- A unique means of accelerating the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development
Volunteerism is a unique means of accelerating the 2030 Agenda and no government can achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) goals without the active participation of its citizens.
The father of American psychology William James once said: “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”
Yes, volunteering as a mechanism for community participation certainly makes a positive difference to build on the foundation of cooperation, collaboration, and mutual accountability in meeting the challenges of sustainable development.
Volunteering strengthens civic engagement, social inclusion, cooperation, and ownership. Volunteers and voluntary efforts are essential to the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the goal of eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity.
With today’s ‘3 Cs’ – conflict, Covid, and climate crises – the need to bring humanity together to make this world a better place is more pressing than ever.
The ongoing economic crisis has also posed serious challenges to the economic and social wellbeing of the people of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s ‘Multidimensional Poverty Index 2019: National and Child Analysis’ shows that approximately 16% of people in Sri Lanka are multidimensionally poor and 51.3% of all people in estate areas are living in poverty [1].
National Policy on Volunteerism
The Government is committed to promoting socio economic and technological development that contributes towards the achievement of SDGs. To promote and guide the development of a strong volunteer sector in order to optimise volunteer contribution to Sri Lanka’s economic, social, and political development, the National Policy on Volunteerism in Sri Lanka has been formulated.
This policy, therefore, provides a framework through which Sri Lanka can inclusively engage volunteers to optimise their resources and opportunities for socioeconomic development and to supplement Government efforts in attaining planned goals under its Vision 2030.
This policy framework provides a basis for improving the mechanisms and infrastructure of volunteering, ensuring that volunteers incur only minimal costs in carrying out volunteering activities. It also aims to properly recognise and appreciate the services rendered by them.
With the economic hardship caused by the Covid-19 social distancing measures and the continuing economic challenges, Sri Lanka’s rank in the World Giving Index (WGI) has dropped from ninth in 2019 to 63rd in 2021 and increased to 40th in 2022.
However, until 2019, Sri Lanka ranked among the top 10 out of 140 countries in the WGI Index, which offers a unique glimpse of global trends in philanthropy. The WGI is an annual report published by the Charities Aid Foundation using data collected by Gallup asking people about their charitable giving in the past month.
VNET
Against this backdrop, the National Volunteering Network (VNET), a network of volunteers involving organisations and philanthropists, was launched in 2022 to play the role of a ‘facilitator’ in linking volunteer and support opportunities with VNET members.
Volunteering is not a new concept as helping each other, compassion, charity, etc. are rooted in Sri Lankan culture. But due to limited platforms for connecting voluntary demand and supply, rural areas have limited opportunities to get the support they need. Therefore, VNET has been created in such a way that it is easy to connect those who need voluntary support from every corner of the country.
Led by a steering committee comprising representatives from UN Volunteers Sri Lanka (UNV), the public sector, the corporate sector, NGOs, academia, and the youth sector, this initiative will support the strategic integration of volunteer engagement as well as the formalisation of various volunteer arrangements.
VNET was initiated by UNV and represents the State sector; the Sustainable Development Council of Sri Lanka has also been in the VNET steering committee since its inception. Volunteers who donate their time and skills through VNET will receive official acceptance and recognition for their work and can also report their contribution to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals through the VNET platform.
VNET members hope to provide a more inclusive and effective service to society by popularising this network and invite organisations to join hands with VNET. Organisations and philanthropists who donate their time and skills through VNET, aligned with SDGs, will receive official recognition and acceptance for their efforts.
Currently, 720,895 volunteers are connected with VNET through their organisations and Rs. 159 million has been extended to provide material support value covering all 17 SDGs.
Volunteerism and employability
The data published by the Department of Census and Statistics shows that the unemployment rate in the age group 20-24 has increased rapidly in the post-Covid period from 20.3% in 2019 to 26.8% in 2021. According to a study done by Niall O’Higgins [2], among those with lower secondary education or lower, organisation-based volunteering is associated with an increase in the probability of employment.
A study done by the Social Policy Research Unit of the University of York [3] has also found evidence to prove that volunteerism improves the chances of employability. Therefore, promoting and encouraging volunteerism among new entrances to the labour market will improve their labour market prospects by developing their soft skills to match market requirements and also adapt to the competitive working environment from the learning environment.
The point I wanted to emphasise is that volunteering not only contributes to community development but also to the personal and spiritual development of an individual. Therefore, we invite you to promote volunteerism as a means to create a sustainably developed society by harnessing the youth energy more effectively.
(The writer is Assistant Director of the Sustainable Development Council of Sri Lanka and a VNET Steering Committee Member)
References:
- United Nations Children’s Fund, (April 2023). Sri Lanka’s Multidimensional Poverty Index 2019 Results: National and Child Analyses
- O’Higgins, Niall (December 2020). Volunteer work and its links to the labour market experiences of young people. Analysis Unit Employment Policy Department, ILO
- Corden, A and Sainsbury, Roy (2005). Volunteering for Employment Skills – A Qualitative Research Study. Social Policy Research Unit University of York