Education Abroad Activities with Service-Learning or Volunteer Experiences
If the new program being proposed uses service-learning as a teaching strategy or engages students in volunteer experiences, describe in detail how the program attends to:
- host community dynamics, including relationships with host community partners/program providers
- selection, preparation of students for the service, advocacy, or community project
- ongoing assessment of impact on students and the host community or host partners
Keep in mind that ethical cross-cultural volunteer experiences and academic service-learning should always:
- respect the rights of host partner(s) to co-define project goals and determine roles and responsibilities of hosts and volunteers;
- properly prepare volunteers to interact meaningfully and respectfully with hosts [e.g., inclusive of local NGO staff, residents, clients, patients, etc.];
- abide by established ethical and legal standards of the host community partner(s), professional licensing, and host country policies;
- appropriately vet local NGOs and program providers to ensure that organizations are engaged in authentic partnerships and have credibility in the host community where the volunteer activities or service-learning program will occur;
- in collaboration with host partners, attend to the sustainability of projects/programs to insure that programs help to strengthen local community systems rather than provide one-off interventions that do not attend to longitudinal outcomes.
For additional information and resources, see IUPUI Resource Page.