IVT Cambodia AWSAJ Volunteer Trip 2018
Project Status
In April 2018, the ROTA Volunteer Program coordinated an international volunteer trip for students from Qatar Foundation’s Awsaj Academy to visit the ROTA-built Hun Sen School in the Kandal District outside Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The volunteers conducted interactive peer-to-peer sessions. Workshop topics included Leadership, Cultural Exchange, Sport, Environment and Arabic Stories.
The 4 volunteer-led workshops were delivered to a total of 120 local Cambodian students (aged 15-17 years) at the ROTA Hun Sen School in the morning and a slightly shorter workshops were delivered to 100 students in the Dubai Islamic School in the afternoons. Local students rotated on a daily basis to ensure they all attended each workshop. On the fifth day, the volunteers and students organized and participated in a closing ceremony.
Awsaj Academy coordinated the recruitment of volunteers, with 100% Qatari participation, while ROTA corresponded with representatives of the ROTA Hun Sen School and the Dubai Islamic School in order to identify the needs of the local students. Local translators were recruited to provide necessary interpretation services to facilitate effective communication in the workshops.
In all of ROTA’s international volunteer trips, volunteers are extensively briefed and oriented to the conditions and realities faced by in-country beneficiaries of ROTA’s Projects as well as the details of the ROTA’s interventions through a comprehensive Orientation Program of pre-trip sessions that includes presentations and guest speakers with a strong focus on interactive participation. Orientation sessions are a vital component of preparing volunteers for their service program in-country. As such, four pre-departure orientation sessions were delivered over preceding month with specific tasks and learning outcomes developed for each session. In addition, ROTA trialed the inclusion of a tailored session on Advocacy facilitated by the Quality, Impact & Strategy (QIS) Department.
