Volunteers are able to contribute their skills online from the comfort of their homes with a new tool offered by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program. The Online Volunteering (OV) service mobilizes volunteers and decreases the gap that exists between volunteers and the organizations that need them.
Given the liberty and flexibility to choose when they work, where they work and how they work, more volunteers are active and there is more diversity in their global ranks.
Development organizations on the other end are given access to a large pool of international knowledge and resources, that can help them to do their job more effectively and efficiently.
Since it was set up in 2000 the OV service has helped more than 1000 non-profit development organizations to benefit from the support of over 12,000 volunteers from 182 countries. They provided technical expertise, supported projects, contributed to knowledge management, and facilitated networking.
If you are looking to heed President Obama’s call to service, this tool provides three ways to search for a volunteer opportunity. You can search by selecting a specific task that matches your skills or choose a specific development topic of your interest. A third possibility is to search by a specific region in the world where you would like to make a difference.
For more information please visit www.onlinevolunteering.org or www.unv.org
UNV contributes to worldwide peace and development through volunteerism, advocates for the recognition of volunteers, and works together with partners to integrate volunteerism into development programs.