Involve. Develop. Volunteer

Involve. Develop. Volunteer.

Newsletter of ICVolunteers Fourth Quarter 2006

Letter from the Editor 2

Federation 2

Swiss Students Experience the Desert 4 school of Ouadnagim

Did you Say CyberVolunteers? 5

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in the 6-7 Cyberspace

The Agence de la Francophonie 8 Discovers Cybervolunteering

Switzerland 9-10

France 11

Spain 12

Mali 12

Uganda 12

Senegal 12

Brazil 12

South Africa 13

Other places 13

Internships and long-term volunteering 14

Volunteer Charter 15

Greetings 16

About ICVolunteers 16

Impressum 16

Headquarters: ICVolunteers, PO Box 755, 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland, phone: +41 22 800 14 36, fax: +41 22 800 14 37, email: [email protected], website: www.icvolunteers.org ICVNews, Fourth Quarter 2006

Letter from the Editor

Dear Colleagues and Friends, eration), GIAN (Geneva International Academic Network), INTIF (Institut francophone des nouvelles technologies It was a great pleasure to work, de l’information et de la formation), the City of Geneva, progress and dream with all of UNESCO-Switzerland, the City of Ferney-Voltaire, you throughout this past year. I Chambre de Commerce de l’Ain, SCAC (French Gov- believe we achieved a lot and this ernment), Office cantonal de l’emploi de la République is thanks to your commitment and hard work. et canton de Genève, CERN, Hewlett Packard, MCI Group, Syni, DRM, MCART, Lycée International de A special thank goes to all our volunteers how have Ferney-Voltaire and Linguamón. spent over 40,000 hours of work for our projects in 2006. 450 volunteer positions were coordinated by I wish you all the best for the upcoming 2007 and spend ICVolunteers. We have at this point a network of many more fun and interesting moments with you. 6,500 volunteers, 1,500 of whom are active. Viola Krebs Many thanks go to our partners and sponsors, in par- Executive Director of ICVolunteers ticular SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Coop-

Federation

Annual Figures New Partners The ICVolunteers Federation celebrated its first birthday A new associate member has also joined the network: the 21st October 2006. As this first candle is blown out the Conservation Through Public Health Telecentre we can record a positive outcome for all the organisa- which is located in the Bwindi Impenetrable Na- tion’s activities. Worldwide, these activities covered 48 tional Park in South-Western Uganda. This centre has projects, 450 volunteer positions – of which 220 in con- done excellent work in raising awareness in the areas of ferences, 60 for language services, and the rest for cy- both the protection of the environment and health. bervolunteering, training and cooperation projects – all of which totalled over 40,000 work hours. Furthermore, we have signed a partnership agreement with the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie, which further formalises the work we’ve undertaken with this organisation recently through the CyberVolun- teers Programme, particularly in particular at the Cam- pus Numérique de la Francophonie in Bamako. Another partnership agreement has been signed with the Graduate Institute of Development Studies (IUED), on behalf of whom we manage an internship programme for student-interpreters within the framework of the International Master of Advanced Studies in Development which, thanks to ICVolun- teers’ interpreters, can be carried out in three languages, i.e. English, French and Spanish. ICVoluntarios-Barcelona

Membership-wise, ICVolunteers has just launched a new national office: ICVoluntarios-Barcelona. This office will be ICVolunteers’ representation in Southern Europe.

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Swiss Students experience the Desert School of Ouladnagim

Viola Krebs and Christine Clerc

I decided to be part of the UNESCO Group be- Shindouk, the community leader, has also been able to cause I wanted to be part of a charitable project find pencils and notebooks, donated by a Ghanaian “ where I felt that I would really be helping some- friend, as well as a small blackboard. The tutor will one, to know why and to do as much as possible to teach the children the basics of reading and writing and achieve this. In this Group, each of us can express his or elementary calculations with the available means. her desires, and impressions for an idea that is common to all of us: building the school, ’Oasis of the Desert’.”

Lucie von der Weid, 17 years old, Switzerland

Ouadnagim is a Tuareg community of 1500 people who live in the Sahel desert on the far side of Timbuktu. ICVolunteers has been accompanying the tribe through its CyberVolunteers Programme activities since 2003. That is how the www.shindouk.org website was created. The community’s well and its new Desert School are located 120 km from Timbuktu. Until now, the children As the community has around 50 to 60 children aged of the desert did not have the possibility to go to school between 5 and 15, there will be continued endeavours and were therefore illiterate. to ensure good-quality basic education for all, inas- much as is possible. The community has begun proce- dures to obtain acknowledgement by the National Edu- cation Board, which would ensure that a teacher is posted/assigned and that his or her salary is paid through the public schooling system, but nothing has been confirmed yet… The students of the UNESCO Group of the junior high- schools of Candolle and Calvin are preparing different fundraising activities for the Desert School of Oulad- nagim. Role of ICVolunteers: Part of ICVolunteers’ work con- sisted in informing and raising awareness to help the community find new partners. Now, however, there is good news: the very first school In the context of its CyberVolunteers Programme, year at the Desert School began on the 15th October ICVolunteers is in charge of keeping the students of 2006! A retired teacher from the high-school of Tim- Mali and Switzerland in touch. It is also facilitating ac- buktu decided in fact to teach in the desert. He speaks cess to volunteers and contacts in Mali itself. Tamasheq and knows the local customs well. He will settle down at the camp where the community pro- vides him with a tent and food. Thanks to the generos- In the photos Oulad- ity of Mirjam Brunner, a volunteer who taught at Ou- nagim’s Desert School and the students of the ladnagim this summer, the community will even be able UNESCO group of the to pay him a small salary of CFA 40,000 per month. junior high-schools of Candolle and Calvin. Photos by Viola Krebs

