STEP 3: ‘End of tour’ questionnaire
It is a good idea to fill in your end-of-stay questionnaire just before returning home or, if needs be, immediately after you get back. It’s best to do this before you get back as that will allow you to share some of your reflections with local partners and indeed fellow volunteers.
Your mind will be full of your experiences and the lessons you have learned. You will also want to share some of the lessons you have learned, some of your successes and some of the areas where progress is still needed.
You have not changed the world but maybe you have helped one person, one group of people or one organisation or a particular species (fauna/ flora). You want to write up all these experiences and, ideally, report back to your volunteer organisation as well as the local partners/ stakeholders in the field.
It may be the case that your volunteer organisation simply does not have time to process all the reports from volunteers. It is also likely that many volunteers will not find the time to write a report. That is not a reason for you to avoid this task. If nothing else it will serve as a record of what you have learned while overseas. It will help you develop as a person and may form the starting point for future volunteering work by you or those close to you.
For a printable PDF version of the End of ‘tour’ questionnaire below, please click here.
End of ‘tour’ questionnaire
To be filled in by the volunteer. Please share with your own voluntary organisation. Please discuss with your host organisation before leaving.
- What do you now think the main purpose of your visit was:
- Helping to reduce poverty
- Provide training
- Build capacity
- Build community purpose
- Personal development
- Other. Please specify
Please state the reasons for your answer and how/ whether your assumptions about this voluntary experience have changed:
____________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What was the Most Significant Change you made? How did it come about?
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3. How did you make this change?
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4. What other changes did you make? Can you give concrete examples?
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5) How far did your voluntary service will contribute to sustainable solutions for local communities?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6) What qualities/ experience/ expertise/ qualifications helped you in your role?
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7) What aspects of your role were the most challenging/ least successful?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8) What other obstacles did you face?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
9) How did this volunteering experience contribute to your own personal development?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10) Drawing on your own experience and discussions with your sending/ host organisations, how could subsequent postings be more effective?
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