as possible.
Once you are formally accepted on the programme, you will have to begin to prepare for the volunteer period of the programme. The following is a list of what you will need to do before and during the programme:
Checks:
Prior to the programme, you will have to undergo medical checks by a general physician which then must be approved by Audacious Dreams. You will also have to get a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the local police station which must state that you don’t have a criminal record (if necessary) and a bonafide certificate from your institution (if applicable).
Trainings:
You have to attend four training courses: a Pre placement Training, an Orientation and Placement training, a mid-programme review, an In-Country Debrief and a Post Placement Debrief. These are the spaces to get more information on the programme, meet other volunteers, discuss issues, reflect and share your learning and development.
Advocacy and Visibility:
As part of your commitment to Audacious Dreams, you are expected to share your experience with others through documentation, social media and engaging local media in the host community and on returning to your home community as well. You will receive support and advice in the orientation programmes which will include guidelines and helpful tips to get you started.
Community Change Maker:
Community Change Maker is a self-directed project that benefits others and aims to bring about positive social change. All Audacious Dreams volunteers must complete an Action at Home project within six months of returning from the host community which will extend further support to Audacious Dreams. We will discuss and support you to design Action at Home Projects.
Adhere to the authority of the designated Team Leaders and Programme Coordinator.
Abide by the Audacious Dreams code of conduct.
Actively participate in all aspects of the programme and accept that the individual’s commitment is central to the success of the programme.
Abide by Health and Safety regulations, guidelines and training.
Be available for the complete term of the exchange, including the Post Placement Debrief and Community Change Maker Project.
As part of a team of Audacious Dreams volunteers or Interns 1 Programme Mentor, you will be staying in a rural host community in India. You will have to immerse yourself in the programme and learn as much as from the community in the time of the programme. As a lot of time and resources are spent in organising the programme, volunteers are not allowed to travel outside of their host community during the programme. Also, there is a certain code of conduct and health and safety hazards that need to be taken care of before volunteers can come to any decision regarding travelling in the community. The consent of Programme Coordinator is mandatory for before coming to any such decision. However, in the event of a medical emergency or death in the immediate family, we do allow volunteers to leave the programme.
You will be placed in a rural/semi urban/ community in India. You will work with a grassroots organisation working in the community and will stay in the villages they work with.You will be given a document where you will be sufficiently briefed about the community for instance, about its geographic conditions, demographic and socioeconomic facts so on and so forth.
Q. Where will I live and who will I live with?
Volunteers get to live with families in host homes in the community or youth hostel or with Indian volunteers. This is a great opportunity to live and learn from another culture. You may not learn all the nuances of the ways of the people you live with but this will be as close as you could ever be. You will also be living with counterparts from your own team; they will be Indian or foreign nationals, but there have been instances of volunteers of the same nationalities or triads of mixed nationalities living together. If host homes are not available, volunteers will stay in basic, safe accommodation with other team members in small guest houses, hostels or residence halls.
No worries! It’s all part of our learning curve and we will just work together on that. In the past, Indian volunteers have come from all corners of the country and have not necessarily been well versed in Hindi, Tamil or English. You will have to be responsible for your own learning, so you will have to ask questions, be forthcoming about your struggles on the programme especially about language as well as help others to make the best of this challenge. As a team, you will be expected to innovate to overcome barriers of language and dialects.
Volunteer placements are designed on the basis of the needs as well as existing projects in the host community. We like to give people as many choices about a placement but as a volunteer, you may or may not get a placement which interests you, matches your skill sets or are passionate about. Below are some examples of placements that past volunteers have been involved in:
Conduct life skill sessions, sports for development sessions for rural community schools
Developing and running modules for different age groups in the rural community where access to quality education is limited.
Developing and facilitating peer education modules to help build awareness around gender and reproductive and child health.
Creating youth and child groups in villages by building capacity of local youth and children to become peer leaders.
Empowering youth and children do become social advocates for Child rights and education.
Organising awareness raising events and campaigns around health and relevant Government schemes
Organising health and education melas (events) where the community could access quality doctors and medication as well develop their own ownership in ensuring education for their children.