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Did you say CyberVolunteers?

Cyrille Marc Schmid, CyberVolunteers Project Manager

n the present article, I will try to present to you the decided to give priority to South-South, South-North CyberVolunteers Programme and answer any ques- and North-South type of exchanges and therefore, I tions you may have about it. I will strive to provide whenever possible, recruits candidates with specific you with a precise explanation like a quartz watch, but skills for the task. far easier to understand than a timekeeper of a me- ICVolunteers participates in the transportation and chanical mechanism. housing costs of cyber-volunteers. In specific cases, What do we mean by “CyberVolunteers”? To begin health and accident insurance may also be covered. with, let me define the word as it is used at ICVolun- Consequently, it is essential for ICVolunteers to be able teers. A cyber-volunteer is a volunteer who puts his or to find funds over a period of time, not simply limited her expertise, acquired through academic or profes- to that of one cyber-project, but which will ensure the sional experience in the areas of information and com- contributions necessary to its long-term sustainability. munication technologies (ICTs), as well as his or her How can I help? First of all, anyone may make a fi- human qualities at the service of NGOs, associations nancial contribution. The budget for one cyber- and cooperatives. This definition leads us to the next volunteer’s 2-month mission in Uganda at Conservation question: Through Public Health (CTPH) came to less than SF Who are ICVolunteers’ cyber-volunteers? Our cy- 1,000. It is not much, particularly considering the bene- ber-volunteers, just like other ICV volunteers, are moti- fit of such a mission for the local population. This is just vated and come from different cultures and horizons. the most recent exam- There are the young, the not-so-young, and the retired. ple and it can easily be They all have one thing in common: all want to con- multiplied by the hun- tribute their knowledge of ICTs, their skills and their dreds, since ICVolun- know-how to projects that will help improve the life of teers has a whole stash a community that needs help. of cyber-volunteers just waiting to bring one of Since the launch of this programme, in January 2005, the selected projects to more than 200 volunteers have expressed their inten- bear fruit. However, the tion to participate in one or another of our projects. On funds must continue to average, two or three candidates put themselves for- be available. ward every week. Another way to con- But what do the selected volunteers do? As you tribute is to do so in can imagine, ICTs are vast and can be described in kind. This includes many ways. For ICVolunteers, the following activities books and computer equipment you do no longer need, are often proposed and their duration can range from a but are still in excellent condition and would be of few days to several months: training on ICTs, designing great help for the populations of developing countries. training materials, programming and software devel- Let’s not forget new or used laptop computers which opment, web site creation, network setup and mainte- are crucial for knowledge dissemination in remote areas. nance, and establishing “Proximity Centres”. This being said, especially for computer hardware, only In short, our volunteers spread the use of ICTs, but also well-functioning items should be considered, as it is familiarise local populations with it as well as develop- about anything but dumping old junk into the developing their economies and especially their autonomy. ing world! What is the role of ICVolunteers? ICVolunteers re- Finally, becoming a cyber-volunteer is also a way to cruits cyber-volunteers and find the candidates most help. I invite you to join our programme or contribute suited in a given context. The choice of candidates to it! must not only take into consideration the technical More: http://cyber.icvolunteers.org skills of the cyber-volunteer, but also his place of resi- dence and his willingness to travel if necessary. As the digital divide is most obvious in Africa, ICVolunteers has

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Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Cyberspace

