Your important role of a workcamp participant

During the third week of May, more than 200mm rain fell in Serbia in a week’s time. This is an amount that normally falls over 3 months. The heavy rainfall had three direct effects:

I. High intensity flash floods resulting in the total destruction of houses, bridges and sections of roads
II. Rising water levels resulting in the widespread flooding of both urban areas and rural areas and,
III. Increased flow of underground waters leading to widespread landslides.

This flood disaster affected 1.6 million people in Serbia and resulted in 51 casualties. 32.000 people needed to be evacuated from their homes and the total economic effects of the disaster is calculated to be €1.7 billion (government of Serbia, et al., 2014).

Disaster and recovery explanation

The common, and traditional view of disasters, as shown below, is often explained in a model with a horizontal line: a disaster hits and the line goes down, the first response phase comes, the recovery phase follows which will push the line back up where it was before the disaster.

However, this model is not always the way it is in reality, especially for low income countries. The model shows that a disaster is a temporary interruption of the development of a country and after the recovery phase, it suggests that the line should go back to where it came from. But a disaster is much more than this picture illustrates.

A disaster is a complex mix of a natural hazard (such as the heavy rainfall in Serbia) and human vulnerability to this hazard. The natural hazard is the trigger that leads to a disaster. A better picture that illustrates how a disaster happens is shown below. This is called the Pressure & Release Model, and it shows the degree of the vulnerability of a community and the trigger caused by a natural hazard.

The vulnerability to natural hazards can be defined into three different layers: first one is called the root causes(I), these result in dynamic pressures(II) which are than translated into unsafe conditions(III).

Progression of vulnerability 

                 I                              II                            III

Pressure and Release Model. Source: Adapted from Blaikie et al., 1994

The Pressure and Release Model helps to understand why people live in houses that are not build strong enough to resist these floods, why people are located in areas where they should not be living, or why certain social groups are not able to recover. These vulnerabilities can be tracked down to the root causes and should be tackled there to make a change.

In Serbia the extraordinary rainfall let to the flood and affected many people. But especially the most social disadvantaged groups in society who already had a minimum income before the floods are the ones who are hit the hardest. They often have not the financial resources to cope with their losses, in addition, many job opportunities have been lost because of the disaster. An example of this was given in an interview in the report about the disaster in Serbia: 

An interview with a farmer in Krupanj  demonstrates a typical challenge that small-scale farmers are faced with. The interviewee used to make 2,000- 3,000 EUR annually. However, as the floods contaminated the land, damaged equipment and killed livestock, there will not be any farming benefits this and next year. Due to the disaster, the farmer has retired and provides six members of family with pension which supplies EUR 121 monthly. An alternative source of income is not sought for. The interview mentioned that there are not many people in Krupanj who can afford to lend money.

Because of the changing climate we are facing, hazards such as the extreme rainfall in Serbia, will be more likely to happen. To make the community less vulnerable to disasters, and make a success out of the recovery in Serbia, effective programmes should be created at the root cause of the vulnerabilities. An effective method is the participatory approach. This means that you bring the community together and try to let everybody participate to create a better future.

This is where the flood relief workcamps this summer will show their strength. Being a volunteer you will be closely working together with flood affected people. It will be your job to help the people with some reconstruction and cleaning work, but most important, to provide them with positive energy and try to empower them. 

An important group to focus on are children and young people. To tackle the root causes of the vulnerability to disasters, as explained above by the Pressure and Release Model, intergrading affected and non-affected as well as different social groups together will support the long term recovery of Serbia and strengthens the power of the people to cope with, and resist better against disasters.

So, you as work camp participant, should be aware of the unique and powerful role you can play during these work camps, and contribute to the positive recovery of Serbia.


Written by Joris Baars,  student of Disaster Recovery Management from the Netherlands and intern in Young researchers of Serbia during the flood relief workcamps

Motivated volunteers from all over the world are applying to flood relief workcamps in Serbia

A great number of foreign and local volunteers are getting ready to participate in flood relief workcamps in Serbia this summer!

Have a look at what a Japanese volunteer wrote as her motivation to join the workcamp in Smederevska Palanka:

" I’ve been to Fukushima prefecture as a volunteer worker after that big earthquake. When the earthquake happened in Japan, I know Serbian has been giving us a lot of support. So, I’ d like to help Serbian with something. I’d like to do something to reply them."

Thank you, friend

CALL for graphic designers - help us promote flood relief workcamps in Serbia and recruit enough volunteers for this summer!

We call for support from graphic designers to volunteer and help us promote flood relief workcamps in Serbia.
Workcamps start already in August, so get your monitors, mouses and creativity ready!

