By Dilip Singh Wangkhem
Concept of Volunteer
Voluntary service, in its many forms, has been part of human interaction. Yet, widespread recognition of the value of volunteer action is more recent. This has manifested itself in the rapid growth of civil society organizations and Volunteer Sending Agencies (VSAs) all-over the world.
The word “volunteer” means different things to different people. Its translation into different languages and cultures evokes varied responses.
Two elements tend to cause confusion. One is the issue of remuneration; can volunteers be paid and still be called “Volunteer”? The other is that of professionalism; “Volunteer” is frequently equated with “amateur” or, at best, with service given freely on a part-time basis in fields which may have little to do with the person’s professional experience. This often leads to the misperception that a Volunteer is someone who is less qualified or is an eccentric looking for adventure.
We believe that a volunteer is someone who through service contributes to development and humanitarian relief within his or her own society or worldwide, within regard to financial gain.
Volunteer contribution and voluntary organisation:
Over recent decades, increasing awareness of the struggles of their fellow men & women has led more and more individuals from all walks of life to take an action role in bringing about change and building more just societies. Similarly, this period has witnessed an explosive growth of “Voluntary Organizations,” VOs all over the world, but more recently in developing countries. Voluntary Organizations have become in many countries a guarantee for social welfare, environmental protection and peace. One has only to read or watch the news to see that many areas of activity, from the cultural and the political to group survival in times of crisis, would fail without volunteer effort.
Much volunteer work is found in small communities; some act through civil society organizations such as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), organized alliance or existing social structure. The range of objectives, methods of functioning and staffing of these VOs, NGOs and CBOs is very wide, even within the same country.
Despite this, the value of voluntary service is often hidden, finding little reflection in standard accounting system and statistics used to measure national income and economic growth. At the same time, to give a purely monetary value to volunteer service would be to demean the contribution itself.
Voluntary organizations emerge from the desire of people to demonstrate their concerns for the well-being of others by taking action. As individuals, they may become involved within their community, or with groups whose goals, hopes or values they share. In today’s reality of funding cutbacks, volunteer contributions promise to become even more central to communities and Voluntary Organizations are likely to be called upon more and more to provide assistance to the needy.
Diversity and evolution in volunteer roles
Today, volunteer work transcends by for the purely “developmental” in the sense of being limited to activities designed to foster social and economic growth and its distribution.
Much of it has to do with survival, when human beings are threatened by natural or man-made disaster, epidemics, civil war or environmental degradation. It is not worthy that while media attention is after focused on international volunteers who provide relief and they to bring about peace in war-tom countries, volunteers from the countries involved, often silently and sometimes in much larger members try to build bridges between those at war.
International Volunteer work has become more professionalised. Many countries have in place a human resource base which can go a long way to meeting their needs. They therefore require only practical and specialized inputs to support them in managing their programmes.
Professionalism has become the key, the volunteers most VSAs send out today are in their 30s and 40s, with post-graduate academic qualifications and several years’ practical experience in their own fields.
The typical United Nations Volunteer-Specialist, on average 39 years age, is a good example of this trend.
The role of wide range of development workers has shifted from primarily concentrating on technical cooperation with developing countries, to promoting national and local capacity building and strengthening of institutions. This has included increased emphasis on national implementation.
Characteristics of Volunteer Action:
While accepting the varied motives, which inspire volunteers, it is important to highlight the essential shared characteristics and strengths, which are part of volunteer action. A few of these characteristics and values lie at the core of volunteer motivation.
These include the notion of free will, of solidarity, of service to others and commitment to a cause.
Important driving forces are the desire for social justice, for partnership and sharing of the concerns and conditions of others, a sense of joint responsibility for the tasks to be undertaken, the willingness to adopt and demonstrate flexibility in response to local circumstance and therefore the desire to learn mutually.
Source: The Sangai Express
Concept of Volunteer
Voluntary service, in its many forms, has been part of human interaction. Yet, widespread recognition of the value of volunteer action is more recent. This has manifested itself in the rapid growth of civil society organizations and Volunteer Sending Agencies (VSAs) all-over the world.
The word “volunteer” means different things to different people. Its translation into different languages and cultures evokes varied responses.
Two elements tend to cause confusion. One is the issue of remuneration; can volunteers be paid and still be called “Volunteer”? The other is that of professionalism; “Volunteer” is frequently equated with “amateur” or, at best, with service given freely on a part-time basis in fields which may have little to do with the person’s professional experience. This often leads to the misperception that a Volunteer is someone who is less qualified or is an eccentric looking for adventure.
We believe that a volunteer is someone who through service contributes to development and humanitarian relief within his or her own society or worldwide, within regard to financial gain.
Volunteer contribution and voluntary organisation:
Over recent decades, increasing awareness of the struggles of their fellow men & women has led more and more individuals from all walks of life to take an action role in bringing about change and building more just societies. Similarly, this period has witnessed an explosive growth of “Voluntary Organizations,” VOs all over the world, but more recently in developing countries. Voluntary Organizations have become in many countries a guarantee for social welfare, environmental protection and peace. One has only to read or watch the news to see that many areas of activity, from the cultural and the political to group survival in times of crisis, would fail without volunteer effort.
Much volunteer work is found in small communities; some act through civil society organizations such as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), organized alliance or existing social structure. The range of objectives, methods of functioning and staffing of these VOs, NGOs and CBOs is very wide, even within the same country.
Despite this, the value of voluntary service is often hidden, finding little reflection in standard accounting system and statistics used to measure national income and economic growth. At the same time, to give a purely monetary value to volunteer service would be to demean the contribution itself.
Voluntary organizations emerge from the desire of people to demonstrate their concerns for the well-being of others by taking action. As individuals, they may become involved within their community, or with groups whose goals, hopes or values they share. In today’s reality of funding cutbacks, volunteer contributions promise to become even more central to communities and Voluntary Organizations are likely to be called upon more and more to provide assistance to the needy.
Diversity and evolution in volunteer roles
Today, volunteer work transcends by for the purely “developmental” in the sense of being limited to activities designed to foster social and economic growth and its distribution.
Much of it has to do with survival, when human beings are threatened by natural or man-made disaster, epidemics, civil war or environmental degradation. It is not worthy that while media attention is after focused on international volunteers who provide relief and they to bring about peace in war-tom countries, volunteers from the countries involved, often silently and sometimes in much larger members try to build bridges between those at war.
International Volunteer work has become more professionalised. Many countries have in place a human resource base which can go a long way to meeting their needs. They therefore require only practical and specialized inputs to support them in managing their programmes.
Professionalism has become the key, the volunteers most VSAs send out today are in their 30s and 40s, with post-graduate academic qualifications and several years’ practical experience in their own fields.
The typical United Nations Volunteer-Specialist, on average 39 years age, is a good example of this trend.
The role of wide range of development workers has shifted from primarily concentrating on technical cooperation with developing countries, to promoting national and local capacity building and strengthening of institutions. This has included increased emphasis on national implementation.
Characteristics of Volunteer Action:
While accepting the varied motives, which inspire volunteers, it is important to highlight the essential shared characteristics and strengths, which are part of volunteer action. A few of these characteristics and values lie at the core of volunteer motivation.
These include the notion of free will, of solidarity, of service to others and commitment to a cause.
Important driving forces are the desire for social justice, for partnership and sharing of the concerns and conditions of others, a sense of joint responsibility for the tasks to be undertaken, the willingness to adopt and demonstrate flexibility in response to local circumstance and therefore the desire to learn mutually.
Source: The Sangai Express
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