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A
typical Red Cross or Red Crescent Society today depends
on volunteers for its leadership and its service delivery,
although staff also play an important role in helping
to run the organisation and its services. Indeed, several
National Societies also run institutions such as hospitals
which are based entirely on paid staff.
However, it is the huge network
of volunteers which make any National Society what it
is. Today, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement has about
97 million members/volunteers. The definition of what
constitutes a volunteer or a member may vary from country
to country, as does the level at which these people are
involved. The Federation's definitions are outlined in
the Volunteering policy adopted
in 1999.
Most countries have a traditional
understanding of what volunteering means, deeply rooted
in their history and traditions, and very much a reflection
of cultural values. It varies, therefore, from country
to country, and it is also changing over time as societies
change.
What volunteering involves, and
how it is organised, depends on the economical situation
of the country and of the educational level and work
experiences of the population in general. In North America
and West Europe , for example, volunteering is based
on the dominant middle class. In Africa and Eastern Europe
, where there is almost no middle class, volunteering
is organised in other ways.
What role do volunteers
play?
At the local level, Red Cross Red
Crescent volunteers are at the heart of activities to
assist vulnerable people. Working under a volunteer group
leader, service volunteers are usually assigned to a
specific task. This could be fund-raising, first aid,
driving ambulances, running a help-line telephone service,
food distributions, disaster preparedness, visiting old
people, to name but a few, depending on the needs in
the community. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of
different tasks taken on by local groups all over the
world.
Service volunteers are usually
recruited to well-structured volunteer services which
are developed and managed by volunteer and/or programme
managers. However, front line service volunteering can
also be done by self-managed groups of members or by
vulnerable people organised into self-help groups. Which
form is best depends on the situation and several forms
can coexist in a National Society.
At the leadership level, volunteers
also play a key role, and the president of a National
Society is often a volunteer. Volunteers who are members
of governing boards are responsible for the work and
behaviour of the organisation and attend general assemblies
to adopt statutes and decide on major policies and future
work. They can be board members at the local, regional
or national level, and can be elected to committees.
Lawyers, fund-raisers and public
relations professionals are among those who help the
National Society as expert volunteers at local, regional
or national level. |
