Volunteering For Sustainable Development: The Importance Of Volunteerism In Northside

The Importance of Volunteerism in Sustainable Development

Discuss about the Community Engagement Support for Millennial.

As this year ends, the goals of sustainable development for Northside are getting more established. According to the statutes of the organization, the volunteers are required to be in a position of shaping their volunteerism roles. Such is to ensure that the organization achieves its ultimate goal of creating a world that is better to live in. Northside, spearhead by its volunteers, happens to be working on achieving the Millennial Development Goal aspects for more than a couple of years now. The organization has, therefore, demonstrated the importance of the participation of individuals and the administration to ensure that sustainable changes within the society are attained. In this case, the required volunteers will engage in helping the elderly in different levels and circumstances (Bercovici 2017). The DARTS Program, as a new development framework, should be able to ensure that the organization achieves sustainability. However, the aspect of volunteerism should ensure that each and every elderly person is served equally. The program adopts a rights-based and an equality-focused approach in each and every level of operation. Such is intended to be underpinned by a strong framework for accountability (Dictus 2017).

According to the requirements of the DARTS Program, volunteerism should be a renewable resource which would ensure that the goals for sustainable development are achieved across the entire segment of operation. Regardless of achieving specific goals like those associated with gender, health, sustainable consumption, education or environmental protection, the entire program is supposed to cut across the engagement of individuals to help them counter the problems they face (Dictus 2017). Volunteerism, therefore, plays a crucial role in this framework in several ways. Such ways include:

1. Complementing basic services to the elderly individuals whenever they lack such services or they need such services.
2. Mobilizing every aspect of development as well as instilling a sense of awareness and ownership. According to the DARTS Program the volunteers help in addressing and managing challenges faced by the elderly people.
3. Enhancing the efforts of development and peace effectiveness via participatory forms like accountability and monitoring.
4. Trust building and bridging of social capital. Such is attained through working together with the old to achieve a common organizational goal, ensure that barriers are overcome and recreate solidarities in diverse and urban societies
5. Building preparedness and resilience via community actions that are concrete, enhancing responsibility and knowledge for the old.
6. Ensuring that the elderly develop special skills in different areas through volunteers. Through skills of employability such experiences and knowledge are attained.

It is worth noting that volunteerism, though an old approach is a new concept adopted by Northside. However, it will depend on the participation of individuals. In our case, ensuring that volunteer engagement is strengthened would mean that the delivery goal for sustainable development as well as volunteer mobilization would be achieved. Through the facilitation of opportunities brought about by volunteerism, Northside has a great opportunity of achieving an agenda for true societal transformational (Dictus 2017). On the contrary, as much as volunteers provide their skills and work diligently, volunteerism requires an investment so that individuals would be able to transmit their contribution. Such can also result to meaningful opportunities of engagement associated with broad efforts of development. One study performed in Australia demonstrates that volunteer contributions are absolutely underestimated. Due to such, the return on investment is valued at 4:1. Each invested dollar translates to a financial value of $4. The contributions of volunteer are, in this case, equated to the cost of replacement and the provided service instead of the overall effect’s value (Bercovici 2017).

The Role of Volunteerism in Achieving the Millennial Development Goal Aspects

The importance and potentiality of volunteerism has received widespread acceptance in policy making areas. Aspects like improved conditions of health as well as prolonged longevity of older individuals have resulted to increased demands for care (Tang, Choi, and Morrow-Howell 2017). Due to such, volunteerism is an option that would ensure that such individuals that are old are kept in productive engagements. There are several sources of literature that states the benefits of volunteering to help the elderly. Such include maintenance of good health. Good health includes better mental health, proper physical functioning, good self-rated health and mortality being delayed. On the contrary, there are few mechanisms listed through which insight on how volunteerism profits the general health of the participants and the patients. However, there are listed ways through which organizations, through the provision of support, are able to promote the benefits of volunteerism. Such benefits can accrue patients’ benefits such as socio-emotional control. Levels of socio-emotional control include sociability, satisfaction, and self-validation. Other benefits, however, include mental and physical well-being. All the mentioned positive effects are associated with a sense of accomplishment for the elderly as well as purpose by volunteering. The accrued benefits of volunteerism are all based on theoretical models of with regards to the perspectives of Northside. One important model is the selectivity socio-emotional theory. According to several research activities on the subject matter, the theoretical model examines if organizational support associates with increased commitments on socio-emotional benefits and volunteerism. It also tests whether the benefits of socio-emotions are associated with physical and mental health among the elderly individuals (Tang, Choi, and Morrow-Howell 2017).

