The recent launch of a National Volunteering Campaign (NVC) by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai is a significant step towards the establishment of a volunteer-based society in which citizens play a prominent role in making the society we live in a better place.
It certainly was inspiring to open major dailies of the country and read about this commendable initiative. There is no better way to implement the ambitious agenda introduced last year to commemorate and celebrate the 10th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteerism, initiated in 2001.
During previous anniversaries of the International Year of Volunteerism, several awareness programs, including a Volunteering Caravan and the first Course on volunteerism and social work were introduced and promoted across the country. The credit for this largely goes to the National Planning Commission and international and national volunteering promoting agencies, who with full support from the United Nation Volunteers, were actively engaged with such campaigns.
Further, the UN Global Report on Volunteerism was released on December 5, the International Day of Volunteerism, by the President of Nepal, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav.
These celebrations were a further reminder of the admirable volunteering heritage of this country. Boasting of an ancient and traditional form of community engagement, Nepal is in a unique position to showcase the best practices of citizen involvement that would enhance the social fabric of the nation and empower local communities.
While the campaign launched by the Prime Minister is timely, innovative and constructive, there are some concerns that need to be addressed in order to make this effort truly successful.
To begin with, the NVC has to be aligned and reconciled with other national programs, especially the ones being promoted by the National Development Volunteer Service (NDVS—the volunteering arm of the National Planning Commission.
The Commission had, just a few months back, formally presented the new NDVS volunteering recruitment campaign that aimed at mobilizing more than six hundred volunteers all around the country. In a positive and encouraging sign, these volunteers have been selected and NDVS is currently engaged in their training and capacity building.
Since it would take a considerable amount of time for the NVC to really gain ground and start its activities in different corners of the country, there is an opportunity to ensure organized mobilization of the NDVS volunteers in cooperation with other volunteers from the civil society. The NVC can then study this model and draw up a plan to coordinate with the existing structure.
If effective coordination mechanisms are not put in place, we may miss a great opportunity to turn the ambition of a volunteer-based society into reality.
We must remember that besides the ones already mentioned, there is a sizeable number of national and local organizations that are actively involved in promoting volunteerism at multiple levels. Unless we try to bridge the gap between different actors, we will end up with a messy, uncoordinated and repetitive structure that will benefit nobody. Also, we need to learn from the experiences of other community mobilization programs and adopt their best practices in implementing the NVC initiative instead of starting from scratch.
Fortunately, with an outstanding number of national and community based organizations active, Nepal can count on an impressive social capital—a clear manifestation of the people’s volunteering spirit.
Further, there are certain questions that need to be looked into in greater detail before embarking on this initiative. How will the NCV coordinate with local community led initiatives? Which mechanisms will need to be put in place in order to ensure that this central government initiative will strengthen rather than suppress already successful initiatives? How will the VDCs and district development offices ensure such coordination? How to implement the important idea of awarding best practices?
It is only through effective cooperation and truly inclusive engagement from grassroots to the national level that the campaign will be successful.
The best way to capitalize on the NCV is to forge a consensus for a National Volunteering Policy for the promotion and recognition of volunteering efforts. Ideally, a new law for promoting volunteerism should be enacted while ensuring a stronger, better equipped and strategically focused NDVS that will be allowed to play a renewed role within the National Planning Commission. In fact, some ground work in the direction of drafting a new policy has already been done by NDVS.
Only through effective cooperation and inclusive engagement from grassroots to national level can volunteering campaign be successful.
Only a strong volunteering agenda within the National Planning Commission can lay the ground for setting an effective “volunteering governance infrastructure” within the government that will allow for interaction and coordination with other line ministries like education, health and population, among other service delivery oriented agencies of the state.
The bottom line is that unless coordination and cooperation is ensured, the campaign will not be sustainable in the long run and despite all the good intentions, enthusiasm for volunteerism will wane.
It is also important that volunteerism should reach out to all the segments of the society, including the corporates. Companies and the corporate world as a whole should embrace volunteerism not simply as a philanthropic activity or as part of their corporate social responsibility but rather as an integrated approach towards motivating, retaining and energizing their employees, while engaging with their client base through community initiatives.
The message is that volunteerism is universal, with no bars. It has the potential to represent a new philanthropic model, something in tune with the concept of philanthropic engagement recently proposed by Rabindra Mishra. It is a new model because it does not involve the traditional concept of “giving” that is tangible and often based on financial requisites measured according to income capabilities. Volunteerism is about a different form of giving, based on what each of us can do with our time and skills. In this way, volunteerism incentivizes and recognizes a democratic, inclusive and accessible form of philanthropy.
While efforts towards a new policy and legal framework for a volunteer-based society should be stepped up with a medium/long term timeline, better coordination for the implementation of the NCV is something that can be done immediately. This campaign offers a great opportunity to embark on a new way of living and we need to pull out all stops in ensuring this goal is fully and effectively realized.
simogal2000@yahoo.ca
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