UNA Exchange

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• Introduction
• Host a Short-Term Group Project in Wales
• Host a Long Term Volunteer in Wales
• Information for Hosts
• International Partners

Introduction

All UNA Exchange activities, whether in Wales or overseas, are organised in partnership with other organisations which are representative of the local community. We only work with non-profit organisations such as community groups, schools, Local Authorities and other Non Governmental Organisations, etc. None of our partnerships are with commercial organisations. This is an important criteria in terms of our activities being needed and wanted by that community – it is they who invite the volunteers in. It is the local community that covers the costs of hosting volunteers, organising the work and supporting the interaction between the volunteers and the community thereby ensuring that there is a strong motivation to do so.

Partnerships in Wales

All the volunteering activities in Wales organised by UNA Exchange are run in partnership with community groups – country parks, playscheme groups, environmental and educational bodies, etc – across Wales. The local groups organise and manage the work of the volunteers and cover the costs of hosting them. UNA Exchange arranges the placements of volunteers, a trained leader and ongoing support throughout the project. The IVPs are underpinned by a programme of educational activities to enrich the opportunities for intercultural learning. See Global Learning and Youth Development for more information.

Partnerships across the World

UNA Exchange is a member of networks of similar organisations across the world. Each organisation is independent of one another and organises International Volunteer Projects and European Voluntary Service projects in its own country, in much the same way as UNA Exchange does in Wales. It is through these partnerships that we manage the international exchange of volunteers - our partners send volunteers to Wales while we send British volunteers to them. We believe very strongly in this principle of full exchange – the two-way nature of our programmes ensures that we are able to offer international opportunities to young people from the communities in which we work.

Most of the organisations we work with across the world are members of the same networks to which UNA Exchange belongs. Our main network for volunteer exchanges is the Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations , but we also belong to the Network for Voluntary Development in Asia and the Co-ordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service .