ICYE Impact Assessment – Human Rights in Diversity

This study has been conducted with in the framework of the Erasmus+ project Communicating Human Rights in Diversity. The aim was to examine the impact of the human rights learner-centred project on the volunteers (at a personal, social and cultural level).

The study explores the experiences of 18 international volunteers. The respondents were interviewed at the end of their service by project multipliers in 16 different countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. What impacts of the voluntary service and human rights project can be identified through the narrations of volunteers? In order to shed light on the matter, the discussion focuses on three main questions: How do the volunteers perceive the impacts of voluntary service? How do they make sense of human rights topics encountered? What are the key aspects for promoting human rights education in the framework of voluntary service?

Based on the findings of the study, voluntary service creates greater well – being for the volunteer as a result of processes that boost personal growth  and develop competencies for life and career. Personal growth develops in and through the volunteer’s meaningful contribution in local communities. The respondents of this study have gained a deeper understanding of their own role in caring for the well-being of others; likewise they have enhanced their ability to assume that role by acquiring new skills, attitudes and values.

Human rights learning is intrinsically intertwined with this process. 15 out of 18 respondents show more awareness of the role of inclusion and participation in the well-being of people in general and beneficiaries (i.e. people in vulnerable situations) in particular. The experience has also fostered a commitment to act: all respondents see themselves as engaging in and catalysing dialogue and exchange on some level.

The impacts on the volunteers are created through the holistic experience of international voluntary service. Encounters with beneficiaries play a key role as they open up space for learning experiences. However, encounters do not automatically lead to learning. Volunteers require adequate support for developing new thinking tools to make sense of the experiences (link everyday experiences to the concept of rights and social change). The project has created an enabling environment for the respondents’ deeper and more meaningful encounters with human diversity and dignity.