Virtual Workcamps – Opportunities and Challenges of Digital and Hybrid Formats in Non-Profit Volunteering Janina Hansmeier, Christoph Meder, Lukas Wurtinger | IBG – Internationale Begegnung in Gemeinschaftsdiensten e.V. International workcamps have been shining the light on international solidarity and against na - tional isolationism for over 100 years. They are characterised by their combination of four special elements: a heterogeneous, international group; a shared commitment (usually involving manual labour) to a meaningful project; all the participants learning from and about each other; and being integrated into the host project venue. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020 at the latest, workcamp organisations across the world were faced with the question of whether this format can be transposed into a digital setting. In the following we reflect on the different experi - ences gained and approaches applied and point out the challenges, potentials and prospects.
The spring and summer of 2020 in particular resembled the Wild West as far as digital projects were concerned. Everything seemed possible and was tried out and everyone wanted to join in. The activities on offer, which were often planned and technically improvised entirely by volunteers, ranged from home gardening projects to joint cookery sessions via a videoconferencing tool to workshops in sign language and language exchange groups. All these projects were completely internation- al – that is neither bilateral nor trilateral. Young people from across the world showed a huge interest in them. A total of 1,138 young people from 72 countries took part in 86 different virtual projects organised between May and July 2020 by the workcamp networks ALLIANCE of European Voluntary Service Organisations and CCIVS alone. After the end of their respective projects, 94% of them stated that, based on that experience, they would like to take part in an in-person international workcamp. Virtual projects not only appeared to present an alterna- tive to in-person camps that had to be cancelled – they also provided low-threshold access to gaining initial experience of the world of international volunteer- ing . Barriers to participation such as high travel costs and visa restrictions did not apply to virtual projects and it was possible to take part while staying in one’s own, familiar surroundings. The number of projects and inter- ested young people was initially high, but towards the end of 2020 a noticeable degree of online fatigue had generally set in.
In September 2020 IBG took advantage of the opportu- nity that arose under the “ProPadD – Progress on the Path of Digitalisation” strategic partnership funded by Erasmus+ to begin sharing experience and ideas with its partner organisations Egyesek (Hungary), INEX-SDA (Czech Republic), Lunaria (Italy) and Compagnons Bâtis- seurs (Belgium) on moving forward with digitalising ac- tivities for young people. The strategic partnership was used to ensure that digital alternatives and additions were kept as a permanent feature in all areas across the full range of activities provided by the involved organisa- tions and that these are jointly taken forward. Exchange and seminar-like projects were by far the most frequently organised virtual projects run by workcamp organisations in 2020. This was widely criticised within the organisations, as these approaches do not always do justice to their objectives. These formats lack some as- pects that are key to international workcamps and that allow a project to radiate beyond the small circle of its participants, that is, the clear volunteering aspect and the international participants’ integration into the local community. This led to a change in thinking within most workcamp organisations. More specifically, they began experimenting with volunteer-like projects – with varying levels of success and a significant drop in quantity.
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