conditions for volunteering and considered staying in the country for a longer period. Some of them applied to Swedish universities, while others looked for employment opportunities856.
Obstacles Obstacles to cross-border volunteering in Sweden have the same root: unclear legal status of volunteers, which means socio-economic insecurity for young people857. Outgoing volunteering might be discouraged by ‘falling out’ of the Swedish social security system858. For an unemployed person, cross-border volunteering may lead to a loss of the right to unemployment benefits, since unemployment legislation requires continuous job searching and the fulfilment of an individual “back to work” plan859. Persons on long-term sick leave risk losing their benefits if they volunteer, although persons with completely or severely reduced working capacity do not lose their benefits even if they use the remaining capacity to volunteer in any circumstances860. Disappointing experience of cross-border volunteering might be an obstacle for further involvement of young people in voluntary activities. For example, a Swedish volunteer remembers that her duties in a project with socially excluded young people did not allow her to make any significant contribution861. Another volunteer had to work for the organisation’s employees’ families, which made her doubt the purpose of the volunteer exchange862. Although by no means representative of all Swedish volunteers, these accounts reflect different expectations and perceptions of volunteering between young Swedish people and hosting organisations. Likewise, a language barrier in non-English speaking countries and for nonEnglish speaking volunteers is an obstacle to full participation in a project and social life. A former Swedish EVS volunteer recalls that foreign volunteers were frustrated by their inability to communicate with the young people they worked with in Poland863. However, they overcame this problem with the help of a ‘Big Brother’ programme for volunteers. In contrast, the absence of such a programme in Sweden led a former Latvian EVS volunteer to conclude that
856
Former Lithuanian EVS volunteer in Sweden, 25-03-2010. Grosse, p. 44. 858 Project Officer of Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs, 29-01-2010. 859 Lagen om Arbetslöshetsförsärkring. 860 European Volunteer Centre, p. 22. 861 Amanda Holmberg. 862 Sanna Hallgren (former Swedish EVS volunteer in Italy), “Vad àr en volontàr?”. Blog entry of 23-04-2007. <http://sannahallgren.myevs.net/> [Accessed 03-04-2010]. 863 Amanda Holmberg. 857
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