“Because for example, in this place or that place in the country, our volunteers are working in a conflict context, then flood came and they have to shift from working conflict to working natural disaster, and it’s the same community who are going to be affected, so they have to work in different context now, dealing with the conflict at the same time, so it’s not an easy context for them to work with.” (Female Staff)
- Volunteering in conflicts or emergencies is part of longer histories of volunteering, built on longstanding relationships built between volunteers and communities over time.
- The rush to use local volunteers for a particular humanitarian response means these relationships and histories can be neglected and undermined.
- Volunteering is a diverse mix of ways of coping with and responding to everyday and emergency challenges, whose richness and complexity should not be forgotten in a moment of crisis.
