A Phenomenological Study of Volunteers’ Experiences in a South African Waste Management Campaign

Abstract

Following the literature that focuses on the psychosocial, cognitive and economic motivations for volunteerism, this article presents a phenomenological study of voluntary participation in a community-based waste management initiative involving a total of 24 participants. In line with phenomenology’s accent on uncovering cognitive meanings and essential structures, data were collected by means of 12 individually semi-structured interviews and two focus group discussions. Common cognitive meaning units were identified, guiding an understanding of the essence and structure underlying the volunteer experience, beyond the focus on motives, functions and intentions of volunteer work, yielding insight into the unintended effects of volunteer action on the volunteers themselves and on the community they serve. The data were critically reviewed as a means of understanding the hidden dimensions of volunteerism as they seem to relate to individual and social agency and social transformation and the inherent challenges that such change can effect. From our analysis it appears that it would be valuable to conduct further detailed and larger studies examining the agentic nature of volunteerism in low-to middle-income contexts.