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Would you like to make new
friends?
Are you creative and imaginative?
Do you want to make a difference?
Volunteer!
Volunteering is a
great way to meet new people, explore your creativity, make a difference in
your community, and improve your resume - all while having a great time!
Whether you are an avid volunteer already or just starting, our page
designed to help give you the information you need.
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Helping People
* Humanitarian and Solidarity Actions
* Civic and Developmental Actions
* Environmental Activities
* Educational Actions
* Raising Funds, Securing Sponsorship
Supporting Volunteerism
* Recognition
* Facilitation - Recruitment
* Facilitation - Government Support
* Networking and Exchanging Experience
* Promotion
* Information
* Engaging Tomorrow's Volunteers - Children and Youth
Celebrating Voluntary Service
* Culture and Recreation
1: Helping People
Humanitarian and Solidarity Actions
* Providing health checks and medical services free for the needy on 5
December
* Visiting the sick in hospitals
* Helping doctors administer medicines and treatments
* Donating blood
* Free vaccination campaigns
* Helping those who need physical rehabilitation
* Visiting children in orphanages
* Providing free legal advice
* Providing friendship services such as support and counselling
* Collecting and distributing used clothes, shoes, toys or food to poor
families
* Providing a meal to the poor
* Helping out single mothers and pensioners
* Establishing and participating in a hot-line for those in distress
* Tailors and seamstresses sewing clothes for the needy
* Helping a farming community harvest, plant, or tend to animals
* Visiting a juvenile detention centre
* Providing the elderly in need with letter-writing services, companionship,
health checks and free hair-cuts
Civic and Developmental Actions
* Renovating institutions for the disabled, orphans, pensioners
* Renovating civic and community centres, schools, hospitals, libraries
* Reconstructing old or damaged housing
* Building a community room in a poor settlement
* Building roads or paths with help from volunteer experts and donated
materials
* Adding a classroom to a school
* Making a court or playground for city children
* Cleaning schools, community centres, hospitals
* Constructing wooden benches at school bus stops.
* Building or repairing facilities for the use of all, such as a public
bath, solid waste disposal, drains, pipelines
* Restoring or improving water sources
* Conducting a work camp for a week or two
* Sprucing up homes for the elderly and providing them meanwhile with a day
of special care and entertainment
* Tidying up the local zoo for children to enjoy
* Cleaning up a historical site
* Helping build or renovate churches and temples of worship
Environmental Activities
* Participating in "Clean and Green" initiatives
* Cleaning up beaches, rivers, parks, nature reserves
* Cleaning public streets and pruning the trees
* Planting a garden, collecting and potting seedlings, weeding
* Tree-planting
* Campaigning for the environment
* Getting children involved and informed about nature and the environment
Educational Actions
* Transferring technical skills and providing vocational training through
free lectures or workshops
* Doctors and other professional experts holding free training sessions
* Offering maternity and infant child-care workshops
* Road-building led by a volunteer engineer
* Journalists teaching youngsters writing skills
* Volunteers teaching reading
* Organizing awareness campaigns on such topics as the environment or
HIV/AIDS
* High school students being enabled to visit volunteer projects which match
their areas of interest: e.g. those interested in animals mixing * vaccines
and helping feed animals at a farm
* Using a zoo to teach children to care for nature
* Street-side awareness campaigns through posters or information stands
* Teaching horticultural techniques
* Making IVD a "no smoking", "no alcohol" day
* Using IVD as "kick-off" for literacy and reading programmes
* Debating competitions on issues related to volunteering
* A historian or writer tracing the history of national volunteering
Raising funds, Securing Sponsorship
* Donating classroom materials and hospital supplies
* Donating machinery or instruments
* Raising funds to buy and donate wheel chairs or a Braille machine
* Raising funds to provide spectacles for orphans or poor villagers Awarding
grants for scholarships or research to support youngsters with no means or
access to higher education
* Opening savings accounts for orphans as deposits on future homes, so that
the account reaches the level for purchase of a home by the time the orphan
is 21
* Telecommunication companies offering a discount package on mobile
telephones and pagers to volunteers as part of a promotion by which large
corporations pay tribute to volunteers
* Organizing a charity dinner or an auction of donated items to raise funds
* Having the private sector finance the making of a film documentary or
reportage on IVD or on volunteer projects
* A women's association donating vitamins, food, clothes to widows and
orphans
* Pharmaceutical companies or pharmacies donating basic medicines
2: Supporting Volunteerism
Recognition
* Presenting prizes, awards, certificates for volunteer and solidarity
actions
* Holding a "Recognition Ceremony" to award "volunteer service medals"
* The Head of State presiding over IVD celebrations
* High-ranking government official, presenting an award or certificate to
deserving voluntary service organizations in the country
* Celebrating with a "Volunteer Ball" to mark the achievements of volunteers
* Presenting a book or report on the history of volunteer work in the
country
* NGOs and volunteers using IVD to "re-dedicate" themselves
* Announcing and recognizing the "Volunteer of the Year", honouring the "NGO