Irene Amodei and Sarah Webborn, ICVolunteers

Language is the medium through which all in- All these questions have been crucial in the setting up formation society exchanges occur. Language is of the World Network for Linguistic Diversity “ a fundamental medium for all communication, (WNLD), an African initiative that started in the context the basis by which individuals and communities express of the World Summit on Information Society in Tu- themselves, whether in oral tradition or in written text.” nis in November 2005. The mission of the WNLD is to Measuring Linguistic Diversity on the Internet, value and promote linguistic diversity as a basis of the unity of human communication, involving in this ongo- UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal ing process civil society, governments, international organizations, research centres, universities and media. f we agree with the position of the UNESCO that “digital education is an essential component of the I transition to an inclusive information society”, it is also clear that such education should fulfil the fundamental ethical criterion of respect for cultural and linguistic diversity, and therefore avoid the ethnocen- trism and colonization implicit in technologies. Should the digital world provide an enabling environment for as many languages as possible? Should it ensure true language digital inclusion? Some go even further and claim that the choice of communicating in The foundations of the World Network for Linguistic Diversity one’s mother tongue could be seen as a fundamental were laid in Tunis at the end of 2005. right. English is the worldwide lingua franca and comprises 72% of web pages, mostly due to the political ICVolunteers has recently become the official se- and commercial orientation of telecommunication and cretariat of WNLD, together with the Casa de les computer companies and Internet governing authorities. Llengües of Catalunya in Barcelona. This new commit- Does the fact that English is dominant on the web ment witnesses the traditional involvement of ICVolun- mean uniformity is winning over diversity? teers in facilitating and enhancing multilingualism. Mo- The debate on the future of languages on the Web is bilizing volunteer interpreters, translators and multilin- huge, controversial and far from being resolved. If gual persons in non-profit conferences, training and someone points out the need for building navigation events that otherwise would be monolingual, such as bridges between languages in the digital space, arguing, the Master of Advanced Studies in Humanitarian like Claudio Menezes, UNESCO Senior Programme Spe- Action at the Geneva University or the Landmine cialist, that “on one hand, ICTs can be an important Conferences, ICVolunteers offers its proper contribu- vehicle for communication among different linguistic tion and its technical expertise to linguistic diversity. communities; on the other hand, (they) can also be a Marcel Diki-Kidiri, coordinator of the WNLD Plan of factor for strengthening the marginalization of lan- Action, believes that “progress in technology makes it guages in the cyberspace,” others reply that the preser- possible to invent a new architecture that would make vation of endangered languages is not a problem ICTs Internet both inclusive and fully multilingual. That is the have to deal with, because “a language that has little option made by the team of the Multilingual Technical value is little used, and a little-used language has little Forum project, a WNLD task force.” From Diki-Kidiri’s value.” point of view, the geographical fragmentation of the Linking ICT issues to the theme of cultural and linguistic Internet is a fact, not a fatality. He points out that “One diversity in order to build what UNESCO used to call an can choose to maintain the worldwide web unique ei- “inclusive information society where the richness of ther by building bridges between its fragments or by culture that diversity represents will be preserved” building a much more powerful concept of the Net as a opens, however, perspectives and avenues for reflec- distributed participative space based on the end user. In tion that are relevant and frequently underestimated. such a system, every user can use his or her own language to run its own relationship to the ICT world (e- mail, SMS, TV, phone, fax, web sites, blog, mailing lists,

5 ICVNews, Fourth Quarter 2006

instant messages, data bases, etc...).” It would be pos- language web tools for African languages. Both Fran- sible to use both technical solutions available for the cophone and non-Francophone researchers took part in sake of democracy, he believes. the workshop. In order to enable them to exchange information, ICVolunteers-Mali mobilized interpreters During a conference held at the University of Vienna on working from and to English and French for the three- 20 October 2006 Adama Samassékou, President of day event. One of the highlights of the seminar was the the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN) and presentation of language software and tools developed President of ICVolunteers Federation, stressed the irre- by Dr. Virach Sornlertlamvanich of Thai Computational placeable role that people’s mother tongues have in Linguistics Laboratory (http://www.tcllab.org/virach). assuring their empowerment as active citizens, enabling These tools help document world languages and pro- them to be true actors of their own development. He vide elements for computer-assisted transla- further underscored the importance of lan- tion of non-indo-European languages. guages as a tool for development for Africa, where more than one third of the 6000 human Events such as the one organized in Bamako languages are spoken. He urged African leaders will enable researchers to exchange informa- to create an enabling environment “where tion and best practices through the World populations have access to scientific and tech- Network on Linguistic Diversity. The first Plan nological knowledge in a language they can of Action having been finalized, the Network actually understand.” According to Mr. Samas- is now preparing its calendar for 2007, further sékou, the Web constitutes a valuable tool both building the Network, especially also bringing for documenting and actively using languages. Yet, in representatives from interested governments. only a few of the 2300 languages spoken in Africa are The founding member organizations of the WNLD are currently present on the Web. This is a fact that the convinced that the Internet can enhance rather than information society can assume and accept or discuss endanger languages used by a relatively small number and question. of speakers. The aim of the Network is to help enhance One of the main missions of WNLD is precisely to bring the great potential the Internet offers for active lan- some of these questions onto the development map guage use, increasing, for example, the number of bi- and serve as a platform of exchange and facilitating lingual or multilingual sites and studying software body for language-related projects, such as the African products or computer solutions facilitating the writing web language survey, coordinated by the Language of languages other then English and their regular and Observatory of Japan. In the context of this project, a ongoing use in cyberspace. workshop held from 26 to 28 June 2006 in Bamako, More: www.icvolunteers.org/index.php?what=projectslongterm&start=9 Mali, brought together researchers from Africa, Asia and Europe, exchanging their good practices related to

Linguistic diversity index scores by region Region Languages Index of Diversity Proportion of world total USA 170 0,7809 0,0020 North America (incl. USA) 248 3,3843 0,0086 South Asia 200 4,4514 0,0112 West Asia 159 26,1539 0,0659 Central Asia 661 29,8093 0,0752 South America 930 30,5007 0,0769 Europe 364 32,4369 0,0818 South-East Asia 1317 37,6615 0,0949 Oceania 1322 46,5653 0,1174 Africa 2390 185,6836 0,4681 Source: Ethnologue, http://www.ethnologue.com

The linguistic diversity index scores by region shows that the United States present the lowest level of linguistic diversity (0,7809), Africa being the continent with the highest score on the same index (185,6836). There are indications that global linguistic diversity is currently in decline and has been so for some time.

