What is national volunteering, and why support it?

National volunteering is simply people volunteering within their own country. International volunteer sending organisations increasingly agree that national volunteering is a powerful tool which reflects a more contemporary approach to volunteering. VSO believes that people working together out of community responsibility and shared commitment is a powerful force that can make a major contribution to reducing poverty and promoting development. As community participation and voluntary action can play a major role in strengthening civil society, VSO is particularly interested in supporting national volunteering as part of Participation and Governance programmes. 

VSO’s national volunteering work so far

Though VSO has supported National Volunteering informally for a number of years an official policy - as part of our current strategy Focus For Change - was not established until 2002. VSO does not run national volunteering programmes, but rather supports local organisations, sharing our own and partners expertise in volunteering to help them strengthen or expand their programmes. 

Work in support of National Volunteering has continued to grow and develop and is currently taking place in 12 countries (Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, India, Cambodia, The Philippines, Mongolia, China, Macedonia, Bosnia and the Balkans), and initial research, consultation and plans are being developed to start support for national volunteering in another 12 countries (Rwanda, Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Nigeria, Cameroon, PNG, Vanuatu, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Guyana.) 

Current Focus

There are four main focuses to VSO’s work in support of National Volunteering:

• Volunteer Placing Organisations (VPO’s)
  Support to set up or improve the effectiveness of volunteer programmes that place volunteers with other organizations.  
• Volunteer Involving Organisations (VIO’s)
  Support to help organizations develop systems to more effectively manage and maximize the potential of volunteering to contribute to the objectives they are trying to achieve, particularly as a way of engaging and enabling people to contribute to the development of their own communities. 
• Organisational Development
  Support to strengthen the organisational capacity of Volunteer Placing and Volunteer Involving Organisations in order to ensure they work effectively with volunteers. 
• Create an enabling environment
  Support for the development of a legal framework; Support to build platforms and infrastructure to enable people to volunteer and work to raise awareness and the profile, status of volunteering.