enhance un volunteers capacity to advocate for, integrate volunteerism and community led engagements...
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Enhance UN Volunteers capacity to advocate for, integrate volunteerism and community led engagements 28-30 APRIL 2014 MASVINGO HOTEL
Presentation by Mhuruyengwe Zacharia
Chairman-Volunteering for Development Committee “We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles, rather than by the quality of our service relationship to humanity.” Martin Luther King, Jr
Statistics
Every year around 8,000 UN Volunteers serve locally and
abroad in the peace and development programmes of UN
agencies.
More than 80% of UN Volunteers come from developing countries and more than 30% volunteer
within their own communities.
UN Volunteers are active in almost 140 countries
ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT
As a UNV volunteer, you are the best ambassador
to promote volunteerism
Promoting volunteerism is an integral part of
every UNV volunteer assignment.
While every type of UNV appointment is an
opportunity to promote volunteerism, different
positions ensure diverse receptions.
Reflecting how you can help implement volunteerism is likely to make your assignment
even more rewarding and productive.
Session 1 (5 minutes)
WHAT IS VOLUNTEERING?
Participants gathers in groups of 3 to discuss and share on
-what does volunteering mean?
-What is a UNV to your understanding?
-Why did you choose to volunteer?
Action point- representatives of the groups will present the outcome
Volunteering means different things to different people.
•Cnaan et al,(1998) found widespread differences between
countries in public perceptions of what constitutes a voluntary
activity.
• In some countries giving blood was seen as volunteering, in
others being involved in a political party or trade union was
counted.
•For some people the defining characteristic of volunteering
was the absence of financial reward; for others lack of
coercion was the main identifier
•Graham etal (2013) report that in some Southern African countries such as Zimbabwe Zunde ra Mambo is an ancient
volunteering practice according to which members of a village
volunteer to work in the fields of their neighbors for one day per
week.
NB* However it is possible to identify some core characteristics
of what constitutes a voluntary activity.
The UN Working definition of Volunteering
There are three key defining characteristics of volunteering
1. the activity should not be undertaken primarily for financial
reward, although the reimbursement of expenses and some
token payment may be allowed.
2. the activity should be undertaken voluntarily, according to an individual’s own free-will, although there are grey areas here too,
such as school community service schemes which encourage,
and sometimes require, students to get involved in voluntary work
and Food for Work programmes, where there is an explicit
exchange between community involvement and food
assistance.
3. the activity should be of benefit to someone other than the
volunteer, or to society at large, although it is recognized that
volunteering brings significant benefit to the volunteer as well.
• UNV Programme defines volunteerism as “an expression of people’s willingness and capacity to freely help each others
and improve their society”.
• VSO believes that a critical area within volunteerism is choice
• Since the beginning of civilization, a fundamental human
valve has been people helping and in the process helping
themselves
• It is a notion of solidarity and reciprocity
Volunteerism- Global and National (Zimbabwe) context Session 2 (Plenary) •Identify misperceptions associated with volunteerism •Why is it such misperceptions exist? • What can be done to address such misperceptions? African philanthropy isn’t something that needs to be introduced by anybody because Africans have strong traditions of self-help, self-support, voluntary institutions, and rotation credit and associations like South African stokvels. But, we haven’t been able to tap into this tradition and don’t usually think of its various expressions as development tools. Source:Wilkinson-Maposa, Fowler, Oliver-Evans & Mulenga. (2005)
State of the World Volunteer Report (SWVR-2001) notes the following misperceptions Volunteering occurs only through legally recognized, formal and structured NGOs Volunteerism takes place only in the civil society sector. This is false. Volunteer action is universal; it does not happen exclusively in one “sector” but rather it permeates every aspect of life. Many public sector services, for example, rely on volunteers: schools and hospital care services, neighborhood policing, coastguards and fire services all rely on volunteers. Volunteerism is the preserve of the well-off and well-educated, those who have disposable time and income. In fact, an expanding body of empirical research indicates that volunteerism is prevalent among the income poor who undertake voluntary work to benefit themselves and their communities. Volunteerism is the do-main of amateurs who are unskilled and in-experienced. This misunderstanding arises from the perception that professionalism, both in knowledge and behavior, is exclusively associated with a paid job.
State of the World Volunteer Report (SWVR-2001) notes the following misperceptions Young people do not volunteer. On the contrary, young people are not a passive group waiting for resources and opportunities to be handed to them Volunteering takes place face-to-face. Significant new developments in digital technology mean that volunteerism is not limited to activities that entail face-to-face contact. Volunteerism should be off-limits for state intervention Volunteerism is free- this is wrong because volunteers deserves establishment and running of volunteer centre's, volunteer management, training and recognition, and costs associated with the proper functioning of volunteers such as transportation, meals and stipends. In terms of governments, this might include the establishment of appropriate poll-icy and regulatory frameworks
Making the Connection: Volunteering and the MDGs “Achieving the MDGs will require the ingenuity, solidarity and creativity of millions of ordinary people through voluntary action” (UN Volunteers, 2005a) •Whether expressed as volunteer service, mutual aid and self-help, campaigning or other forms of voluntary participation, the willingness and ability of citizens to give freely of their time out of a sense of solidarity will have a major influence on the extent to which the MDGs are attained and sustained.
UN GA 67th session agenda item 27 Recognized that volunteerism is an important component of any strategy aimed at such areas as
• poverty reduction, sustainable development, health, education, youth empowerment, climate change, disaster risk reduction, social integration, social welfare, humanitarian action, peace building and, in particular, overcoming social exclusion and discrimination.
•Achieving the MDGs will require the ingenuity, solidarity and creativity of millions of ordinary people through voluntary action.
•Efforts on the part of national governments, supported by the international community, can only complement what ultimately will depend on the full involvement of people worldwide
In Zimbabwe Volunteers are critical in the following areas of interventions-
Poverty and extreme hunger Food security volunteers assist farmers in good agricultural practices and to improve food security
Universal Primary Education Peer Educator Programmes (peer councillors) ECD is being done by community volunteers as many parents cannot afford Grade 0 fees
Gender equality Volunteers work to redress the imbalance in care work by motivating men to volunteer as HBC caregivers
Maternal mortality Volunteers promote family planning and Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) especially among traditionally excluded religious groups. Traditional midwives at community level to enhance access to safe delivery
HIV & AIDS HBC volunteers are needed to increase quality of care Male involvement must also be advocated for
Environment Environmental sector: issues of deforestation and planting requires community awareness raising and community volunteers must be at the forefront
How do volunteers get involved and where?
Volunteering can be
regular or episodic
formal or informal
pre-planned or a spontaneous response to emergencies.
•It can be done through an organization
• the workplace or individually
• in person or online
• It can involve professional or other work skills, generic skills or
manual labor.
•Some people are reimbursed for the cost of volunteering; others are
not.
•Volunteers work in the private and public sectors and for not-for-
profit organizations
Importance of volunteerism
• Promotes peace building
• Strengthen social cohesion
• Efficient use of resources
• Improves knowledge and skills
• Promotes individual maturity
• Promotes individual maturity
• Promotes more equitable outcome for people
• Increase employment prospects
• Makes direct contributions to national development
THE END
THANK YOU The value of volunteers
Imagine how many needs would go unanswered without volunteers
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