As the century draws to a close, there are numerous indications that volunteerism is expanding
around the world. Each year, the Association for Volunteer Administration and the Points of
Light Foundation see the number of international registrants at conferences grow. Recently, the
International Association for Volunteer Effort held its biennial World Volunteer Conference in
Edmonton, Canada, and attracted 2,700 volunteer leaders from 92 countries.
Volunteering is not a uniquely American phenomenon. True, the United States has a voluntary
sector with more structure and impact than do other countries. But every country has developed
ways in which people help people. By learning what other countries do by volunteer action, we
can examine our own beliefs and get new ideas. Certainly we in the United States have made
enormous advances in developing the profession of working with volunteers -- training,
publishing, professional associations -- and we should share this information. In addition,
though, there is the issue of what we can learn from each other.
Over the years, I've come across some intriguing examples of volunteer activity in other
countries. For example:
In Japan, probation officers spend time coordinating volunteers who, in
turn, are the ones working with offenders.
Volunteers maintain some of Ecuador's largest cemeteries.
In Israel, volunteers work with the military to offer bereavement
support to families who lose loved ones in armed conflict.
In Spain, volunteers provide medical services in prisons.
Leaders of volunteers around the globe are making conscious efforts to connect with one another.
The increased numbers of conferences and publications in the field of volunteerism reflect this
broadened perspective, and occasionally initiate new contacts. The United Nations has declared
the year 2001 as "the International Year of the Volunteer."
The Internet has given us the world on a keyboard, and the impact on volunteerism has been
significant. We have only just begun to explore the communication possibilities. For instance,
two Greek registrants at the recent Edmonton conference happened to have learned about the
meeting through my own company's website,
which they came across while blithely cruising the "net." The power of the Internet is such that,
at absolutely no additional cost -- only a bit of time and attention -- "passive" notices such as the
announcement of the conference on my site can take on lives of their own. Why shouldn't
someone from Sweden hop over to England for a seminar? Why wouldn't someone from Boston
fly to Chicago for a meaningful conference? Even local or regional events are capable of
attracting unanticipated attention.
The potential is limitless. Indeed, many causes in which volunteers are active have no
geographic boundaries -- such as the battle against AIDS. Environmental issues affect the entire
planet. Hunger and famine require international solutions. In all of the campaigns to confront
these problems, volunteers are always private citizens -- unfettered by laws, treaties, diplomacy
or red tape. Concerned individuals can simply pack a passport and cross all sorts of geographic
and psychological borders. And thanks to the Internet, such direct person-to-person exchanges
should increase.
