Volunteering From the Comfort of Home
By LINDSEY E. OECHSLE
In Kolkata or Connecticut, the United Nations Volunteer program allows you to serve from home.
If you have a computer, an Internet connection and skills, you can volunteer in any one of around 130 countries without leaving home.
To register for an online volunteering opportunity run by the U.N. Volunteers program, you simply provide background information about yourself before gaining login information for an account that allows you to search the world for volunteer opportunities. Opportunities through the United Nations Volunteers online volunteering service are available for you to work from your computer, where you are.
A search for a volunteer opportunity in English involving writing and editing and devoting one to five hours per week offers 51 volunteer opportunities, from Germany to Ghana. French and Spanish volunteer opportunities are also available.
Online volunteers completed 14,313 assignments in 2009, doubling the previous year’s record.
Every year, more than 9,000 online volunteers help nonprofits through the Online Volunteering service, which is entering its 10th year. They come from nearly 160 countries and work for 20 different U.N. organizations.
Nongovernmental organizations, governments and U.N. agencies recognize the benefit of this virtual Peace Corps-type of work force and regularly utilize it. Some 1,347 nonprofits are registered with the service.
Online volunteers provide more than valuable expertise. As the reach of the Internet continues to expand, they come from an increasingly varied number of locations, and their diverse cultural backgrounds mean projects gain from fresh perspectives.
Some online volunteers have helped develop the very nonprofits that organize projects—training staff, teaching new skills or providing advice. And many volunteers, after completing their online commitments, share information about projects with their friends and colleagues, thereby mobilizing additional support.
In an International Volunteer Day statement in December 2010, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the strong growth of online volunteering, which he said, “connects people around the globe…and provides them with opportunities to contribute to development and the work of the United Nations. Online volunteering has great potential, and I encourage all partners to explore what more can be done to harness the power of the Internet in this way.”
The leaders of U.N. entities stress that volunteerism offers youths the opportunity to improve their own communities as well as those across the world. Young generations can be a bridge between cultures and can serve as key agents in promoting peace and dialogue.
“Civic engagement is central to building cohesive communities, and to promoting young people’s integration into society. Greater efforts should thus be made to guarantee that young women and men have the opportunity to participate in these types of activities,” U.N. leaders said in a statement designating 2010 to 2011 as the International Year of Youth.
According to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, volunteers contribute $400 billion to the global economy every year. But their contribution is more than merely financial, says Flavia Pansieri, United Nations Volunteers executive coordinator. “Volunteerism contributes to promoting the inclusion of those who don’t participate. It contributes to social cohesion in situations where the link of trust between citizens and state has been broken by conflict.”
Testimonials provided by United Nations Volunteers from online volunteers report joyful, life-changing experiences, satisfaction in fulfilling civic duties and a sense of empowerment.
Lindsey E. Oechsle is a staff writer with America.gov.
