Volunteer: A Demanding Term, but So Easy to Do Well!

Volunteering?

No, I'm not going to work for free!

Yes, it's good for the CV?

No, I don't have time for that!

Yes, they even offer snacks?

It's nothing to me, it's the State's responsibility!

Yes, I'm a good person?

I won't do what others don't want!

Yes, just so they don't say I don't do anything?

No need to go, there are already so many volunteers!

We all have an excuse? Or a reason. As deep as a drop of water.

A base of volunteering is the WILL to participate in some project that, in the end, helps to improve a situation.

To act as a volunteer is to take a proactive stance, without the intention of retribution and to strive to improve the quality of life of society .

Volunteer work is when a person is ready to do something for free< /strong> in favor of a cause, mobilizing energy, resources and skills for actions of collective interest. It can be a matter of a few hours or full dedication for a while. It could be at the end of the street, in the next city or on the other side of the world. There is no shortage of causes and opportunities!

But don't be fooled if you think that volunteering is a simple thing, it is simple to do well do it, but it is so important that there is even legislation:Law nº 71/98, of November 3. And with rights and duties, of course.

Portuguese law defines volunteering as the set of actions of social and community interest, carried out disinterestedly by people, within the scope of projects, programs and other forms of intervention at the service of individuals, families and the community, developed on a non-profit basis by public or private entities.

A volunteer is someone who freely, disinterestedly and responsibly commits themselves, according to their skills and time free, to carry out volunteering actions within the scope of a promoting organization.

Unfortunately, according to Eurobarometer and the European Value Study, Portugal is among the European Union countries where participation in volunteering activities is lowest.

The last one Volunteer Work SurveyNational Institute of Statistics< span style="font-weight: 400;">reveals thatonly1 in 10 Portuguese volunteers, which represents a volunteering rate of 11.5%. Numbers lower than the European average of 24%.

These data could only demonstrate that the Portuguese have less time to dedicate to others, less desire to dedicate themselves to a cause or less patience to work without return, but the truth is that volunteering generates quantifiable economic value and that is important! Just because a job is not paid does not mean it does not generate value.< /p>

Increasingly, governments and civil society recognize the relevance of volunteering as a dynamic sector of society, whose activity complements professional activities, both public and private.

The case of Portuguese Private Social Solidarity Institutions is a good example! The numbers point to around 56 thousand workers and 25 thousand volunteers who support 480 thousand people daily. There are jobs and voluntary work that complement each other in order to provide the best service and support possible, as paid work or voluntary work alone would not work.

There is no statistical evidence that establishes a cause-effect relationship between volunteering and unemployment, nor cause-effect between volunteering and employment, but it is possible to verify that in the European Union the countries with the highest volunteering rates tend to be those with the lowest unemployment rates?

For the good, volunteering is in everyone's plans more and more people. Do you want to volunteer? You can go to your home or the nearest hospital. You will certainly also find opportunities with your academic association or federation. Most social organizations offer volunteering projects and with a quick search you can reach them, but here are some suggestions.

? Don't know where to start?

VOLUNTEER SCHOLARSHIP: volunteer classifieds, a website where candidates who want to ?give time for a cause?, specialist volunteers or organizations that need volunteers can register;

YOUTH PORTAL: promoted by the Portuguese Youth Institute (IPJ), brings together short and long-term projects (the search can even be done on the days of the week in available) across all districts and in various intervention areas;

DO SOMETHING: online platform created to motivate young people for causes, after deciding on the cause, projects are presented to choose from, if none are completely to your liking, there is no shortage of tips for creating your own project or initiative .

? Do you want something full-time?

HUMANITARIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS: the oldest example of Portugal is a fundamental pillar of the ?Life for Life? exercise;

NATIONAL LISTENING BODY AND PORTUGAL SCOUTS ASSOCIATION: seeking to leave the world better than found it, they represent the largest Portuguese movement of volunteers (and with more members too!);

TRANSFORMERS MOVEMENT:believing that we all have a ?super power?, this is a way to make your talent available on the other, that is, creating ?a school? where you teach something you know how to do.

? Short on time?

MISSÃO PAÍS: ideal for university students with a ?lack of time?, ideally organized by faculties, it is a week between the 1st and 2nd semester in a Portuguese village where you put yourself completely at work, this is, helping with any task that is necessary;

RECADOS & COMPANY: to promote intergenerational relationships, IPJ created a volunteer network whose objective is to mobilize young people aged 16 to 30 to provide company or run errands for elderly people who are unable to do so themselves;

JUST A CHANGE: with two modalities in the project, Camp In or Keep Up, here it is about rehabilitating houses (and, consequently, rebuild lives) in a period of 7 to 12 days and experience is not a problem, everything is learned.

? What would you really like about an international project?

EUROPEAN VOLUNTARY SERVICE and EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY BODY: spread across the 27 Member States and a few other locations, there are 4000 volunteering projects (which can last up to 12 months) in the database of European Commission whose young people aged between 18 and 30 can apply;

WHERE TO?: once just a platform, now an association that promotes training and intervention projects in Portugal and brings together several international projects, training its volunteers and accompanying them;

MAIS VALIA: created by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, this volunteering project is not for young people, it is aimed at people over 55 who can spend 2 months in one of the PALOP.

(For international projects you can contact directly with organizations with which you see back to or which support causes you identify with, such as AIESEC, LAYERS FOR DEVELOPMENT, REFUGEES SUPPORT PLATFORM or DOCTORS OF THE WORLD.)

The role of volunteering is not to ?fill holes?! A participating and responsible society does not fail to demand from the Government what only it can do, but it is also capable of acting for itself.

It is necessary to counter this trend of a society with individualistic foundations, tied to the ideology of consumption and ?having?. The greatness of volunteer work lies mainly there, in not relying on any of these ideas, in taking a step forward towards building a different world, more humane in an era of technology.

Being a volunteer is having an ideal for welldoing and for doing what < i>well donedone, which is based on the idea that what each person does well can do goodto someone else, always bearing in mind equality and pluralism as a means for exercising active and conscious citizenship.

Think social, change the rules!

Rafaela de Melo

Sources: We help, E-konomista,Linatae, Linkedin, Our Cause,Observer , Public