1 March 2005 is the 5th anniversary of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programmes Online Volunteering (OV) service, which connects non-profit and nongovernmental organizations working in the South with people willing to volunteer their skills over the Internet.
Since its launch in March 2000, some 30.000 people have joined the OV service, with more than half taking on an assignment.
This support has reached more than 600 organizations from the North and South who work to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, empower women, educate children, stop the spread of killer diseases like Aids, and cure other development ills identified as priorities within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals.
Connected at home, in school or universities, in the office, or in libraries, online volunteers complement the work of these organizations by carrying out a multitude of tasks.
Examples of engagement include:
1) developing fundraising strategies to expand operations,
2) building networks to generate support for projects,
3) translating documents to achieve greater outreach, and
4) creating websites to publicize and promote.
As UNVs Executive Coordinator Ad de Raad highlights in his message celebrating the anniversary, the exchange between online volunteers and the organizations they support is a win-win situation.
– For the organizations involving online volunteers, the service has enabled them to tap into an enormous channel of expertise and resources – assistance they might never have got access to otherwise, he says adding: – For the individual, online volunteering provides the opportunity to personally contribute to development work and gain a clearer understanding of the development needs and challenges.
In 2004, more than 700 online volunteering assignments were posted to the service. Most organizations asked for more than one volunteer, with some requesting up to 50. At any given time, there are between 150 and 300 opportunities available on the services web site.
– Online volunteering, in an outstanding and highly effective way, helps to harness the wealth of willingness, resources and commitment that exists in the volunteer world, says Mike Tozer of Global Hand, a Hong Kong-based NGO.
– So often, people want to help, but simply do not know how to get involved. The OV service provides a way that is both simple and accessible for such people and, yet, changes lives in very practical ways, added he.
To find out more about how the OV service and online volunteers are contributing to development, please visit the OV services special anniversary website:
www.unvolunteers.org/infobase/events/OV_celebration/index.htm
Here you will find a series of stories on online volunteers and the organizations they support.
UNV launched the Online Volunteering service in March 2000 with NetAid, a non-profit organization created a year earlier as a joint initiative by Cisco Systems and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to help eradicate extreme poverty.
UNV and NetAid jointly developed and operated Online Volunteering until February 2004, when the service was entirely shifted to UNV and moved to its own web address, www.onlinevolunteering.org.
Kilde: www.runiceurope.org