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 Thousands of people, especially the young, go abroad each year on solidarity initiatives. Their motivation, roles and status vary. There are many ways of taking part in international solidarity, from ‘fair travel’ for tourists to missions lasting several years by highly qualified experts. Many are called ‘volunteering’. This term, common in Anglo-Saxon cultures, is associated with particular aspirations and values: commitment, sharing, a taste for discovery and otherness. It often goes with a belief in a globalised society that encourages curiosity, meetings between cultures and travel, and with a new geopolitical discourse that reflects our multi-polar world and the changing balance between North and South. Volunteering can mean many different things. In France, its definition is narrow: it has a precise legal status, which grants certain social rights and financial allowances for clearly defined missions of finite duration. Volunteering as understood in France is neither charity work, nor paid employment: it is a hybrid that combines the commitment and giving of the former with the efficiency and professionalism of the latter. One can volunteer to take part in international solidarity under a number of different schemes. The most popular is Volontariat de SolidaritŽ Internationale (VSI), part of France’s official development assistance and run by the ministry of foreign affairs. Around 2,500 French citizens a year volunteer under VSI. Their profile is fairly homogenous: they are often female, highly qualified, established professionals, with experience of working abroad. This national scheme may soon be complemented by EU Aid Volunteers (possibly inspired by the US Peace Corps), a body of 10,000 volunteers to be available for deployment to crisis areas from 2014. One of its aims is to increase the visibility of humanitarian aid from Brussels: not many people know that half the monetary aid to poor countries comes from the EU and […]