Volunteering

Do you know what it is?

Volunteering is the voluntary act for a public purpose without material or other consideration. A volunteer is a citizen who selflessly offers time or knowledge for useful actions for the benefit of others, without expecting anything in return. Volunteerism can counteract the tendency in modern societies to evaluate everything according to its monetary value.

Volunteering has a broad meaning and is divided into two categories. It can include constant and repeated actions through organized programs or organizations (Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), public benefit institutions or Local Government Organizations, social movements, informal citizen groups), and is called 'formal Volunteering'. However, it can include personal, temporary and unique actions and is called as 'informal Volunteering'.

In the modern era, Volunteerism has been established as the institution that helps to deal with social, economic and environmental problems, aims at collective benefit and participation in society and is called upon to fill the gaps created by the weakness of the state and market mechanisms.

Volunteering is a multifaceted process and above all an attitude of life, as it has a positive effect on society, concerns all people regardless of social and economic status, promotes the active participation of citizens in the defense of fundamental rights and strengthens social solidarity and cohesion. A voluntary action aims not only to deal with a problem at a given time, but also to search for its causes, to empower the beneficiaries and the continuous operation of support structures.

Volunteering is active for human rights, information, prevention and awareness, social solidarity in vulnerable social groups (immigrants, refugees, people living in poverty, abused women, victims of family or other violence, elderly, etc.). It is also active in areas such as sports, culture, environment, health.

Volunteering is a way for citizens to intervene in society, it helps to spread global values and norms, it facilitates the exercise of certain social rights, it offers a voice to weak social groups, it demonstrates social injustices and global problems and it is a means of pressure on the rulers. It contributes to the dissemination of information, the provision of information and knowledge, publicizing problems and mobilizing public opinion.

Volunteering is based on social solidarity, consistency and mutual respect and does not come to solve the serious and complex problems of modern societies.