Berkley Center

Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in May 2018, undergraduate student Grace Koehl interviewed Ana Vázquez Ponzone, director of short-term international volunteering for Entreculturas in Madrid, Spain. In this interview, Ponzone discusses the impact of short-term and long-term international volunteering on both participants and host communities.

Can you tell me a little about your position at Entreculturas?

I am the coordinator for short-term international volunteering at Entreculturas. The program is called Experiencia Sur, and it is a one-month experience for people who work at or with Entreculturas in some capacity. I also assist in the coordination of the Pedro Arrupe Volunteer (VOLPA) program, which is a long-term international volunteer experience.

How would you describe the work of Entreculturas in general?

The work of Entreculturas is that of education as a tool for social change. In Latin America, it’s work on quality education in the context of extreme poverty and also on global citizenship education. In Africa, I think it’s still more about delivering access to education in places where there isn’t quality education. In Europe, it’s mostly about global citizenship. We have the belief that education is a tool that can help create a more conscious world.

That’s great. Could you explain the VOLPA program to me?

The VOLPA program is a commitment of one to two years. It’s directed at any person, normally from Spain because they have to be located here for nine months of pre-departure training. That’s when they work on motivations, emotional capacity, identity, and the concept of encounter. So, it’s a very long and, at points, tough training. It’s meant for anyone who has an interest in international volunteering with certain organizations in Latin America and Africa. We believe that international volunteering today is a tool to work on global citizenship.

Do the participants in Experiencia Sur complete volunteer work while they are abroad?

During the experience, a volunteer is given a task. Not so much because they are really going to develop a change—we always say that you can’t transform the situation in one month—but because the task allows the volunteer to have contact with another community. It’s very much about inserting yourself in the community. They do a little bit of everything. I think it’s mostly work on informal education, like 90 percent of the work or something.

What are the key differences and similarities between the goals of VOLPA and Experiencia Sur?

They are distinct goals despite having a common point, which is the theme of personal transformation. The majority of people who go on either of these programs come back saying that it has been a time of reflection about their own life. It builds a consciousness about one’s way of life. That’s what connects VOLPA and Experiencia Sur. The objectives, however, are different because VOLPA is long-duration; it’s a tool used to search for personal transformation and creation of change agents in their own communities once they return.

We try and make sure they are connected to Entreculturas afterwards. Experiencia Sur has a more direct impact on our organization because the volunteers are already staff or volunteers at Entreculturas. So, it’s more about a motivational push. It’s an opportunity to better understand the invisible parts of the work that we do. The goal is to get people to understand the direct impact that Entreculturas’ work has on the communities in Latin America and Africa. They return with a lot more motivation, which has a really direct impact on us.

In your opinion, what are some possible motivations for deciding to do volunteer work through Entreculturas?

The Jesuit identity is a very trustworthy identity for people. In Spain, we are in a context where there are fewer and fewer practicing Christians. However, if you are a believer, the Jesuit identity remains something of value and something really well-known. Many decide to do international volunteering with Entreculturas because we are Jesuit-affiliated. I would say that the primary motivation is that one.

What sort of training does a volunteer receive through Entreculturas before going abroad to volunteer through Experiencia Sur?

The formation process consists of two encounters before travel and one after. The two meetings are held in Madrid. People come from all over Spain for it. The first meeting is just one day, and we work on themes of motivations and expectations. The expectations theme is especially important so that the volunteers don’t go abroad expecting to change the world or anything in just one month. It’s a very powerful experience. Then, the second meeting is all about attitudes and the idea that you’re going abroad representing Entreculturas. This is so that they have a clear picture of what Entreculturas is and what we stand for. We also work with them on a more practical level to confirm details about the experience at this meeting. Then, after they return, there’s a one-day meeting where everyone comes together to process the experience a little bit and share their thoughts with each other. It’s important to have that group experience.

Throughout this training, do the volunteers receive any sort of spiritual or religious formation?