Researching and documenting impact of Government rural schemes, for local organisations to take forward.
Supporting staff at local organization with building skills in social media and IT.
Documenting case studies of women leaders of Panchayat (local level governance structures) and make recommendations for the organisations women leadership development programmes and strategies.
Supporting the Youth Resource Centre
Fundraising support and setting up working mechanisms, implementing new ideas
Volunteering of your choice depends on your skill
Each Audacious Dreams Volunteer team will be accompanied by one Programme Mentor (PM), from Audacious Dreams. The PM will live in the host community with the team. She/he is responsible for identifying the volunteer placements and the host families for you and your counterpart. She/he will also ensure that all volunteers receive medical attention if necessary. PM supervises the programme on ground and takes all information for processing to the Head office. PM would also be the most important support to the volunteers in terms of their learning journeys and the projects. However, she/he cannot guarantee that your experience will be 100% perfect. The responsibility for the success of the programme and your experience lies primarily with you, the volunteers.
Each Volunteer team will be accompanied by Team Leaders. Team leaders are also volunteers but with additional responsibilities.
As an Audacious Dreams Volunteer Team Leader you’ll spend three or six months in a rural community with an International Volunteer team offering pastoral support to small groups of volunteers aged 18-25 from India and abroad. Audacious Team Leaders play a key role in supporting their diverse teams of young people to give their best and gain as much as they can while on placement.
There’s a project management element to the role, supervising project teams and reporting, but the most important thing is the wellbeing of the volunteer team and doing everything you can to help young people from different backgrounds work well together.
Q. What is Mid Programme Review (MPR)?
MPR is a critical component of the programme. In the middle of the journey, you pause to reflect and review the journey so far and plan for the future. It is also a precious team time, and a space to get together and bond. It is a half-a-week long process where all the aspects of the programme like individual learning journeys, projects, host home and counterpart relationships are reflected upon. Reviewing at this stage helps in moving forward in the programme.
This is another review station of the programme that is held at the end of the programme. Here, the complete self to society journey of your cohort will be reflected upon and reviewed. The entire collective experience is recapped, and analysed. The space is crucial to bring together all the learning, insights, feedback and suggestions for the future.
One-to-ones are the structured learning and mentoring sessions of the programme. These are the spaces and time for the volunteers with their team leaders or programme mentor, and for team leaders with the programme mentor, to open up and share how one is feeling, what they are thinking, what challenges one is facing and how one can deal with it, and to reflect upon their learning journey.
Global Citizenship Days (GCDs) are days specifically designed in the programme to foster an understanding of global citizenship among the volunteers. Simply out, they are learning and capacity building days for volunteers. Every week, one day is allotted to GCDs. Here, volunteers host the day and design and facilitate discussions and activities around a decided topic. The topic is generally related to one of the various aspects of development relevant to the community and to the world. Community Action Days (CADs) are the action days for community. CAD is that component of the programme which essentially provides space and time to the volunteers to organise big events and action projects in the community on topics that are relevant to the community. CADs become good mobilisation and advocacy tools in the community. Volunteers organise these CADs with the support of community people and host organisation. In each cycle, there will be approximately two or three CADs to be held in the community.
The project plan is a one year plan (approximately three cycles) designed by Programme mentor and Programme Manager with the support of host organisation. A team plan is the each Audacious Dreams cohort’s plan to take forward the project. This is made by the volunteers during their in community orientation with the help of PM and host organisation mentors keeping in mind the Project Plan’s targets.
The host organisation is responsible for coordinating the programme on the field. The host organisations chosen for the programme are established community based organisations that have been working on the issues of development and social inclusion in the respective community for quite a long time. Volunteers will earn credibility by virtue of being associated with these chosen host organisations. They support the programme in terms of arranging for host homes and project plans. They will be our main source of information about the community. The host organisation members will be the greatest source of support and inspiration in leading and running of the projects.
The programme involves a process of documentation which is layered within different components and structures of the programme. Volunteers are recommended to record their learning journeys, and are required to make weekly reports of the projects. There are other reporting necessities that you would be told in the beginning/during your placement. Other than the truth that it is a great skill to have, documentation helps in analysing and evaluation of the impact of the programme on volunteers and the community. As a part of this process, volunteers would be expected to write reports at different points in the programme.
