Volunteering in development: Analysing and comparing branded representations of the Australian Government’s Australian Volunteers for International Development program and volunteer perspectives

Sammanfattning: Volunteering overseas has become a popular activity among individuals from developed countries. Governments in these countries often provide volunteer opportunities as part of their aid programs. In Australia, the Australian Government’s Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID) program offers opportunities for hundreds of skilled Australians to volunteer overseas every year in a range of sectors, organisations and roles. The program and its assignments aim to build the capacity of host organisations in priority fields identified by Australian and partner governments. This thesis seeks to understand how the experience of volunteering is represented by AVID, as well as the range of experiences had by current and former volunteers. The study draws on discourses of development, in particular colonial discourses and the role of volunteers in development. Content and discourse analysis is applied to 10 texts produced by AVID to understand how these representations construct and contribute to discourses of development and power relations. In addition, perspectives of volunteers collected via a survey and interviews are analysed to understand the views and experiences of AVID participants. The findings are compared, revealing both alignment and disconnect between the stories being told about volunteering and the broader realities of the volunteer experience.