International Volunteer Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1985 to raise awareness among society and governments about the important contribution of volunteers who altruistically and in solidarity offer their time and knowledge to help others and build a more just and equitable society. Therefore, today we want to share with you this reflection on what volunteering can mean and how it enriches our lives.
Volunteer experiences:
When Gaby first decided to dedicate a summer of her life to an international volunteer experience, she knew what awaited her would be unforgettable. The mere fact of being able to escape the "privilege" of having been born in a "developed" country and come face-to-face with realities she'd seen on TV or in books was an opportunity she couldn't pass up. The effort to make her dream of traveling a reality, and to do so in a difficult way, was a challenge that, at 22 years old, she had to face if she truly dreamed of a different world.
Pere had just finished his degree, and since the age of 16, he had been involved with a neighborhood association as a coach and with his school in social work camps in a marginalized area of Zaragoza. During his university years, he spent the summers he could learning about cooperation projects with the NGO associated with his school. The time had come to take a step further and dedicate a year of his life, before trying to integrate into the workforce, to consider his future through a more sustained commitment. Deep down, he knew that, although he had told his parents he was going away for a year, the door to extending his stay in a community in the Peruvian Amazon was wide open.
For four years now, Fernando had been spending his vacations traveling to Africa with various NGOs linked to the health sector. During that time, he and several like-minded physicians had formed a team that increasingly demanded a stronger project to contribute their professional expertise to health promotion.
âNothing is ever the same againâ
For Gaby, Pere, and Fernando, nothing was ever the same after the experiences they decided to undergo at a certain point in their lives, which changed their course. The change in their outlook and understanding of the world they gained was probably not among their expectations. Nor was the sense of commitment they acquired, not only to those realities that had shaped their hearts for life, but also to other aspects of injustice and inequality closer to home.
We would dare to say that Pere, Gaby and Fernando, as well as the thousands of people who each year experience international volunteering, experience the ethical requirement of living, upon their return, with another lifestyle and with a collective sense which leads them to participate socially as global citizens in a different way.
The law is not up to parâŠ
However, the recently approved legal framework for volunteering falls far short of the sense of solidarity, fraternal cooperation, and justice that underpin the experiences we have been discussing. The long-awaited Volunteer Law, with its draft regulations, recognizes the category of International Volunteering but without linking it to international cooperation. In this way, international volunteers are left without an administration that guarantees their rights and wastes the opportunity to assimilate their status with that recognized in the Cooperator's Statute. This places on the shoulders of the organizations that promote volunteering, mostly small or medium-sized, the obligation to guarantee, for example, healthcare coverage without any kind of aid and without a framework that promotes concrete measures to foster international volunteering. We regret having to look with envy at the treatment that state development agencies give to organizations that promote volunteering in countries such as Japan, Germany, Great Britain, or the United States. In Spain today, no one would be liable for an accident suffered by our protagonists in their destination country; any health insurance they might have would have no different terms than those of any other traveler; nor would there be any social security considerations for long-term volunteers for unemployment or pension purposes. Only the heroic efforts of the organizations that promote international volunteer programs can alleviate these conditions in some way.
On this International Volunteer Day, we must ask ourselves how the rights of international volunteers are being promoted and protected, and we denounce the difficulties that jeopardize the continued sharing of so many stories, faces, and moments, which are ultimately visible gestures of global solidarity, the most human side of this interconnected world.
First meeting of the International Volunteer Group of the Coordinator of NGOs for Development:
On November 21st, the International Volunteer Group of the NGO COORDINATOR FOR DEVELOPMENT held its first meeting of the current year at the MĂ©dicos del Mundo Spain Headquarters. Its work from past years is being resumed with the commitment of all its member entities to raise awareness and strengthen this field of solidarity action, given the relevance and impact it generates in the various projects developed in the areas of Cooperation, Education, and emergency and disaster situations.
In this first contact, various entities such as Red Cross, Entreculturas, Networks, Oxfam IntermĂłn, Caritas, Juan Ciudad ONGD, Solidarity Workshop, Alliance for Solidarity, Doctors of the World and the Coordinator itself, thus taking a further step in the work of recognizing this important sector.
Likewise, the number of collaborating organizations will increase in upcoming meetings, which will focus on monitoring various legal and legislative documents, as well as other documents of more strategic significance and content.
In 2016, Juan Ciudad NGO collaborated with 76 volunteers, 52 of whom participated in international volunteering, traveling to San Juan de Dios centers and hospitals in Africa and Latin America, where they supported the social and healthcare work of the Hospitaller Order.
Joint statement from the Coordinator of NGOs in Spain and the Network of Entities for Solidarity Development (REDES):
Next, on the occasion of International Volunteer Day on December 5, we consider the legal recognition that comes with its inclusion in the Volunteer Law and the draft Regulations, as well as the recognition of the rights of international volunteers and the contribution made to International Cooperation by organizations that promote this modality.
However, the following statement raises some critical issues such as: the responsibility of public administrations or demand an appropriate institutional and legal framework that guarantees the rights and duties of international volunteers, among other aspects.
We provide you with the link for more information about this statement by clicking here.
Source: REDES/CONGDE/JCONGD