Listen, it’s a delicate topic. In VOLPA, since many people come from the general population and aren’t previously affiliated with Entreculturas, we tend not to talk about Catholicism because we’re in a secular society that is decreasingly religious. But we do make it very clear that ideas of spirituality are present throughout the entire process. We talk about spirituality and inner life. In Experiencia Sur, something very interesting is happening. People are telling us that they want to see the experience more through a religious or spiritual lens. It’s one way to see it, but we aren’t reinforcing the Christian lens all the time for everyone. We do talk a lot about God, but also about life and energy. We try to make sure that everyone feels included because there are a lot of volunteers who are not religious. We do make a big effort to make sure everyone feels comfortable with their own spirituality and faith.

We use very open language. We aren’t reinforcing Catholicism all day long; that’s not our goal. But we do open channels for participants to explore that. We actually give participants a workbook to accompany them in the process. This year we created the notebook in cooperation with a local Jesuit organization. We had to tell people of other faiths that we didn’t have a specific workbook for their beliefs yet. However, everyone took the Jesuit workbook anyways even if they were members of another faith. We try to normalize everyone’s individual beliefs, but we don’t want to exclude God and Catholic religion because we do have volunteers who believe in that. So, we try to facilitate everyone’s experiences together. We won’t reject our own identity, but we widen it to have a more open discussion on spirituality. 

What do you think is the impact of Experiencia Sur on the volunteer?

For example, the return day for the volunteers in October was a really great experience. It’s really exciting to see the impact that just one month has on people. Everyone returns very moved. They can now put a name and a face to the issues we work on. It’s no longer some poor, marginalized person; it’s Juan or María. They come back with a stronger concept of the world, and that it’s bigger than their own neighborhood. I think what impacts them most is the community. We live in a European society that is increasingly individualistic, while many communities in Africa and Latin America still have a strong concept of community. Finally, the experience obviously has an impact on the volunteers’ commitment to Entreculturas. People come back motivated because they have seen the direct impact of their work.

How does Entreculturas ensure that the host countries’ participation in Experiencia Sur is beneficial to the local community?

We are very conscious of the fact that host countries have to make an effort to accommodate the volunteers for Experiencia Sur. It’s all about a wider international cooperation project. The host countries know that they will receive folks from Entreculturas as part of a wider mission. The impact is an encounter between people. That’s the greatest impact because Experiencia Sur is just one month, and that’s nothing. The work of Experiencia Sur is not a really practical task; it’s more about insertion into a different community. What is the impact? Meeting people from different countries. The benefit to the host countries is the encounter. So that later, when the Experiencia Sur volunteers return to Spain and work on funding projects and the like, they already know a lot firsthand and can give a testimonial for the institutions and the communities. They can say “I was there. I know that this works and that the money is well-used.” In many delegations, the Experiencia Sur volunteers are the ones who present funding requests. 

Now, with VOLPA, it’s different because it’s a one- to two-year duration. There is a greater impact on the host country. The encounter does have a greater work component. Although it is not the primary objective of the program, they have the time to really develop their work there. Now, what’s been going on in recent years is that the institutions in Latin America and Africa have gotten more professional. They’re asking for volunteers with more professional experience. For us, this has turned into a debate because we aren’t sending professional workers to the countries; we’re sending volunteers. We’re clear about the fact that they can’t be responsible for a very complicated task because they’re volunteers.

Why did you decide to work for Entreculturas?

I was an international volunteer with the Jesuits in Peru. I’ve always felt a concern for social issues since I was young, and I heard about Entreculturas which did work here in Spain. This institution has allowed me to channel all of my social interests. I believe in people and in the fact that people can change. The only way towards salvation is to change your ways, widen your point of view, and become humbler. For these reasons, I think that international volunteering is critical to creating sensitive people with the ability to think critically. I’ve been at Entreculturas for 12 years, and they’ve allowed me to direct my personal and professional lives together. It just makes a lot of sense to me. Recently, I’ve been trying to separate my personal and professional lives a little bit more because the work here is a very vocational profession that really relies on your personal life. It’s a learning process. And, I work at Entreculturas because I believe in education. I think that Entreculturas truly helps to change lives.