Volunteer Resource Centres

Background

The development sector in India has emerged from Volunteerism and Volunteer led Action. Many civil society organizations mobilize services of volunteers from both urban and rural background who are engaged in development processes, bringing about an impact in their own lives and the community with which they are working. There are a lot of preconceived notions and myths surrounding volunteering. For instance – it is generally assumed that volunteering is a one off gesture wherein one sets apart a specific time for a progressive cause. There is a also a lack of a formal structure/processes such as Volunteer Management Systems and processes in India.

Introduction
Volunteer Resource Centres are self facilitative library on Volunteerism and Volunteer Resource Centres. The objectives of setting up Volunteer Resource Centres has been summed up as follows
 Connecting prospective volunteers with suitable opportunities and avenues
 Provide necessary information to the Organizations/ Movements on all aspects of Volunteering
 Creating a network which shares the best practices of volunteering which will in turn facilitate a process of building the capacities of Organizations/ Movements in this aspect

Lets Volunteer strives to create and support creation of Volunteer Resource Centres both in Urban and Rural areas of India.

Methodologies
 Creating Sustainable Models of Volunteer Resource Centres in both urban and rural areas
 Virtual Library on Volunteering
 Sharing of best practices on Volunteering
 Creation of a data base of National Volunteers
 Supporting Organizations in creating Volunteer Management Systems
 Action Research on Volunteering through collaborated efforts
 Impact Assessment of Volunteering Programs

1. Connecting prospective volunteers with suitable opportunities and avenues as exhibited by -
 Number of Volunteer Placements facilitated by Volunteer Resource Centres
 Number of young people accessing Volunteer Resource Centres
 Number of application forms received by Volunteer Resource Centres

2. Provide necessary information to the Organizations/ Movements on all aspects of Volunteering as exhibited by documentation and research on
 Volunteer Management Systems
 Assessment study measuring the impact of volunteering projects on young people, Organizations and Communities etc
 Information and Communication Material(IEC) on Volunteering

3. Creating a network which shares the best practices of volunteering as exhibited by –
 Organizations creating and supporting Volunteering Resource Centres
 Participating in the process of reviewing their Volunteer Management System (Volunteering Audit)
 Participating in the Action Research on Volunteering
 Supporting the process of creating a date base of Volunteers

How can we partner together
1. If you are an Individual
 We would connect you to various volunteering opportunities with Organizations and Movements in India
 We would connect you to of volunteering various workshops, campaigns and festivals across India
 We could collaborate a co create a Volunteer Resource Centre

2. If you are an Organization
 We would place information related to your programs at the Volunteering Resource Centres
 We can support in creating your volunteer management system and strengthening management systems
 We would support you in creating a Volunteer Resource Centre in your own organizations
 We would support you in assessing the impact of volunteering both at the individual and organization level

Rachel Dent

“The experience of Volunteering in India was an eye opener for me”

-      Rachel Dent

Rachel Dent (United States) is a nurse by profession volunteered with Child Survival India. Her volunteer placement and project was in accordance with her interest of working in the area of Health. She says “It was an eye opener for me. The most fulfilling experience of my journey was that I was seeing myself making a difference in the lives of people. The whole experience was different. I was not sitting in an office and treating people. In fact I was going into the slums and using my skills for the benefit of a community and it was an amazing feeling to experience”. She says the uniqueness of any volunteering experience is the connection with people from a different place and background. She shared” The warmth, love and gratitude that I received from people there cannot be expressed in words. I miss that feeling and I would like to experience it again”.

She shared that from her high school days itself she wanted to volunteer abroad and did a lot of research and developed her interest in Volunteering in India. She told us “I did not see myself sitting in front of a computer and working the entire day. I always wanted to serve people and always wanted to visit India and Volunteer there. I was often puzzled by the disparities in India and wanted to witness that through my own eyes”. She also is grateful to her country for inspiring her to volunteer. She told us “One of great things about United States is that people are always encouraged to volunteer. Being a catholic, I always volunteered at Church”. The journey of Rachel was full of challenges and the process of overcoming those challenges brought a great degree of learning for her. She shared” I do remember having a hard time during my journey. For instance I had hard time communicating with people in terms of language. But the positive part was that I did manage to find a way and volunteering is all about that”.

According to Rachel one of the high points of her journey was the experience of staying with a host community and learning about their lifestyle, food etc. She further added that the interaction with people from a different background made the experience even stronger. She elaborated “I did not know their language but their gestures and mannerism indicated a lot. I could understand their feelings just the way they looked at me and showed their gratitude”.

Rachel also has very strong perspective on the overall process of volunteering and we did not want to lose the opportunity of taking her inputs on the kind of systems and processes that will enable a volunteer to maximize his/her learning’s. These have been summed up as follows 

• A strong Orientation program
• Assigning a mentor with whom a volunteer can share their day to day challenges and also take feedback on their work
• A peer group can be a huge motivating factor

Rachel concluded the conversation by saying “I strongly recommend volunteering since it opens a door to a lot of possibilities, experiences and learning’s”.

Lets Volunteer would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Rachel Dent for this wonderful journey and hope many young people will read this story and undertake a volunteering journey which at the moment is less travelled and worth exploring.