Rewards of volunteering:
- You become a change-maker, a rejuvenator
- Your skills get utilized for the betterment of society
- Live, Learn & Experience a whole new world
- Enhance your personal & professional growth
- Meet people, Network & become a Global Citizen
- Because it is the right thing to do
Why Be A Volunteer?
Volunteering is truly rewarding both for yourself and the community! It presents an opportunity to contribute to society while gaining personal experience and growth. If you are still undecided, here are some compelling reasons that may help you make up your mind and embark on a volunteering journey:
#1 You become a change-maker, a rejuvenator!!!
To bring about change, it is the contribution of every single person that counts. When you volunteer your time to improve a society or a community, you are no longer a regular citizen, but a part of something much bigger than yourself. You join a global community of people who offer their dedication, time, energy, and effort to the advancement of others and of themselves. You become a global citizen. You become a change-maker… a rejuvenator!
#2 Your skills get utilized for the betterment of society
Your skills, strengths, and capabilities have the potential to make a tremendous difference in others’ lives. It does not matter what specific skills you possess. Even your positive spirit and enthusiasm can create a significant impact. And many a times, that is all it takes.
#3 Live, learn and experience a whole new world
Giving back to others leads you on an amazing journey where you encounter new people, cultures, and traditions. When you push yourself outside your comfort zone and immerse yourself in interacting with people from various cultures on a daily basis, it offers you a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Working with individuals from various social and cultural backgrounds will alter the way you see yourself. You unearth and explore your own hidden skills, develop new interests and pastimes, and gain self-assurance. You develop valuable life skills including collaborating, decision-making, problem-solving, planning, developing strategies, and organizing your life to advance your professional and personal growth.
#5 Meet People, Network and Become a Global Citizen
Meeting and collaborating with others with a variety of similar and dissimilar interests, skill sets, knowledge, and life experiences is one of the best aspects of volunteering. The path to global friendship and understanding is paved by working, overcoming challenges, and discovering new things together.
#6 Because it is the right thing to do
Altruism is a wonderful feeling and a gift that you give to yourself and others. When you help others – pathways of positivity form, within and in the world around. By joining people from other countries working together for a more sustainable future, the preservation of the environment, the development of international friendships, and the advancement of world peace, the outcome can only be the best.
Three broad categories:
- Social impact of volunteering
- Economic impact of volunteering
- Individual impact of volunteering
International Voluntary Service
What Is IVS?
Let’s begin with a little bit of History……….
International Voluntary Service (IVS) was born in 1920 when Pierre Ceresole, a conscientious objector during WWI and an advocator for Peace, organized the first reconstruction camp near Verdun in France with the participation of German volunteers, despite the reluctance of local inhabitants who still saw the Germans as their enemies.
IVS laid the foundation for many other movements like Service Civil International (SCI) in the 1930’s, Knights of the Lord of Peace in 1923, Christian Movement for Peace (CMP) in 1947 which later changed its name to Youth Action for Peace (YAP) in 1994 and many others.
In the 1930s Pierre Ceresole had the chance to meet Mahatma Gandhi and both recognized their similar interests in the work for peace. A work camp was later organized after this meeting in the 30s in India. Meanwhile, in Europe, work camps continued and volunteers were found supporting Spanish refugees in France escaping from the civil war, by providing canteen service.
After the Second World War (1939-45) many new bodies came into being to help the reconstruction of Europe and the people who had been at war. From the 1950s onward, the number of volunteering organizations across the globe started increasing. Through these organizations more and more people started coming forward to address global concerns and extend their hand to those in need.
Today, there are many local and foreign volunteers working in a wide range of fields, from promoting intercultural dialogue to fostering sustainable development, from promoting peace and solidarity to upholding human rights, from advocating for better health, education, and living conditions to defending the environment. The International Volunteering Service continues to play a significant role in tackling numerous worldwide concerns thanks to its enormous volunteer army.
Since the last few decades up until the present, volunteers have made significant contributions and had a huge positive impact on their own personal and professional life as well as the health of communities and the environment throughout the world. Many governments have taken notice of the work done by volunteers and have come to appreciate the crucial part volunteers play in strengthening societies, dismantling stereotypes, and fostering mutual respect and understanding in order to create a more peaceful and harmonious world.
The impact of volunteering services:
It is an unavoidable societal fact that there will be significant internal divisions in any community. Socio-economic distinctions are the one that, in contrast to others like language, culture, or background, frequently stands out and is highly visible. The adoption of numerous practices that close these gaps is necessary for these societies if the social fabric is to remain intact and develop. Numerous studies and polls have demonstrated that volunteering frequently contributes significantly to closing these gaps. People from various backgrounds who might never interact with one another otherwise are brought together by it.
Voluntary organizations have a varied range of collaborations while carrying out volunteering projects, including community partnerships, advocacy, networking, funding, co-operating with the local government and specific departments (like Departments of education, environment, culture and heritage, energy, etc.)This emphasizes the cross-cutting quality and ability of volunteering throughout and between the different sectors.
While working on any project, volunteering keeps friendship, teamwork, and understanding as its pillars. It offers individuals the chance to band and bond together and work towards a shared goal at the local, national, or international level.This aids in fostering social connections and societal cohesion, networks and, most significantly, promotes increased human solidarity and trust – the two factors that are vital to the health and well-being of any society.
Around the world, volunteering makes a significant contribution to the economy. According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies conducted in 2011, approximately 140 million people in the 37 countries engage in volunteer work in a typical year. If those 140 million volunteers comprised the population of a country, it would be the 9th largest country in the world. Those 140 million volunteers represent the equivalent of 20.8 million full-time equivalent jobs. It is estimated that volunteers contribute around $400 billion to the global economy annually. Look at the figure below from Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit sector Project:
CHINA
1,306 million
BRAZIL
186 million
NIGERIA
129 million
INDIA
1,094 million
PAKISTAN
158 million
JAPAN
128 million
United States
296 million
BANGLADESH
144 million
INDONESIA
229 million
RUSSIA
143 million
When volunteers invest their time, for example to clean a neighborhood, paint a school or playground, what is the value of their overall output? If it were not done by the volunteers how much would one need to pay to get them done? Often while considering the GDP, statisticians ignore the economic impact of volunteering.
Measurement of the economic impact of volunteering is still in its nascent stage. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has recently adopted a Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work offering an opportunity to solve this problem and to help countries realize and understand the enormous economic value of volunteering.
Volunteering has a lasting impact on the volunteer by boosting confidence and self-esteem, providing an opportunity to practice and develop social skills, strengthening ties to the community, expanding one’s support network, and reinforcing one’s personal and professional goals.
In addition, a number of studies have found that volunteering is beneficial for both the body and the mind. Volunteering has a larger positive impact on one’s health, particularly for elderly people. It improves one’s physical and mental health and gives one a sense of purpose.
Volunteers have the possibility to improve their networking, build their interpersonal skills, and gain practical experience for important career skills by interacting with people from various social, cultural, and economic backgrounds. This unique method for gaining life experience is unparalleled.
VOLUNTEER
Why Be A Volunteer?
Volunteering offers numerous rewards, both for yourself and the community. It presents an opportunity to contribute to society while gaining personal experience and growth.
When you volunteer your time to improve a society or a community, you stop being a regular citizen and join a global community of people who offer their dedication, time, energy, and effort to the advancement of others and of themselves. You develop as a world citizen.
HELP US
Volunteer For Us
