27.08.2024 Interview with Zoe Marsch

In April 2024, you were elected as the new PSC representative for former weltwärts volunteers. What does this role mean to you personally?

My role as a PFIF representative is the perfect complement to my degree. The topics involved interest me a great deal and I love providing constructive feedback and considering things from a different perspective. I think it’s fantastic that we get the chance to share our experiences, ideas and new opportunities for implementation from our service at the PFIF and with the PSC. And ultimately, this role even has the potential to kick-start your career.

What issues are most important to you as a PFIF representative to the PSC?

It's really important to me in general to enable more South-North volunteers to take part in the programme. The fact that there’s still a gap in participation is partly down to visa issues and the complex requirements for young people in the Global South to enter Germany, among other things. It’s also important to me to boost diversity within the programme and to amplify the voices of former volunteers. In recent years, the image of international volunteer service has become less favourable in Germany, with labels like “voluntourism” and “white saviourism” being applied. It would be nice if this image could be improved somewhat, at least for weltwärts, in order to portray the programme’s potential in a better light. weltwärts offers many advantages compared to smaller and less serious programmes, and these advantages are explained well in the weltwärts seminars.

How do you coordinate with the other PFIF representatives?

There are currently around 20 former volunteers at the PFIF. Those of us who have the time attend a weekly digital meeting and discuss various topics in English or German. In addition, I keep in close contact with the other PFIF representative to the PSC, Davide Sirigu. We have a great deal of scope to raise personal matters at the PFIF.

Was there a particular experience from your own volunteer service that you take with you as special inspiration in your current role?

There are both positives and negatives in this regard: I was particularly inspired by the fact that the head of my project in India started the project off his own back. In my opinion, it’s most sustainable when the partners decide themselves what’s important to them and what they would like to implement in their own country.

In terms of the negative, I would say that many of the Indian people I got to know in India would also have liked to take part in weltwärts. But because of visa issues, the large distances involved and the visa requirements, it's very difficult for young people to participate in the programme. This factor, among many others, is yet more evidence of the inequalities within the One World.

In your view, what is an important factor for being able to represent the concerns of volunteers to the PSC?

Coordination among the PFIF members is important. The ability to give criticism is a challenge and takes courage, and I’m constantly developing as a person in this regard. In this programme as elsewhere, there are certain power structures at work, but in the joint operation we are all dependent on one another and work towards a common goal.

Roughly speaking, what is the proportion of North-South to South-North volunteers at the PFIF?

We currently have more North-South volunteers at the PFIF and would like to have more South-North volunteers again in order to boost representation of their perspectives.  Fortunately, we still have Bongani and others, a former South-North volunteer who has a large network of former volunteers from South Africa in particular.  We are always pleased to see more participants from the South-North component. We would like to invite them to the meetings, which are also held in English, so that they can voice their concerns. They are welcome to reach out via the following addresses:

info@grenzenlos.org

Go to PFIF

If you had a crystal ball: what would weltwärts look like in five years’ time in the best case scenario (in your opinion)?

Perhaps I’m being a little utopian, but utopias can be helpful: in general, I would like to see volunteers from all walks of life take part in the programme, not just people coming out of further education for example. This way, they would all be able to share their various perspectives and interests in different fields. The places of assignment should be diverse, sustainable and varied. All organisations operate with great awareness of the privileges that they have and cherish the diversity within the programme. Furthermore, the volunteers learn to think twice about the way of life in their home country. It is also important to keep introducing new ideas, openness and creativity in order to continue developing the programme. And, of course, we need enough money to fund the volunteer service across various projects.