The impact of volunteering on nation building promises to be significant, if the movement can be harnessed and effectively linked to the development areas that need augmentation.

Deepak works for a corporate in Bangalore. Football was a passion from his childhood. One day, he got personally involved in Dream-A-Dream’s football initiative to see what one session was like. “From the expectations perspective, as much as my initial euphoria with such an initiative existing was the pessimism that it might not be structured, scalable or sustainable. My preconceptions were erased the moment I set foot on the ground – to cite an example, I did not even take my football boots for the first session thinking that no one would even be serious enough to wear them and play. Lo and behold! As I arrived at the ground, I see a swarm of kids in bright orange kits, putting on their football studs and getting ready for warm up! I noticed the coach barking instructions, ensuring discipline and putting them through drills worthy of a serious training session! The enthusiasm of the children, the coach’s interest levels and the presence of a couple of volunteers made me recognize that this is capable of delivering a significant impact on the lives of the kids learning, be it life skills or just football."

The Need for Volunteering

Over 60% of India’s population is under 35 years of age. Add this to the statistic that India is home to a quarter of the world’s poor people. Volunteering can be one of the primary movements to bring about equity.

Opportunities for volunteering have always existed in our society, with people educating their domestic helpers, assisting with chores at the temple and helping out relatives/friends of friends in dire straits. What is different these days is that a more formal and structured kind of volunteering is becoming popular. People are enthusiastically giving their time to help people they might otherwise not meet in the normal course of their lives. Their reasons for this kind of outreach are varied, ranging from a need to give back to society to meeting an educational requirement for a student.

The main parties in this equation are the volunteer, the organization they assist, the beneficiary community and increasingly, the coordinators who put the volunteers in touch with deserving organizations. So what drives an individual to volunteer for a cause? Here’s an attempt to investigate this question and capture the different stakeholder perspectives.

From the Volunteers' point of view

“I came to Bangalore 6 years ago and happened to see an email on book distribution. I might have stuck to cheque book charity, had I not personally interacted with the children and enjoyed it so thoroughly. Since then, I have volunteered there whenever time permitted”, says Mayank Rungta. Active interaction with the ultimate beneficiaries is a factor that has inspired many volunteers and kept them interested enough to give time.

The need to make a difference to a larger circle of influence has driven several others. “Earlier, I sometimes got the impression that however much effort you put into changing peoples’ lives, it is never enough, because there is so much to be done. After 3 ½ months of working with kids here in India, I feel that even though we might not be able to change the world today, there is a lot you can do for one individual person”, writes Kathi Kitzinger, an international volunteer from Austria.

“At a low point of my life, volunteering with children with different abilities really put a smile on my face”, says one volunteer. Many volunteers insisted that volunteering was a very 'selfish' thing for them – something they did because they got back much more than they felt they contributed.

Sustaining a passion that is separate from one’s work or personal life is another major reason for people to volunteer. “I’ve been a huge football enthusiast from my early days and was desperately looking for an opportunity to support my keen interest in using sport as a medium of learning/ teaching” says Deepak, a committed volunteer with Dream-A-Dream’s football program.

From the NGO’s point of view

One school of thought is that the volunteer represents society at large and is an integral factor in bringing about change in society. It is an experiential school to break set ideas and assumptions that have been passed down without much questioning.

“For us, the volunteer is a way of making a difference in society”, says Kalpana Purushothaman, Program Manager at Dream-A -Dream, an NGO that works on developing life skills in children through active volunteering. “We believe that we can make society more accepting of children from vulnerable backgrounds by helping volunteers interact with the children in our programs. At the end of the day, these volunteers could be supportive colleagues when our children graduate out of our programs and go out into the mainstream workforce.”

Another school of thought is that the strapped resources of social sector organizations can be augmented by committed volunteers. NGOs need varied skills to help in their operations. They also have flexible time requirements, for e.g. a volunteer could assist with designing/hosting/maintaining a website. They also help the volunteer develop new skills. A design student could use his/her volunteering experience to build up a portfolio. Projects like these have helped launch second careers for homemakers.

iVolunteer is an initiative of MITRA, intended to be a platform to connect the volunteer to the organization needing assistance. Their footprint is around 10,000 volunteers, who work with 300 NGOs in 11 Indian states and 25 countries. The organizations that list with iVolunteer have a clear need, be it directly benefiting the people they assist or building capacity for the organization itself.

What can an NGO do to attract and retain volunteers?

Prarthana, head, iVolunteer Centres, puts down the following:

- Structure programs in such a way that parts can be taken up efficiently and effectively by different people
- Specify expectations clearly to both volunteers and beneficiary communities

- Conduct induction programs and regular feedback sessions to incorporate the volunteers’ experiences for a sustainable volunteering movement
- Treat the volunteer professionally and with respect, e.g. give good directions, begin events on time, give attention to the details and the person
- Distribute the work between enough people so as not to burden active and committed volunteers
- Work to give the volunteer diverse tasks/involve them in several programs to keep interest levels high
- Get experienced volunteers to communicate to other volunteers beginning the volunteering journey, e.g. initiatives like 'Volunteer of the Month' are useful
- Treat the volunteer as a valuable resource
- Have a ‘volunteer path’ that gradually increases the level of intensity and at a pace set by the volunteer, e.g terminally ill patients can be a very difficult experience as a first session for a volunteer.
- Link new volunteers with experienced volunteers who inspire, mentor and act as beneficial role models to the beginner volunteer
- Ensure that volunteers are doing tasks that they are passionate about, e.g. someone who likes to work with senior citizens is more likely to continue on if the attempt has been made to link the person to the audience of their interest

The volunteering movement is picking up speed in India. “In 2008, we placed 2000 volunteers in India and 120 volunteers overseas”, says Prarthana with pride. “We believe that volunteering is a principal way to address India’s social developmental needs. One of my recent ‘wow’ moments was organizing an event where hearing impaired students volunteered at an old age home. Events like this are proof that volunteering can be the dent that takes our society forward.”