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International Volunteering

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
International Encyclopedia of Civil Society

Synonyms

International voluntary service; Volunteer tourism; Volunteering abroad

Definition

International volunteering is a form of immersive voluntary service performed across an international border. It can take many forms including unilateral service where volunteers from one country serve in a different country, multilateral service where volunteers from different nations serve together in one country, transnational service where volunteers from more than one nation serve together in more than one country, and other arrangements that are more complex (Sherraden et al. 2006). Although the forms of international volunteering vary, the ideal form is based on free will, uncompensated financially, motivated by humanitarian interests, internationally immersive, and formally structured (Lough and Tiessen 2018).

Introduction

This entry provides a brief historical overview of international volunteering, along with changes to traditional forms of international volunteering. It presents a...

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Further Reading

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Benjamin J. Lough

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  1. Benjamin J. Lough
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Correspondence to Benjamin J. Lough .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Regina A. List

  2. Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Helmut K. Anheier

  3. Schar school, George Mason University, ARLINGTON, VI, USA

    Stefan Toepler

Section Editor information

  1. Hamburg, Germany

    Regina A. List

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Lough, B.J. (2020). International Volunteering. In: List, R., Anheier, H., Toepler, S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_9531-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_9531-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2

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