of the Year"
* Making and advertising a list of all the services which would not exist if
it were not for volunteers
Facilitation - Recruitment
* Establishing a national centre or foundation to promote volunteering
* Holding a volunteers recruitment rally, ideally supported by the media
* Setting up an information phone line on the range of national volunteer
activity and the opportunities to participate
* Inaugurating a service or training camp for volunteers
* Holding workshops on volunteer service or skills transfer
* Launching of a national directory of volunteer organizations
* Conducting a "time-donation" campaign by which people pledge hours of
voluntary service to specific projects
* Tying decorative tags on prominent Christmas or other trees to publicize
the number of hours given to volunteering by members of the community
Facilitation - Government Support
* Announcing legislation designed to facilitate volunteering
* Providing messages of support from high-ranking officials
* Designating a national focal point for cooperation between NGOs and
Government
* Signing framework agreements between state structures and volunteer
associations
* Postal authorities arranging to postmark letters with a special
cancellation marking the celebration of volunteerism
* Postal authorities issuing commemorative stamps to mark IVD
* Government bringing together community leaders of different religious,
ethnic or interest groups to exchange experience and ideas
* High-ranking Government officials receiving a "courtesy call" from
directors and representative groups of domestic and foreign volunteer
organizsations
* Ministries donating materials, or funds for purchasing materials, to be
used in volunteer projects and activities
* Including special volunteer-related articles in Ministry newsletters
* Government-supported "refresher courses" for volunteers in necessary
skills
* A Government Minister posting seasonal greetings cards to national
volunteers serving abroad, as a gesture of recognition covered by the media
* Setting land aside where each tree planted will represent a new volunteer
Networking and Exchanging Experience
* Holding a conference or symposium on volunteering with the presence of
NGOs, volunteers, Government representatives and interested individuals
* Inviting volunteers, NGO representatives, researchers and others from
neighbouring countries to come and share their experiences.
* Holding a round-table discussion
* Organizing informal, community-wide presentations and lectures by
volunteers on their experiences
* Telephone and video link-ups between volunteers in different sites
* Coordinating a region- or continent-wide celebration of IVD through
telephone and video link-ups.
Promotion
* Broadcasting live or taped interviews with volunteers on radio or TV
* Including features on volunteers in the TV News on IVD
* Broadcasting a radio or TV programme: "A Day in the Life of a Volunteer"
* Live broadcasts on volunteer-related events, courtesy of local radio and
television stations
* Screening/ broadcasting clips/films/documentaries on volunteers
* Children interviewing volunteers on the radio
* Broadcasting a panel discussion on the role of volunteering in national
society
* Newspapers sponsoring volunteer events through free advertisements
* Newspapers publishing articles or supplements featuring volunteer service
* Producing a trainer video on volunteering
* Producing a song or jingle to promote volunteer work
* Having a prominent designer design a uniform for volunteers
* Prominent figures volunteering publicly
* Prominent figures broadcasting public service announcements on
volunteering
* Holding press conferences
* Including features about volunteerism in journals and newsletters of
bodies such as sports authorities, the Scouts and Guides, Youth Hostel
Association, and in publications by state ministries
* Taking journalists "on tour" to development projects
* Placing posters and banners in streets, schools and universities or
airports
* Raising a road-side notice board on IVD/ volunteer work
* UN and Government Information Centres facilitating press releases on the
days leading up to IVD
* Organizing a contest on "the best volunteer project"
* Organizing a contest on composing a volunteer anthem
Information
* Holding exhibitions in libraries, cultural and community centres or
universities on volunteer work
* Holding well-publicized information sessions on volunteer service
* NGOs having "open days" or having an "NGO week" at the university
* Organizing a photo exhibit documenting volunteer action
Engaging Tomorrow's Volunteers: Children and
Youth
* Running a school essay contest on volunteerism or on the topic: "What can
I do to make my village, my neighbourhood a better place?"
* Children painting their "vision for a better world" and designing posters
* Organizing a contest of stories from children to promote ideas of
volunteerism
3: Celebrating Voluntary Service
Culture and Recreation
* Organizing sporting events and games (tug-o-war, badminton)
* Celebrating local folklore, music, dancing and cuisine
* Organizing an exhibition of art done by volunteers
* Providing popular theatre performances, musical entertainment, choir
concert
* Providing a literature programme (reciting poetry, reading short stories
accompanied by a slide presentation)
* Mounting poster, crafts and art competitions
* Street parades and marches
* "A Walk for Peace", maybe involving fund-raising by sponsorship per
kilometer
* Organizing games with children
* Forming an "International Link of Friendship" (a gesture of joining palm
to palm with hands held high)
* Small children parading in a "V" formation and posing for a commemorative
photo against a representative local backdrop
* Participating in a "marathon run"
* Holding special religious services to honour community-level volunteering
and encourage more
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