Be part of an AVI celebration video!

In October, we’re celebrating something big

October 2021 marks 70 years since Herb Feith, the first Australian volunteer, pioneered the concept of international volunteering. Herb was inspired by Indonesian delegates when they requested technical experts to work in Indonesia – not just to share their knowledge – but to participate in the life of the newly independent country. Feith responded and worked as a translator with Indonesia’s Ministry of Information. With the support of his wife, Betty Feith, several young Australians followed in his footsteps and the Volunteer Graduate Scheme (VGS) was established, the first incarnation of AVI. On October 21, AVI will host an event to celebrate ‘70 Years of Inviting Change’.

Be a part of our celebration video

AVI will present a video at its virtual October celebration event (and upload the video to YouTube, Social Media and the AVI website thereafter) showcasing messages from right around the world. The video will serve to celebrate AVI’s history and the incredible people who have helped make our work possible (Australian volunteers, partner organisations and staff). The main purpose of this video is to shine a light on the life-changing outcomes of locally driven, people-to-people development, driven by relationships based on mutual respect and trust which AVI has helped make possible over the past 70 years. It also serves as a chance to thank the people who have made the outcomes of the work we help facilitate, possible.

How you can be involved

For seven decades, hundreds of thousands of people – volunteers, partner organisations and staff – in 89 countries have been touched by the organisation we know today as AVI.

Your experiences are diverse and because of this, AVI means something unique and different to you. We want to hear what AVI means to you or how your experience with AVI has impacted your life, because that’s something we all share in common.

TO BE INCLUDED IN OUR CELEBRATION VIDEO, FOLLOW THESE TWO SIMPLE STEPS:

STEP ONE: record a brief message addressing one or more of the themes below.

Please remember, this does not need to be perfect – that’s what our professional editor is for. Feel free to hit record, get into the right spot, think about what you’d like to say, give us a big smile and go for it!

If you make a mistake, don’t stress. Just keep recording, start again and we’ll take the best bits to make you look great. There will be upbeat music behind all of your messages, so it will look fantastic!

Themes (please choose at least one):

• What makes AVI’s work effective
• Why you think AVI’s work is important
• What impact AVI has had on your life

We’ve included some helpful hints below for how you could start your statements, but please feel free to come up with your own – this is your reflection!

What makes AVI’s work effective

“AVI’s work is effective because…”
“AVI’s approach to…”
“AVI’s focus on…”
“AVI is great at…”

Why you think AVI’s work is important

“Because of AVI…”
“The most important part of AVI’s work is…”
“AVI enabled me/us to…”
“Without AVI…”

What impact AVI has had on your life

“Because of AVI, I…”
“I believe I have… because of AVI”
“I believe AVI has made me…”
“AVI enabled me/us to…”

STEP TWO

Upload your video to our 70^th anniversary video dropbox.

If the link above doesn’t work, please copy paste this link into your browser:

https://www.dropbox.com/request/jw5rTMfD6OG69ssctGcE

Please make sure you save your file with one of the names below (choose the most applicable to you):

‘First and last name – Partner Organisation name’
‘First and last name – Volunteer Role & Country’
‘First and last name – your role at AVI’
‘First and last name – your connection to AVI’

To be included in the video your will need to upload your file by Friday 10 September.

Most importantly, HAVE FUN! We can’t wait to celebrate this milestone with you.