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VOLUNTEERING/
GLOBALISATION
source: www.unvolunteers.org
Anheier, Helmut K.and Salamon, L. M. “Volunteering in Cross-national Perspective: Initial Comparisons.”, Civil Society Working Papers, Centre for Civil Society, LSE 10, 2001.
[ www.lse.ac.uk/collections/
CCS/pdf/CSWP_10_web.pdf]
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At the dawn of the 21st century, volunteering is often transcending national boundaries, and is becoming ever more an international phenomenon…- of course, missionary societies, religious orders and other types of religious organisations have operated internationally for many centuries, particularly so since the early 1900s, carried by the evangelical revival movement that swept US and Europe at that time.
- but the birth of the modern volunteer movement outside the realm of the state (e.g., volunteer armies, work corps), church (e.g., laymen) and community (e.g., mutual assistance and caring) is closely associated with the creation of the Red Cross in 1864. For over 100 years the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies have pioneered volunteering and many countries, and organised volunteers for humanitarian assistance, the alleviation of suffering and poverty;
- in 1971 the United Nations Volunteer programme was set up; government-organised programmes like Peace Corps, Canadian University Service Overseas, Britain’s Voluntary Service Overseas and similar programmes in other countries began to operate in many parts of the world, and offered opportunities for people to volunteer in developing countries;
- more generally, the internationalisation of voluntary efforts developed alongside the expansion of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) active in development and relief efforts in many countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia. While some volunteer organisations like Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières or Greenpeace may have started as national organisations, they have become increasingly international in their recruitment and operations.
Like so many other parts of economy and society, volunteering has entered the age of globalisation…- the International Association for Volunteer Efforts (IAVE) has member organisations in over 80 countries; and the Internet has brought new initiatives to matching volunteers to organisations, from the International Medical Volunteers Association and Global Volunteers to One World One Volunteers and Virtual Volunteering;
- based in Bonn, Germany, UN Volunteers (UNV) is the UN organisation that supports sustainable human development globally through the promotion of volunteerism, including the mobilisation of volunteers. As a part of its activities, each year, UNV provides the opportunity for over 7,000 skilled and experienced professionals, 70% coming from developing countries, to support peace, relief and development initiatives in some 150 countries;
- in addition, UNV engages thousands of other individuals in the work of the United Nations through www.onlinevolunteering.org, and manages the WorldVolunteerWeb, a global volunteering portal that serves as a knowledge resource base for campaigning, advocacy, information dissemination and networking.
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