Why is this experience important for starting your Volunt2Thai project?

The situation has not changed to this day. In the villages are children who grow up without parents are raised by their grandparents. A generation is missing in the villages. Grandparents and children look after each other, the elderly are often already ill. In Thailand, there is a 9-year compulsory education, but with 15 the education in the villages is over. To get further education, the money is missing and if it is only the money for the bus to school. The inhabitants of the slums and run-down neighborhood in Bangkok are in large numbers from Isan, here is the connection of the dilemma.

Gradually, however, "nothingness" got a face, it was like the fog evaporating and I realized that this "nothing" was the chance of the region. Unlike in the big cities, where people have to get on each other's feet and look for market niches, I realized that I stood in front an unknown quantity in the market economy. I began to explore the surroundings, took a look what already was there, from the ambulance service to the traditional knowledge of the elderly and the activities in the temples. I defined the cornerstones for a project. I called this concept Volunt2Thai and presented it to the local village council, which unanimously agreed to it. This gave me the green light to start. I already had twenty years of experience as a consultant and project manager in Thailand. In this position, one is also used to working with government-related bodies, to implement projects together.

How did you finance the launch of Volunt2Thai?

Together with my Thai family and after carefully weighing the risks, I started the project as a private initiative. Only later did it come to the founding of the association in Vienna and the cooperations with the other villages and schools, in today's form. My Thai family and I used our savings and our labor to start the project, also valuables had to be sold to make money. But once you have decided on this step, there is no turning back. We have made our promise to the children - many people believe in our work and also the successes speaks in our favor that we do the right thing. It is important that many more people learn about our work and use our offer. Volunt2Thai is an enrichment for the children but also for each volunteer.

Did you have sources of income - other than your savings right from the start?

Yes, we received donations from good friends very early, without them the project would not have survived so long. There are still many charitable projects in the pipeline and we need partners and donors to finance them.

How long did it take for the first volunteer to arrive?

It meant a year of intense work in all social networking channels to slowly get the interest of volunteers. I would like to thank especially the first volunteers because for them it was as much a pioneering work as it was for us.

How do volunteers learn about the V2T project?

Primarily through mouth-to-mouth campaign by volunteers. In addition, we are constantly striving to expand our partner network with universities and other NGOs. We are represented at voluntary service fairs and rely on our presence on the Internet, especially on social networks. There is still much to do and we depend on the volunteers. We are also trying to expand the volunteer placement opportunities to permanently accommodate 30 volunteers in the village. Unfortunately, we still have too few volunteers who spend a longer period of time with us.

"Raimund Wagner was born in Vienna in 1968 and has been working as a project manager and specialist for market development in Asia since the end of the 1990s. His area of expertise is opening up new markets, including building up production sales and maintenance structures"

Adding a V2T reference to your CV is guaranteed to get you noticed
Volunt2Thai has collaborative partnerships with NGO’s and educational institutions and works with a wide range of partners in all of its fields of competence for the development of different projects place at our project sites. In contrast to the project Volunt2Thai which concentrates its efforts on the development of the community with particular focus on the children, the association's aim is to promote and support the volunteer engagement of youths and adults and in so doing, contribute to the development of international cooperation and understanding.

The association can provide the tools and challenges in a variety of spheres to aid and support students, apprenticeships and national and adult education programmes, allowing the potential of volunteer workers to be realised. Additionally, we hope to contribute to science and research in these areas.