Hot
Topic Archive
July
2003
Australasia
take pride!
by Andy
Fryar
I
am lucky to live on the edge of the Barossa Valley,
one of the premier wine growing regions on earth.
I have at my doorstep some of the world’s most
well respected wineries producing some of the world’s
greatest wines – but guess how often I visit?
It
seems the only time I venture into what could easily
be referred to as my ‘back yard’, is when
guests travel many thousands of kilometres to visit
the area from the USA, Canada or Europe.
In
truth, the ‘valley’ is so local to me,
that I take it for granted - often struggling to put
into some sort of perspective the way that others
must view it.
My
point here is not to give a discourse about the international
wine market, but to draw some analogies with the Australasian
volunteering sector.
Sadly,
all too often, my experience has been one of disappointment
when it comes to the way we value our own voluntary
sector and the people in it. Our willingness to unquestioningly
seek out and accept all things American, Canadian
or European while ignoring the tremendous culture
of our own volunteering sector is at times, disappointing
to say the least.
Don’t
believe me? Then take a look at any substantial Australasian
text on volunteerism. Chances are that more than 50
percent of the references will be credited to overseas
material!
The
biggest reason this is a problem is not because authors
have chosen to quote overseas sources (because let’s
face it you want to quote the best sources wherever
they are from). Rather, it is a problem because authors
and researchers generally have had only a very limited
amount of Australasian resources to choose from!
You
see, it becomes self-perpetuating – we don’t
value highly enough what we have so we don’t
recognise the quality of the product we can produce.
In turn, we don’t bother to produce it!
Before
I write any further, allow me to clarify that I don’t
have any difficulties with us looking abroad for trends,
research and guidance – believe me, many of
my closest friends and colleagues in this field live
abroad. What does annoy me is when we look abroad
in deference to what exists locally.
What’s
more, it is ironic that my international work has
taught me that volunteering leaders overseas look
to our region as being a benchmark for many aspects
of volunteerism internationally
One
example springs immediately to mind.
While
attending a volunteer management conference in Denver
in 2002, I attended one particular workshop being
presented by international leaders in the field, American
Steve McCurley and Canadian Linda Graff, on the topic
of diversity and inclusion. Guess what they used as
a handout and discussion point for the workshop? A
discussion paper developed by Volunteering SA!
Do
you think Australians might have considered using
that same paper for a local conference?
Here
are just a few more examples of ways that we are seen
as leaders in the field internationally:
- Australian volunteerism
pioneer, Margaret Bell was world President of IAVE
(the International Association for Volunteer Effort)
for 8 years and played a major role in having the
UN declare 2001 the International Year of Volunteers
- The Volunteering Australia
network structure is unique as far as national volunteering
structures go, and is viewed as a favourable model
internationally
- The Sydney 2000 volunteer
program is still viewed as being the best Olympic
program ever
- The Australian Journal on
Volunteering continues to be considered one of the
premiere volunteerism journals internationally
So
my questions to all of you are:
- Do you share my view (and
frustration!) on this topic?
- Do you have ideas about
how we might improve our self image and encourage
more people in our own region to contribute back
to the sector?
- What are you planning to
do to make a difference?
Let’s
hear from you
It's
not too late!
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Last
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