Volunteers in CCPA

The development of CCPA is based on a fine dialogical relationship between praxis and theoretical knowledge. The organization is a grassroots’ movement with a bottom up approach based on learning from experimenting in praxis. From the very beginning in 1998, Anders Levinsen started to implement sports projects with focus on sport as a tool to build up relations. The purpose of these relationships is to create friendships and thereby prevent conflict. Fun praxis has been the decisive item. By this not saying, that there is a lack of theoretical thought behind the praxis of CCPA, but rather emphasizing that any theoretical approaches that may be of relevance in the work of CCPA, such as peace building theories, is considered a tool that helps bracing praxis.

 

During the year of 2008 a growing interest and focus on voluntarism has thereby emerged. The focus developed from recognition of the fact that one of CCPA’s core competences is to work with volunteers. The table below shows many volunteers have been involved in OFFS 2008.

 

	Leaders	Coaches	Assistants	Paid hours
Balkan	201	1101	1082	167
Caucasia	42	576	468	83
Middle East	10	119	106	17
Total	303	1746	1656	260

 

When you compare the table of CCPA-volunteers with the diagram below of other Danish humanitarian organisations, and their extent of making use of voluntary manpower, it shows that CCPA has a very strong profile, even though there is no commonly definition used in the discussion of volunteers which makes it hard to conduct a significant comparison, fx. Hours spend on voluntary work; degrees of involvement; and fee arrangements are some of the factors that differ.

 

Looking at the diagram below, it is obvious that Danish Red Cross is placed in the top which possibly links to the organisation’s relief work in country. For what regards the rest of the organisations, including CCPA, they have only very little, if any, focus areas within borders.

 

 

Where the majority of the volunteers at the other humanitarian organisations are Danish, the volunteers at CCPA are found among the local population living in the focus areas. CCPA hardly has any Danish volunteers.

 

Taking into consideration the short history of CCPA and the fact that many of the CCPA partner countries do not have as strong a civil society structure as we know it from Denmark, besides the weak tradition of volunteers in institutional connections, it can seem a bit surprising. But right from the birth of CCPA, the organization has had an impressive ability to establish and work together with a great number of volunteers. In the last ten years an extensive program has emerged including leadership training, CSR, civil society strategies, gender and climate initiatives, peace building, sport for children, etc. All of this has been carried out in praxis on the basis on a huge network of volunteers. CCPA is doing something right in practice. But the fact does not explain why it works! Something is working, but why and how?

 

In the search for ways to describe this CCPA invited 5 experts to discuss the praxis of CCPA in regard to voluntarism and this is a result of the discussions and reflections on the topic. By doing so CCPA hopes to achieve a theoretical vocabulary to articulate why the concept works and in this way sharpen the doing of praxis.