3: Mobilizing skills - United Nations Volunteers

South. About 53 per cent of the 9,427online volunteers who completedassignments in 2009 were women, andabout 200 online volunteers reporteddisabilities. The UNV Online Volunteeringservice leverages a wide range ofexpertise, and often builds lastingcapacity for grassroots organizations.In Pakistan, the Grace Association aimsto “empower and improve the quality oflife of marginalized and vulnerablecommunities in the least developed partsof the country” and grew to a stage whereit needed outside help. In response to theNGO’s call on the Online Volunteeringservice website, people from Pakistan itselfto Jordan and the United States of Americaformed a team of 10 online volunteers thatworked on developing grant proposalsand augmenting the Grace Association’scommunications and branding.Their contribution was critical inimproving the Grace Association’sservices, notes founder and volunteermanager Khadim Hussain, as they helpeddevelop projects, access Internet-basedresources and link with internationalorganizations and networks. Forexample, the team helped the GraceAssociation register with the Associationfor Education of Young Children in theUnited States of America. “Theeducational resources to which our staffsubsequently got access enabled us tostart an early learning class at the Gracepublic school,” Khadim says, “and with themoney raised through globalgiving.orgwe were able to purchase wheelchairs.”Laura Gamboa-Cavazos (Mexico) helpedthe Grace Association to research andcontact potential partner organizations.She also worked with Grace Associationstaff, developing their skills andknowledge in teaching young children.“Online volunteering has manyadvantages and rewards,” she says.“Most incredible is the chain of peopleKhadim Hussain is founder and director of the GraceAssociation in Islamabad, Pakistan, which hasbenefitted from the UNV Online Volunteering service.A team of 10 online volunteers supported the NGO bydeveloping grant proposals and enhancing itscommunications and branding. (Waqas Anees, 2010)who want to make a difference. I havetwo best friends who I met throughonline volunteering, and the sharing ofknowledge, information, education andculture has been enormous. Once youstart, you will never want to finish. Youkeep looking for other organizations tohelp.”Another 10 online volunteers, mostlyarchitects and engineers, assisted theNGO Ingénieurs sans frontières (EngineersWithout Borders) in Cameroon. Thesesupported the design of a KnowledgeCentre for Development, for example,researching potential partners andcreating the architectural plans for thebuilding. The Knowledge Centre aims tofoster the promotion of science andtechnology in African development.“Online volunteers played a crucial role inallowing us to better conceptualize theproject and to define our strategy,” saysEmilienne Lionelle Ngo-Samnick, whocoordinated the online volunteers. “Bysharing their skills, the online volunteersstrengthened the organizational andtechnical capacities of Engineers WithoutBorders and its staff.” Online volunteersalso created a modern website for theNGO, and provided online training and amanual so that the Engineers WithoutBorders staff could manage the websitewithout further support.In 2009, online volunteers undertook172 per cent more assignments than theprevious year, completing a total of14,313 assignments. About 6,500 ofthese were in education, includingdesigning and delivering free onlinecourses for refugees. Another 2,500assignments were related to the youthsector, such as the design of a youthaction guide to promote youthinvolvement in communitydevelopment, and 2,000 otherssupported the promotion of the MDGsand researched global developmentissues. About 92 per cent oforganizations rated their interactionswith online volunteers as ‘good’ or‘excellent’. The website received morethan half a million visits in 2009, almostdouble the figure for 2008.Sharing innovationin BrazilUNV supported the development ofa Portuguese-language volunteeringportal based in Brazil that hashelped promote the use of theOnline Volunteering service. Theinitiative, launched by the NGOInstituto Voluntários em Ação(Institute for Volunteer Action – IVA),strengthens the capacity of localnon-profit organizations to mobilizeand manage online volunteers, andpromotes volunteerism.Bruna Bruno, a national UNVvolunteer working with IVA,coordinated workshops to train thestaff of volunteer centres from fiveBrazilian states on the use of theportal and management of onlinevolunteers. She also designedmaterials for volunteer centres touse in replicating the training forpartner organizations in theirrespective states. The number ofNGOs registered on the serviceincreased following the training andvolunteer placement is also steadilyincreasing. More than 80 per cent ofthe organizations involved haveexpressed their satisfaction with theservices provided by the onlinevolunteers.Bruna has also used the portalherself to support an environmentalawareness-raising campaign run byUNEP. “Through IVA’s portal, I wasable to work with 297 onlinevolunteers on the production,translation and distribution of UNEPpromotional materials encouragingcivil society to assume responsibilityfor environmental preservation,”she says.MOBILIZING SKILLS | 37