ABSTRACT
Volunteer abroad programmes provide opportunities for cross-cultural exchange and knowledge-sharing for all individuals involved. This chapter explores the rationales for participation in learning/volunteer abroad programmes from the perspectives of the individuals who go abroad and also the people who receive them. In addition to the individual roles and perspectives of the host organization staff and volunteers, it examines those insights in the corresponding contexts of structural inequalities and desires for cooperative development, cross-cultural understanding, and international solidarity. The chapter shows the rationales for participation in Learning/Volunteer Abroad for Development (LVA4D) programmes with examples emerging from interviews conducted in Canada and in seven countries in the Global South. It outlines some of the academic contributions to understanding development cooperation and return to these debates and frames of analysis to situate the empirical finding. This introduction presents keyconcepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book.