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Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie discovering cybervolunteering

Irene Amodei (ICVolunteers) and Abdoulaye Salifou (AUF)

projects, in areas such as the creation and development of web sites, software and specific applications, networks setup and maintenance, or training of instructors and content development. With this partnership, a real and enriching synergy can be established, for example, between the activities of the many Digital Campuses, created by the AUF, and the multi-disciplinary project Africa@home, of which ICVolunteers is an actor and which, using the BOINC technology (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Communications), relies on volunteers’ personal or workplace computers to run resource-intensive simula- Africa@home seminar organized by ICVolunteers at the tion programmes. Africa@home will be able to put its Campus Numérique de la Francophonie in Bamako “digital solidarity” and its volunteers at the disposal of AUF’s research centres for the joint development of

computing platforms useful in medical and epidemiol- aving been on people’s minds for some time ogical areas, as well as in the area of food security. now, the agreement has finally been con- In fact, the same application which allowed the devel- cluded! H opment of a model of malaria in the first phase of Af- ICVolunteers has just signed a partnership agreement rica@home can, be used at the Research Centre of Ex- with the prestigious Agence Universitaire de la cellency of AUF, headed by Professor Ogobara Francophonie (AUF), a multilateral institution that Doumbo who is working on malaria vaccine research. supports cooperation and solidarity between university According to the Centre’s researchers, who participated institutions working in French, with priority given to in the workshop jointly organized by ICVolunteers and francophone African, Arab, South-East Asian, Central the Campus Numérique de la Francophonie in Bamako and Eastern European and Caribbean countries. on 13th April 2006, on the theme of Distributed Com- puting, researchers at the Centre will be in need of great With 616 secondary and research schools in 70 coun- computer power within the next few years. tries on 5 continents, the AUF, whose headquarters are in Montreal in Canada, comprises 9 regional of- As for the Linux Centres and Freeware fices, 6 branch offices and over 42 digital campuses for Development (C3LD), one of AUF’s and information access centres. key projects, they will be able to help with knowledge dissemination on BOINC. Aimed “For the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie,” at the teachers and researchers of AUF’s underlined Mr. Didier Oillo, from that organization, member institutions, the C3LD have, as their primary “ICVolunteers is a necessary bridge between peoples objective, the development of multilateral projects in the in order to reduce the knowledge Society’s fractures. South which favour the use of freeware. As explains This is why we are happy to sign this partnership Bakary Sagara, computer science teacher at the Bamako agreement.” University and the C3LD, the distributed computing The CyberVolunteers Programme will benefit par- technology used for Africa@home project is a freeware ticularly from this unique network. Set up by the application. It is compatible both with freeware and with ICVolunteers Federation, the programme’s aim is to proprietary software. Mr. Sagara had opportunity to recruit, train and coordinate volunteers with skills in acquire knowledge linked to BOINC through a Cyber- information technology and communication for devel- Volunteers internship at CERN in Switzerland/France. opment. Furthermore, the CyberVolunteers Pro- Today, he has the necessary know-how to train com- gramme takes part in local, regional and international puter technicians in other C3LD centres to use BOINC.

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Switzerland

fter eight years of collaboration, Kathy Monnier, Number of Volunteer Coordinator and well-known figure Projets Hours of work A at ICVolunteers, has decided to dedicate her- volunteers self to teaching full-time starting from Septem- ber 2006. We would like to thank her warmly for all Qualité de vie 630 32 that she has done for ICVolunteers. ECER 1300 70 Global Access to 1100 66 Since this autumn, a new management Health team has begun work at the Swiss of- World Knowledge fice of ICVolunteers. It now has a coor- 1020 40 dinator, Anna Hallen-Sicre, and three Dialogue Project Managers, Corinne Hudson, Brigitte Elling and Sara Wyke. If you are Several online news services were put part of our volunteer team, you might together this year, thanks to our col- Anna Hallen- have had the opportunity, at one or laboration with MCART, allowing Sicre more occasions, to chat with them. conference participants and people who were not able to attend to follow the conference life online, ICVolunteers-Switzerland has been through interviews, articles, summa- very busy this year, with some 300 Sara Wyke ries and videos: www.wkdnews.org, volunteers mobilized in Geneva and www.genevahealthforum.org, Aid and Trade and Swiss surroundings, as well as other parts Proteomics Society (SPS). of Switzerland.