We will publish your posters and animated banners on this blog and gladly promote your website, profile and name!
Have in mind that more than 40 international organisations are directing their volunteers to this blog since Friday and along the entire summer!

Topic: International volunteer workcamps in flooded areas in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina this August and September.

Send us your proposals and your info at vss@mis.org.rs

We will be expecting you!

YRS-VSS team

What are workcamps

International voluntary workcamps are the most common and widespread form of international volunteering.

Workcamps generally last 2 – 3 weeks and consist of about 10 – 20 volunteers drawn from a number of countries. Projects are often in remote areas, in regions where local people may have minimal opportunity for meeting others from different countries.

The volunteer groups bring new ideas and experiences into communities, providing a stimulus for ongoing work.

The individual volunteers benefit from the interaction both within the group and with the local communities. The experience gives them the opportunity to travel to another country, use their time productively and make a positive contribution to the local community. They also have the chance to widen their horizons through meeting and learning from each other and local people.The educational element of workcamps is to dynamically engage volunteers formally and informally in emotional and physical development  underpinned by diversity, equality, peace and mutual understanding.

You can watch an explanatory video, created by the Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations (YRS-VSS is a member of) with the support of the European Youth Foundation, about this particular form of volunteering that is existing since the end of the world War I.

Workcamps are an alternative way to discover cultures and places through shared experiences. Workcamps personnalize the world by bringing you to the world and bringing the world to you through participation and mobility.

The flood relief workcamps in Serbia will be following the usual workcamp standards. They will have a strong educational value, but also an underlined value of solidarity, a strong statement in favour of the active role that youth has and can take in a society.

WHY WE ORGANISE WORKCAMPS

There is a strong added value of international voluntary service and of short term international voluntary projects (workcamps) in particular, as non-formal education tool and, as a simple and affordable expression of active citizenship and solidarity, as a practical means of intercultural learning and of combating xenophobia, as a contribution to the personal growth of participants as well as an impulse to local communities.
Principles under which workcamps are organised worldwide:

• Full and effective participation especially of young people 
• Respect for interculturality and diversity
• Social inclusion and accessibility 
• Promotion of peace and mutual understanding
• Acknowledgment of lifelong learning through non formal education
• Promotion of solidarity by cooperation and networking

Based on the following evidence-based approaches:

• Human-rights education and democratic citizenship based approach;
• Empowerment of young people;
• Empowerment of persons with fewer opportunities;
• Non-formal education approach.

Call for support to International Voluntary Service Organisations

Dear colleagues from International Voluntary Service Organisations,

In light of the recent floods in Serbia (May 2014) and the natural disaster that has left the country in bad condition, Young Researchers of Serbia - Voluntary Service of Serbia together with local partners is announcing volunteerworkcamps to support the reconstruction. We are involved on the national level with more than 30 organisations, mapping the areas that need reconstruction (39 municipalities in total) and that would benefit from workcamps. The main part of the workcamps involves national volunteers, but we are opening places for the international volunteers as well. The international involvement of volunteers has always been in root of our mission and we believe represents an important aspect of every nation’s recovery.

We would like to thank all the organizations who replied to our call for support and already started promoting flood relief workcamps through newsletters, brochures and websites in the past 2 months.

The encouragement you gave us puts the wind in our backs and gives us strength to deal with the situation Serbia is in.

It also shows readiness on the international level to get involved in spite of difficult financial situations we are all in, due to the shift in trends of international volunteering. We do hope that actions like this put more light to our common mission within the IVS organisations and send a strong message to our volunteers, partners and institutions on national and on international level on the importance of international youth volunteering.

The time is short to recruit volunteers as the workcamps start in the beginning of August, so we rely on your readiness to act fast.

The majority of workcamps are open only for national volunteers, as it is easier to recruit and more effective in terms of organisation and communication. However, the international dimension is very important, even if international volunteers will be involved in just a small part of this year’s workcamps.

The flood relief workcamps in Serbia will be following the usual Alliance standards. They will still have a strong educational value, but also an underlined value of solidarity, a strong statement in favour of the active role that youth has and can take in a society. However, they are not the first line of flood relief activities, which is being delivered by the government since the beginning of the floods and in the following month, but a second line of action – when the media attention decrease but there is still a lot to be done especially towards the poorest communities who have been left with nothing. This means that the flood relief workcamps will not involve any risky work and will not put the volunteers in any potential dangerous situations or ask for volunteers with specific skills, only for a well-executed emotional preparation of volunteers.

Together with our local aprtners we will continue in taking the role in long-term recovery efforts related to this disaster, so in the following years there will still be flood recovery workcamps.

Thank you.

YRS-VSS team