Global Action Nepal, UN Volunteers Nepal and Restless Development Nepal were the co-organizers of the event.[break]
According to the organizers, 22 students had taken the course and 15 of them graduated.
The class was conducted every Sunday from 2-5 pm for four months. They distributed the certificates to the graduates during the program.
“The course was mainly focused on promoting the idea of volunteerism and civic service and this course has been given for the first time in Nepal,” said Simone Galimberti, senior program advisor, CCS Italia Nepal.
“We also tried to clarify the concepts of internship and volunteering as volunteering is always confused with employment and internship,” said Simone.
“We also talked about what other countries are doing to get more people involved in volunteering,” she said.
“The workshop was a platform for all the stakeholders to interact and the students and participants gave a lot of feedback to the stakeholders,” Simone informed.
“There aren’t many organizations for volunteer related activities,” said Bala Raju Nikku, director of Nepal School of Social Work.
“This workshop is organized to explore what the civil societies can do and what we can do to promote volunteerism,” he added.
Ms Amanda Jacobsen, cultural affairs officer of American Embassy Nepal, was the chief guest at the event. She presented on the importance of civic engagement in
the USA.
Christian Simmelkiaer, a representative from UNV Nepal, also gave a presentation on International Year of Volunteerism.
Nimesh Ghimire, secretary of internal affairs at Nepal Ko Yuwa, presented on the concept of Goreto, a youth empowerment project.
Jagannath Adhikari, director of Nepal Development Volunteer Service (NDVS) also gave a presentation on the role of NDVS in promoting a volunteerism society.
Representing the corporate sector, Bishal K Chalise, business development officer at Nepal SBI Bank Limited gave a presentation on Corporate Social Responsibility in Nepal.
The graduates of the course prepared a declaration which was also presented at the end of the workshop.
“The course basically focused on advocacy of volunteerism, volunteerism in Nepal, creating opportunities and advocacy on volunteer based society,” said Amrita Gurung, a student who took the course.
“We also discussed about what initiatives have been taken in Nepal and how we can contribute to promote volunteerism,” Amrita added.
“We also talked about the difference between internship and volunteering,” Amrita said.
“The classes also focused on the international scenario of volunteerism and how we can replicate them here in Nepal,” informed Amrita.
The Kathmandu Declaration of Promtion of Volunteerism identified the following areas in order to establish a volunteering based society: promotion, inclusion and accessibility, governance, quality and measurement, recognition and value of volunteerism experience.
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