In some cases, ICVolunteers-Switzerland, in collabora- ICVolunteers-Switzerland has been tion with MCART, set up an online news service, distill- very busy this year, with roughly 300 Corinne Hudson ing information about events and providing efficient volunteers mobilised in Geneva and its surroundings, as coverage of events and conferences. well as in other parts of Switzerland.

ICVolunteers-Switzerland regularly The 30 projects undertaken were particularly centred works with interns and long-term conference organisation in the areas of interpretation, volunteers in the areas of project logistics, room supervision, welcoming services and management and coordination, as reporting. well as translation (particularly French, English and Spanish). Here is some information on the latest conferences, Cities and Quality of Life (Geneva, 18-20 May), Euro- For more information, please contact Brigitte Elling pean Conference on Educational Research (ECER, Ge- us by phone +41 22 800 14 36 or email at neva, 11-15 September), Global Access to Health (Ge- st [email protected]. neva, 30 August – 1 September) and World Knowl- edge Dialogue (Crans-Montana, 14-16 September).

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Some projects

Red Cross Conferences May 2007 / January 2008, Geneva, Switzerland; Cairo Egypt

Summary: The Federation of Red Cross and Red Cres- 2007), the other in Cairo, Egypt: Blood Donation Con- cents Societies is organizing two events, one in Geneva: ference (January 2008). Health and Care Forum for International Federation of Role of ICVolunteers: ICVolunteers will be helping Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies workshops (May with the overall organization of the event, including logistics, reporting and language assistance.

Master of Advanced Studies in Development 12 February - 27 April 2007, Geneva, Switzerland

Summary: ICVolunteers offers internships in a univer- information and communication technologies (ICTs), sity environment, in the field of sustainable human de- human rights, fight against poverty. velopment (International Master of Advanced Studies, Role of ICVolunteers: Vocabulary, translation and Graduate Institute for Development Studies). Possibility interpretation from and to French, English and Spanish. to acquire terminology in the following areas: environment, international cooperation, gender, governance,

Aid and Trade Forum 23-25 January 2007, Geneva, Switzerland

Summary: Humanitarian challenges keep increasing in Role of ICVolunteers: Logistics and report, article and the world within the last few years. In order to better summary writing. understand the links between security, poverty, vulner- ability and natural disasters, diseases and hunger this forum has the aim to bring together all actors involved in humanitarian aid.

Training on Proteomics: The study of protein 4 December 2006, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland

Summary: Proteomics is the analysis ment. At the end of the training courses, organizers of all proteins in a cell, tissue or or- and participants met for a wrap-up session held in ganism, with the aim to get a better Yverdon on 4 December 2006. The one-day event pro- grasp on the functions of cellular provided the opportunity for thorough debate between teins. The mission of the Swiss Society of Proteomics trainers and trainees, and also an informal and dynamic (SPS) is to promote research and education in the sci- occasion to evaluate different analysis strategies, and ence of Proteomics in Switzerland as well as in other the related results. countries. This year, SPS organized, from September to Role of ICVolunteers: ICVolunteers recruited reporters November 2006, an experimental training. Its goal was to document the wrap-up session. They worked in cou- to promote a closer interaction between all the actors ples together with proteomics students from the Uni- involved in proteomics-related domains in order to versity of Geneva. share the specific know-how, and to allow parties to familiarize with different techniques and new equip-

Endogenous Development and Bio-Cultural Diversity 3-5 October 2006, Geneva, Switzerland

Summary: The conference brought together some 50 Role of ICVolunteers: Volunteers from ICVolunteers actors of the COMPAS network with another 50 per- provided logistical and administrative support to this sons and relevant organizations having experiences in Conference. the promotion of bio-cultural and endogenous sustainable development.

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France

ince the beginning of November 2006, ICVolun- at [email protected] or by phone at the follow- teers-France has moved into its new offices in ing number: +33 (0) 450 42 07 73. A phone service is S Ferney-Voltaire: Bâtiment Jean Sébastien Say, 13 provided every Thursday morning from 8h30 to 12h30. chemin du Levant, 01210 Ferney-Voltaire. To read more, see www.icvolontaires.org/france. This new office has been opened thanks to the support of the City of Ferney-Voltaire and the Chambre de Recent activities of ICVolontaires-France include: Commerce et de l’Industrie de l’Ain. You can reach us

Second-hand book fair for Africa 9 September 2006, Ferney-Voltaire, France

Summary: With the help of the Parent-Teacher Asso- ciation of the Lycée International de Ferney-Voltaire, students collected 700 text books, handbooks on computing, 1st year college French books and dictionaries for educational projects in Africa, this year, for schools in Guinea. Role of ICVolunteers: ICVolunteers collects books, identifies some schools in need of such materials and ensures the transport of the text books. It also takes care of the establishment of twinning between the schools and documents the work.