Audacious Dreams volunteering programme is a 24*7 volunteering programme. There are no holidays as such structured in the programme. However, when on placement, one day of every week will be a ‘Team day’ or ‘family day’ where volunteers are supposed to spend it with their host families. (This may sound a little funny right now, but testimonials from earlier volunteers would tell you how sought after it was!) The family days are a good time to spend with your host family and build stronger relationships. (We also have holidays for fun, entertainment, movies during the programme on free days)
The first action would be a verbal warning. If breached again, you will get a written warning. In case, the code of conduct is breached again, the volunteer will be expelled from the programme.
Volunteers must carry an original identity proof and some copies of it. They must also get at least twelve passport size photos with themselves.
Yes you can take your gadgets with you in the placement; however its responsibilities with you. The electricity supply in community is regular and sufficient to keep your phones and other gadgets working. Laptops may be useful for the reporting and documentation purposes in the programme.
In terms of clothing it would be useful to go with community dressing which means wearing trousers and shirts/t-shirts either full or half sleeve. This would assist the acceptance and homogenisation of the volunteers in the otherwise new community.
For Women Carrying a dhupatta is the part of community culture. Also, since the programme is running in summer months of the year, carrying cotton dhupatta to cover your heads can be a substantial relief. Dhupatta comes under prescribed dress under the code of conduct. Not using it will be considered as the breach of code of conduct.
A local mobile sim with minimum talk timer shall be provided to the volunteers once they arrive on placement. Contact your PM for the sim. After the placement is over, the local sim must be returned back to the PM.
All kinds of toiletries and medical supplies will be available in the cities close by the community. However, volunteers are expected to carry sufficient stock of any kind of special medication they require with themselves.
No. Going out alone in the community, especially after sunset, can lead to dangerous ramifications; such a risk must be avoided at best. And there is a certain code of conduct which volunteers must abide by to ensure their safety in the community. Kindly go through it carefully. Non observance of it will be considered as the breach of code of conduct. PC holds the authority to take disciplinary action for the breach of code of conduct in such cases. However if you need to go out on special case, please inform your PM.
With respect to health and safety concerns, each volunteer is expected to carry their own mosquito nets. In case someone doesn’t have one, Audacious Dreams would be providing them the mosquito nets.
As it is clearly mentioned in the code of conduct, Audacious Dreams Volunteer Abroad is a completely dry programme. Smoking and drinking is strictly prohibited throughout the programme. The programme holds no moral judgements against drinking and smoking but the community does. It is important that the volunteers do not re-affirm the beliefs that community may have of the young volunteers from the outside, which not only makes any work difficult in the field, but tarnishes the image of the host organisation, of Audacious Dreams in the community. Any violations may lead disciplinary actions as severe as expulsion from the programme.
Audacious Dreams strongly condemn any kind of donation or charity to locals while on the programme. Charity/donation brings a sense of dependency among the community people on the volunteers and build expectations from people from “outside”, thereby bringing a sense of disempowerment in them.We are in the communities to work with them, not for them. It is important to recognise that true empowerment of the community lies in them taking charge of their lives and development. There are proper channels of donation, for which the PC and host organisation should be contacted.
As it has been iterated before, the experience is about complete immersion. A volunteer should not invite their friends or family while on the placement or seek out to meet them during that period as it affects the atmosphere created, and functioning of the programme. In case, it is urgency, the volunteers might seek PC.
Audacious Dreams keep Health and Safety of the volunteers on utmost priority. However, volunteers are expected to carry fair amount of generic medical supplies with themselves. If any volunteer is on some special medication then she/he must carry sufficient amount of those specific medicines with her/him. PM would also be carrying some medicines for all the volunteers. In case of any medical emergency during the programme, the best doctors and hospital would be made available to the volunteers.
In case of any sexual harassment, immediately ring your Programme Coordinator.
No, the fees mentioned as programme fee excludes your Air ticket and Visa. However, we are happy to assistant regarding that.
Q. What about the climate of the project location?Feel free to ask further questions if you have anything in specific