Time is a vital factor. The management of the program should ensure that the volunteers’ time is well managed. Such time should be put in proper use as well. Each and every aspect of donation that the volunteers provide to the organization should be valued. On the same note, there are certain aspects of volunteer management that need to be incorporated in the program. One such aspect is the use of text message to facilitate communication between the volunteers and the program’s management body (Balbach 2017). Such would quicken the communication and increase confidence. Most organizations have a problem of keeping volunteers. In this case, to ensure that the recruited volunteers are kept happy and satisfied, Northside must ensure that it keeps its volunteers feeling appreciated. The organization must also ensure that its volunteers have a voice within the organization. However, since there might be so many participants turning up, meeting the expectations of each would at times prove hectic (Bercovici 2017). To ensure that such problems are alleviated, the organization needs to leverage technology so as to have volunteers engaged and turnover reduced. The management of the project should also ensure that it takes time to listen whatever volunteers have in mind. By doing so, it is easy to learn things that might motivate them. Such volunteers should also be trained. Another important note to the management is to ensure that it personalizes the interaction of the volunteer so as to create loyalty during participations (Balbach 2017).

Volunteerism as a Renewable Resource for Achieving Sustainable Development

One factor that influences volunteer engagement is culture. Understanding the cultural dynamics of the volunteers is very vital in building good employee rela). As mentioned before, privileges that volunteers should enjoy should be proportional to their personal contributions.

tionships. Such will also help in ensuring that trust, respect and collaboration is built within the organization. It is important to note that communities aren’t built as homogeneous entities (Assignment Centre 2017). They are constituted by diverse groups. Such groups are made of different social structures, histories, cultural understandings and value systems. It is, therefore, worth noting that establishing the said DARTS project would require the management of the organization to be able to bridge cultural boundaries. Such is because every volunteer comes with his or her cultural identity. The dynamics and complexity of the cultural aspects of the volunteers should be identified. Note that cultural competence is not just about being able to identify the manner in which group of people differ but also includes the norms or standards of behavior. Since this approach is meaning-centered, it has the potential of revealing the manner in which community conditions get determined by economic, social, or political forces instead of personal choices (Atsdr 2017).

In order to ensure that the organization achieves successful operational collaboration with the community, it needs to ensure that every person involved strive to help in success achievement. As mentioned before, the only key that would lead to the development of the required understanding is recognition of each and every volunteer’s culture as well as how such cultures shape their beliefs. In our case, this community-engaged program will involve the elite few; mostly those from health institutions or universities and have been able to work in areas with “low income” or have been “at risks” such is because they are well acquainted with hardships (Assignment Centre 2017). All in all, the volunteers should acknowledge background diversity, culture, experience, education, income and also able to examine the manner in which inequalities are examined in the society (Atsdr 2017).

One important factor, in this case, is capacity building. In our case, capacity building to improve the conditions of the elderly involves development of resources, sustainable skills, and organizational structures within the community of Northside. Establishing capacity building would ensure that the efforts of engagement of volunteers are effective, equitable, and sustainable. Each and every stakeholder should therefore be ready to lead and collaborate. Building capacity is also about leadership skills, fostering shared knowledge, and representing the interests of the elderly. Such is due to the fact that capacity building is rooted in political, social, and economic environment of the organization. Such can, therefore, not be conducted unless the environment is understood (Assignment Centre 2017).

Benefits of Volunteerism to the Elderly

Another important factor is coalition building. Engaging the community in any given activity involves coalition building. There are several goals associated with the building of coalitions. Such goals include resource and information sharing and advocating for changes of specific policies. Creation of coalitions is motivated by the fact that they are able to accomplish individuals can’t accomplish alone. Power and benefits distribution between coalition members should be a concern for each and every stakeholder (Bercovici 2017). The benefits received by the volunteers should, as well be proportional to their personal contributions. There are several ways through which coalitions can help processes of engagement. Such include the maximization of influences of volunteers and the entire organization, creation of collective resources, and reducing effort duplication. Coalition effectiveness can be evaluated in two bases. Such include the manner in which all the stakeholders collaborate as well as the types of community-level changes (Assignment Centre 2017).

There are three engagement strategies that would be employed in this case. Such strategies include:

1. Community investment
2. Community involvement
3. Community integration
4. Choice of engagement strategies: – After the identification of the stakeholders from the community, important aspects should be prioritized. It is also vital to determine if the organization would focus on integration or involvement. The organization also needs to clarify whatever stakeholders they need to achieve the organization goals (Nbs 2017).
5. Planning processes of engagement and suitable techniques: – whenever stakeholders require information on how to dispel forms of confusion, techniques of plan “investment” like ads and flyers. In this case, we are talking about volunteers. Therefore, whenever volunteers feel like the organization doesn’t want to listen to their concerns, they are in a position of launching “involvement” activities to have their issues squared. Such include public meetings and surveys. In case the community needs to get closely involved (Nbs 2017).

• Cementing community engagements: – It should be noted that a one-off initiative does not coax engagement unless one learns from experience sharing.

Employing a systematic approach towards ensuring that stakeholder is engaged would ensure that the organization reap benefits. There is also a growing expectation that the organization need to engage community in its operations. Such systematic approaches are likely to bring genuine benefits to the organization (PNMSOFT 2017). It is again worth mentioning that the privileges that volunteers enjoy should be proportional to their personal contributions

Reference 

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