Handicap International: Diabetes Competences 21-23 November 2006, Lyon, France

Summary: Managing the programmes that Handicap the city of Lyon, and to finalise and validate a self- International is developing in nearly 45 countries neces- assessment tool to measure the competence of actors sitates the organisation of regular workshops, bringing working with diabetes. This tool will then be used as a together both internal (local and/or expatriate person- basis to carry out competency exchanges between nel) and external participants (partner networks, con- zones, cities and countries. sultants…). A meeting on incapacitating illnesses, par- Role of ICVolunteers: To facilitate communication ticularly diabetes, took place at the end of November in between participants, ICVolunteers-France recruited Lyon. several interpreters who worked from French to Span- The seminar took place at the headquarters of Handi- ish and English. cap International to discuss and exchange information The relationship between the ICVolunteers-France team about the measures and projects undertaken linked to and Handicap International were very cordial. diabetes and relative to three of Handicap Interna- tional’s programs (Burundi, India and Nicaragua) and the city of Lyon. The aim of the seminar was to allow the exchange of practices in these three countries and

"This seminar was a success both for Handicap International and for the volunteer interpreters, despite some initial technical challenges with the interpretation equipment. There is no doubt that this first project with Handicap Inter- national has opened the door to a long-term partnership between our two organisations." Sophie Richardson, ICVolunteers-France Coordinator

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Spain

n 28 October 2006, ICVolunteers officially care of the secretariat of the World Linguistic Diversity opened an office in Barcelona. The founding Network. of ICVoluntarios-Barcelona took place at the O Maria Vila is the new coordinator of ICVoluntarios- occasion of the General Assembly of the Barcelona, also working with Noelia Jover, experienced European Volunteer Centre (CEV), held in Barcelona at in youth programmes. You can reach our Barcelona the end of October. office by contacting [email protected]. ICVoluntarios-Barcelona collaborates with and benefits More: www.icvolunteers.org/spain from the support of Linguamón (www.linguamon.cat), Casa de les Llengües with whom ICVolunteers takes

Parla amb mi, parla aquí: Immigration and Language Barcelona, Spain

Summary: Founded recently, ICVoluntarios-Barcelona The project has three phases and aims to first establish already has several projects, in particular focusing on an inventory of existing language services in Barcelona the launch of an immigration language project. In a city to then, in a second phase develop new activities by with a high immigration rate, language and immigra- and for immigrants, speaking Urdu, Arabic and other tion are of importance. languages.

Mali

ur Malian team is directed by Cheik Oumar Coulibaly, under the auspices of our president, O Adama Samassékou. ICVolunteers-Mali can now rely on an operational team of eight people, a Board, an Honorary Committee and a lot of perspec- tive. Last June, ICVolunteers-Mali recruited interpreters for a conference on linguistic diversity in cyberspace in Bamako and in September, the team also participated in Bamako’s E-Festival, an initiative or- ganised by the Ministry of Technology and Communi- cation, where its responsibility, through Oumar Dia- mouténé (in charge of Cybervolunteerism), was to manage a IT initiation workshop for youngsters.

Training course for municipalities Spring 2007, Mali

Summary: During the next regional meeting of mu- Role of ICVolunteers: Cyber-volunteers created the nicipalities, the portal on decentralized cooperation in site and participated in the training of the web master Mali will be presented (www.coopdec-mali.org). More of the Malian Municipalities Association. contents is now being added to the site.

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Uganda

ybervolunteers are collaborating online and in training centre in Buhoma Village, in the tourist location the field in Uganda to help the Conservation of the “Bwindi Impenetrable National Park”, located in C Through Public Health (www.ctph.org), a South-Western Uganda. non-profit organisation which put into place the first IT

Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda

Summary: CTPH’s telecentre explore the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home of uses solar energy technologies, the last mountain gorillas. It is therefore at the same terminals and satellite time a place for information, training and raising public communication to offer a awareness about environmental issues. community network with a Wi-Fi Role of ICVolunteers: ICVolunteers participates in the access point. The telecentre also development of the telecentre by sending volunteers offers training courses linked to and providing technical assistance through its Cyber- Information Technology and Volunteers Programme. Our Ugandan cyber-volunteer, Communication (ICTs), and to Swithin Mutaasa Serwadda has just joined the CTPH information about the links team. He will assist the organisation’s director in the between public health, sus- area of ICTs and develop components linked to new tainable development, technologies. employment and education. It is aimed at young people, farmers and women, but it is also visited by tourists who

Senegal

CVolunteers has had the opportunity to mobilize Ressources pour l’Emergence Sociale Participative. volunteers in Senegal in the past, in particular in CRESP is an NGO the mission of which it is to eradicate I the context of the International Symposium on hunger and poverty, support local sustainable devel- Volunteering and the Development of Capacity in opment and traditional African knowledge. the Information Society (ISV 2003) in October 2003 in Dakar. Since, the network has established cooperation We are currently looking for long-term volunteers for with an associate member, CRESP Sénégal, Centre de our Senegal representation.

Decentralized Information Systems for husbandry in the Sahel Senegal

Summary: The foundations for a pilot project have Role of ICVolunteers: Networking of the project been laid: the development of a decentralized informa- partners, training of providers, information and tion system (SID) for the improvement of the manage- documentation of the results. ment of pastoral resources, through the set up of several “information terminals”.

