Özet:

International voluntarism is considered to be an important venue for non- formal education and intercultural learning. European Voluntary Service (EVS) Program of European Commission is a specific program to generate such educational and learning experiences for young people. Turkey has been involved in the implementation of this program for more than 6 years and accumulated a significant level of experiences in this context. Examining international voluntary service experiences taking place in Turkey may provide different findings than what is observed in the literature because international voluntary action in such a Middle Eastern/Muslim country may create much more cultural challenges than all other European countries. From a sociological perspective based on the East-West relations as the background, this paper aims at exploring the effects of international voluntarism, within the context of EVS Program, in terms of whether, or to what extent, young people's perception of and attitudes towards the host country's culture get changed during and after international voluntary service experience. The data for this exploration comes from an ethnographic research conducted with 30 European Voluntary Service volunteers who volunteered in two different organizations in Balıkesir, Turkey between 2007 and 2011. Additionally, data was gathered and used through focus group interviews with 8 staff members of host organizations. The major findings indicate that an experience of international voluntary service significantly contributes to the personal development and social skills of young people and that it helps them to learn more about Turkey and Turkish culture. However, positive effects of such an experience are limited in terms of intercultural learning, which is closely related to respect and tolerance to and a deeper understanding of cultural diversities. It is suggested that this limited effect may be associated with deeply rooted Eurocentric perspective among European young people and that a precautious attitude might be appropriate before making the discourse of intercultural learning as one of the leading principles of educational policies.

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