Intercultural Communication for Development: An exploratory study of Intercultural Sensitivity of the United Nations Volunteer Programme using the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity as framework By

The purpose of the study is to (1)analyze the level of intercultural sensitivity of United Nations Volunteer (UNV) volunteers in terms of interpersonal communication in a multicultural working environment; (2) explore how UNV volunteers interact and communicate in a multicultural environment at community level by developing a cognitive structure to understand differences in culture and; (3) identify the level of intercultural sensitivity of the UNV volunteers. This study is intended to make a contribution to the research on Communication for Development from the perspective of Intercultural Communication, particularly by using the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) as a framework to analyze the Intercultural experiences of a number of UNV volunteers. The qualitative survey was conducted with selected UNV volunteers including national, international and former UNV volunteers from February 15, 2008 for 4 weeks. A total of 48 UNV volunteers from 26 countries, serving in 24 countries, participated in the survey. The methodology of content analysis was applied to analyze their intercultural sensitivity and communication skills