Brazil

olunteer opportunities in information and com- For more information, see http://cyber.icvolunteers.org. munications with Iko Poran, Rio de Janeiro based V organization.

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South Africa

t was on 5 December –World Volunteer Day— that ICVolunteers launched its “ICV Desk” in I South Africa. Thanks to the invaluable work that our volunteer Sté- phanie Veillet has accomplished in Cape Town during her six-month assignment, our team is now settled in the Volunteerism Centre of the Cape, directed by the director Deline Van Boom. Eunice Akinyi Oyugi, Kenyan, is now in charge of CyberVolunteers; Eph- raim Tinashe Sithole, a Zimbabwean is responsible of the Conference Programme with Serge Mukuna Mukoka; and Angela Rose Muspratt Williams is The first contacts to universities in the region have been leading the team. established, in particular the Universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch, as well as institutes such as AIMS (African Like other representations of ICVolunteers, the South Institute for Mathematical Science), in Muizenberg, spe- African “ICV Desk” takes care of mobilizing, training cialized in the field of modelling and mathematics, and coordinating volunteers for non-profit conferences which have shown an interest for cyber-volunteers, in and events, in the social, humanitarian and environ- particular in the context of Africa@home. mental fields. Cape Town is indeed a hub for these kinds of events.

Africa@home Spring 2007, Muizenberg, South Africa

Summary: Africa@home, multidisciplinary project in- Role of ICVolunteers: Organization of a training volving CERN, the World Health Organization, the Swiss seminar linked to BOINC, distributed computing tech- Tropical Institute and the University of Geneva, has nology, in this case being used to model malaria. started its second phase, with the recruitment of cyber- For more information about the project, see volunteers for the installation of a server at AIMS, insti- www.africaathome.org. tute specialized in modelling and mathematics.

World Congress on Jung Psychology About 2007, Cape Town, South Africa

Summary: The World Congress of Jung Psychology will and technical vocabulary of a particular psychology take place in Cape Town in South Africa. This will be an branch. opportunity for interpreters interested to learn more Role of ICVolunteers: Interpretation from and to Eng- about psychology and to get familiar with the social lish, French, Italian, German and Spanish, as well as possibly also African languages.

Other Places

Annual Conference of Eurodad 29-31 October 2006, Berlin, Germany

Summary: Eurodad (European Network on Debt and 29 to 31 October, focused on issue of responsible fi- Development) is a network of 48 non-governmental nancing to Southern countries. organizations from 15 European countries working on Role of ICVolunteers: ICVolunteers participated to the issues related to debt, development finance and pov- event supporting the organizers with an interpreting erty reduction. Its annual meeting, held in Berlin from team of six persons.

13 ICVNews, Fourth Quarter 2006

Additional internships and long-term volunteering

Internship in fundraising Switzerland, France, Spain, South Africa

Responsibilities: ICVolunteers is looking for an intern plomacy, autonomy, marketing, positioning, planning to help the fundraising team with project development and management knowledge. and research, donor and partner follow-up – under the Required Experience: Good knowledge of and ex- supervision of ICV’s Executive Director. perience in fund-raising for a non-profit organisation Required Skills: Fluency in French and English; pref- and knowledge of the international cooperation NGO erably background in marketing or a related field, di- environment is a plus; mastery of the financial management of campaigns and fundraising events.

Event coordinator Geneva, Switzerland

Responsibilities: Preparations for running of Fête de la Required Skills: Fluency in French, good knowledge of Musique and/or other stands (contacting organisers, as English; team-leading capacities; very good stress- well as the associations and suppliers, coordination of a management; ability to set priorities; autonomy; diplo- team of around 40 volunteers), running the stand macy; good intrapersonal skills; ownership of a car. (preparation and management of the stand during the Required Experience: at least one year spent in a po- 3 days and evenings, tracking proceeds and petty cash), sition of duty in the hotel industry; basic experience in closing the project (project accounting, final report). accounting; basic experience in project management.

Translation Internships Minimum 2 months, Switzerland, France, Spain

Summary: ICVolunteers is looking for an intern to help development to antipersonnel mines, information and the Federation with translation of documents, articles communication technologies and more. and publications in English, French and Spanish. For Skills required: He/she would preferably be a student interns, it is an opportunity to translate a variety of of a translation or interpretation school or be enrolled texts dealing with subjects ranging from sustainable in a similar institution.

Volunteer Project Assistant September to December 2007, Geneva, Switzerland

Summary: ICVolunteers is looking for a volun- Required Skills: Training or experience in event organ- teer/intern to help the project manager. The project ising and/or project management. Fluency in English consists of organising an international conference for and French. The candidate must be precise, meticulous, the Swiss Proteomics Society which will be held in De- open and flexible and have skills in organising and cember 2007. planning.

14 ICVNews, Fourth Quarter 2006

Volunteer Charter

ICVolunteers edits its new Volunteer Charter. This Charter aims at offering a famework for ICVolunteers partners, collaborators and volunteers.

