Volunteerism & Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

“Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will require the ingenuity, solidarity and creativity of millions of ordinary people through voluntary action. Efforts on the part of national governments, supported by the international community, can only complement what ultimately will depend on the full involvement of people worldwide. Six billion people have something to contribute to these efforts.” (…)

“Whether expressed as volunteer service, mutual aid and self-help, campaigning or other forms of voluntary participation, the willingness and ability of citizens to give freely of their time out of a sense of solidarity will have a major influence on the extent to which the MDGs are attained and sustained.”

(courtesy http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/mdgs.html)

Question:
Do YOU think you could contribute to the MDGs as a volunteer?

Filed under: choice, international volunteers, Millennium Development Goals (MDG), needs, poverty, solidarity

Working in India as a volunteer

My name is Camille van Neer, I’m from The Netherlands, living and working near Puducherry, South-India. I’m happily married to Jansi, hailing from Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, South-India. We have two kids, a boy and a girl, Arjuna and Barati. We’ve set up ‘Amaidi Volunteering in India’, a facilitating org where the need of Indian organizations (NGO’s, schools, hospitals etc.) are matched with the need of aspiring volunteers, interns or professionals. All who’d like to spend some time AND make themselves usefull in India.

Who said that volunteering is boring? If you’re in India it definitely is not. There is no country in the world that has such a rich heritage and at the same time is technologically so advanced as India. Unfortunately, India’s growth has a big drawback: the community of people living of less than a dollar a day, is still growing.

Working as a volunteer in India, or doing your final year intership, makes that you are extremely useful to the local community you work in. Especially the poorer sections of Indian society. The people you will work with and work for, belong to the lower strata of the Indian economy. They live in villages or in slums, they have difficulty in maintaining even a low standard of living. You can and will make a difference while you’re here!

‘Amaidi Volunteering in India’ makes sure that you end up in an organization where the chances that you can make a visible and tangible difference to the communities you work with, are large enough.

Want to explore your possibilities? Check out http://www.amaidi.org/

Filed under: Introduction, poverty, professionals, trainees, volunteering in India