Volunteers: Our not-so-secret weapon in creating resilient communities

At VSO, we’ve seen time and again that when a crisis hits, volunteers are first on the scene. In Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown, volunteers provided clean water, soap and hygiene information to people whose homes were destroyed by a deadly mudslide and flooding in August 2017.  The same year, VSO volunteers in Nepal leaped into action in response to floods. They coordinated the initial delivery of aid, supported health camps for senior citizens and promoted hygiene in schools. 

Volunteers are well placed to respond to crises, but prevention is better than cure. VSO volunteers help communities become resilient against the threat of potential shocks and stresses.

In the cases of Sierra Leone and Nepal, community volunteers are preparing communities for future catastrophes by mapping out potential hazards, and educating people about early warning signs that another disaster is about to strike.  

In Pakistan, volunteers have trained community members from one minority group, the Hazaras, a group that is often the target of violent attacks, to provide emergency first aid to those injured in violent attacks, as well as giving them the tools to minimise the impact of violent attacks and natural disasters. Youth volunteers in Pakistan are working to keep the peace through a series of plays, radio announcements and social media posts to encourage interfaith harmony. 

Among the proven ways volunteering leads to sustainable and transformational change is its effectiveness at reaching the most marginalised. These most vulnerable people often suffer the most after shocks and disasters, and the UN report also flags volunteers’ important role to play here (building on the finding of our Valuing Volunteering research with the Institute of Development Studies). 

But this report also offers some important warnings.  

We shouldn’t romanticise the role that volunteers play in responding to crisis. As I know from visiting and listening to some of our thousands of volunteers around VSO’s programmes, volunteers face considerable challenges, often working with limited resources.   

We also need to make the distinction between government services and the role of volunteering: volunteering should complement, not replace, government services. 

That is why VSO is working with 25 organisations from the volunteering and development sectors to develop a set of agreed global standards for volunteering. This will ensure that every one of our volunteers has the most impact possible, and that organisations are working with volunteers in a responsible way. 

Volunteers matter. They play a critical and often under-valued role in delivering the SDGs, which deserves to be recognised by governments around the world. You can read the full report from the UN here.