ICVolunteers is an international non-governmental or- He/she may be in a situation where he/she is repre- ganization that makes available competences of volun- senting the organization in different activities (work- teers in the field of languages, new technologies, wel- ing groups, associations, commissions) and/or gets coming services and logistic support for projects and involved in an internal working group of ICVolunteers. conferences. The organization works in the humanitar- He/she respects discretion and confidentiality. Being a ian, social, environmental and medical fields at local, volunteer entails having rights and obligations that national and international levels. are outlined in the present Charter and confirmed by the Agreement for Volunteers of ICVolunteers. The volunteers of ICVolunteers are aged from 16 to over 80 years, which creates an important dynamics of Rights of the volunteer intergenerational exchange. He/she will: Receive relevant information and training related to The vision of ICVolunteers ICVolunteers and the project(s) for which the volun- The vision of ICVolunteers is to help develop a future teer has been recruited where both individuals and communities can reap the Be informed in advance about the tasks to be carried benefits of personal commitment and free will. Through out and the framework and limits of action to be fol- volunteering, we seek to link knowledge with needs. lowed Be respected and supported by the coordinator and ICVolunteers contributes to the development of society the other volunteers/colleagues by participating in non-profit projects and conferences, Make available his or her knowledge and experience and offer the possibility to people from all walks of life to important non-profit or humanitarian projects to actively get involved as volunteers. ICVolunteers Have the opportunity to acquire new competences promotes volunteerism and its recognition. Become a member of ICVolunteers if he or she so desires ICVolunteers is a bridge between different cultures and Get involved in other volunteer activities of ICVolun- favours the discovery of the Other and the personal teers in accordance with his/her competences development of each individual. In some cases, obtain the reimbursement of expenses if this is possible and if an agreement has been estab- ICVolunteers works in the spirit of complementarity lished beforehand with both the private and public sectors. ICVolunteers' Be recognized for his or her volunteer contribution activities are based on the commitment of volunteers Obtain a certificate of collaboration and/or acquired and the cooperation with partner organizations. competences

In order to ensure the smooth operation of the volun- Obligations of the volunteer teer activities, ICVolunteers has elaborated the present Charter for everyone who is getting involved in our or- He/she will: ganization as a volunteer, in order to outline both rights Adhere to the Code of Ethics of ICVolunteers, in par- and obligations. ticular respecting others in the spirit of tolerance to- wards race, ethnicity, religion, sexual preferences, The role of the volunteer physical handicaps and by excluding any kind of dis- A volunteer offers his/her time out of his/her free will crimination for the well-being of the community or society as a Be honest and trustworthy in all circumstances whole without receiving a remuneration in exchange of Accept a training for the missions entrusted the services rendered. Have the professional and/or personal competences for which ICVolunteers and/or partner organizations In certain cases, we do reimburse the expenses of vol- are looking for unteers (e.g. costs for travel, accommodation and food). Respect, in a professional way, the modalities of the The volunteer is motivated and committed to de- tasks to be fulfilled fend the interests of ICVolunteers. Respect the commitment made once signed up for a He/she fulfills the tasks given with precision and project reliability. Be flexible

15 ICVNews, Fourth Quarter 2006

Have one's own insurance (health, accident, civil Notify the ICVolunteers coordinator in case of a responsibility, etc.) change of availability immediately, in particular in the Present an authorization from the parents if volun- case of a conference or event, in order to allow teering at an age younger than 18 ICVolunteers to find a replacement Have a behaviour that is in agreement with the Participate and contribute to the internal evaluation aims of ICVolunteers and/or its partner organiza- process of ICVolunteers tions for which the volunteer has offered his or her Adapt to local customs and laws in place in the coun- services try where the volunteer is volunteering Participate in different meetings (information, train- Accept to sign ICVolunteers' Agreement for Volun- ing, working groups) according to the sector of ac- teers tivity chosen Respect the commitment for the mission and period agreed upon in order to fill the position for which the volunteer has been selected

About ICVolunteers Impressum

ICVolunteers (International Conference Volunteers) is a dynamic international Editors: Irene Amodei, Viola Krebs, Sarah non-governmental organization that recruits, trains and coordinates volun- Webborn teers with specific skills for non-profit projects in the fields of languages, conference support and cybervolunteerism. Layout: ICVolunteers Photos: Viola Krebs, Association Parents- We work with volunteers to implement social and educational programs in Elèves de Ferney-Voltaire order to help populations and local communities to develop. Translations: Anna Grandone, Adelasia Gran- done, Tahona Santana Naranjo Through volunteer effort, we cooperate with organizations in the humanitarian, social, environmental and medical fields to implement projects and conferences at local, national and international levels. Contributors: Christine Clerc, Cyrille Marc Schmid, Abdoulaye Salifou, Sophie Richardson In addition, ICVolunteers promotes volunteerism and its recognition, by enhancing civic commitment and involvement, and by providing leadership and links between organizations, individuals and communities. © 2006 ICVolunteers

With its headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland), ICVolunteers has offices and permanent representation in a number of other countries, including France, South Africa, Mali and Spain.