What is a camp
The Work and Solidarity Camps are voluntary experiences that can include construction activities, restoration, non-formal animation and education, peace and human rights training, assistance, environmental protection and much more.
It takes so little to move something, to enter into the hearts of many people.
Laura
INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS AND EXCHANGE OF VOLUNTEERS
Since its inception, IBO Italy has been part of the IBO network (link to http://www.ibo-europe.org/), one of the historic networks of associations active since 1953, and for some years of the Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations network. Every year, since 1957 (link to History), it has been involved in the direct organization and management of the camps in Italy and in some places in the South of the world (in 2018 in Bolivia, India, Kenya, Madagascar and South Africa), and in the sending and reception of volunteers within the proposals organized by the associations of the two networks, IBO and Alliance.
This double presence has allowed to guarantee the activation of almost all the planned work camps in Italy with the presence of international volunteers, increase the proposals of camps in countries where IBO is not present and consequently increase the number of Italian volunteers participating.
LEAVE CONSCIOUSLY
Although the camps are short-term experiences, IBO Italia does not underestimate the importance of having trained volunteers. There are many preparatory meetings and significant collaborations have recently been established: with the Charity Work Program of the Catholic University and with the Training Course for volunteers of the Overseas international cooperation.
Moreover, the camps for minors would not be imaginable without the presence and commitment of the Camp Leaders, older volunteers, with experience behind them, who put themselves in play to become points of reference for those who approach this world for the first time. For this reason, every year IBO Italia selects, trains and supports numerous Camp Leader volunteers.
PARTNER
Are you an organization interested in collaborating with IBO Italia for the organization of the Work and Solidarity Camps in support of your project? Do you think that the presence of international volunteers can be positive for your community and for the development of your interventions? You don’t know yet the IBO and Alliance networks?
Contact us! We will explain the requirements and the various steps. It could be the first step of an important collaboration. A lot of Camps and projects were born this way.
Write to info@iboitalia.org
The sense of a camp
Participating in a Work and Solidarity Camp means actively collaborating from the first to the last day of the project; living an intense experience of community life, together with volunteers from many different backgrounds; it means being protagonists of the group’s decisions, assuming one’s responsibilities with awareness. Working together, breaking down boundaries, overcoming mistrust, accepting differences, sharing needs and resources: all aspects that, together with help and solidarity, make those who participate in a camp grow. New skills are acquired and new places are discovered from an unusual perspective, far from the clichés.
Camp types
In 2018, IBO Italia proposed 467 Work and Solidarity Camps: 27 in Italy, 389 in Europe and 51 in countries outside Europe. The activities envisaged can be summarised in three macro-sectors: manual, social and environmental camps. Also for 2018 the division between camps for adult volunteers, ad hoc camps for girls and boys aged 14 to 17 years (with the presence of Camp Leaders and specific educational activities and growth) and camps for groups already established has been confirmed.
VOLUNTEERS IN WORKCAMPS IN 2018
211
ITALIAN VOLUNTEERS IN CAMPS IN ITALY
81
ITALIAN VOLUNTEERS IN CAMPS IN EUROPE
65
ITALIAN VOLUNTEERS IN CAMPS OUTSIDE EUROPE
114
FOREIGN VOLUNTEERS IN ITALY