During the second meeting of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development at the UN in New York last week, VSO International trustee Anjali Sen spoke to UN Member States on behalf of Volunteer Groups. There she told global decision makers that volunteering is an effective method of engaging people in their own development and why it should be included in the design of the Post-2015 Development Framework which will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) next year.
Shining a spotlight at the UN on the invisible hand of volunteers
I wasn’t intimidated to be speaking at the UN last week but I was aware that what I was doing was a first. I was one of two people selected to make the case for ensuring that volunteers are recognised as a separate entity in the outcome declaration of the High Level Political Forum on sustainable development. This had never happened before and I feel passionately about the importance of improving people’s understanding of the vital role played by this often invisible group.
In my speech, I made the case that the way in which volunteers influence change on the ground is critical to development and that failure to recognise this group would be a mistake.
What is the real value of volunteers?
I believe that we must start to officially recognise the role that volunteer groups are already playing on the ground in implementing the whole development agenda. I also believe that volunteers are responsible for holding governments to account and strengthening civic engagement, which in turn builds ownership and empowerment.
I see this value in my everyday work as South Asia Regional Director for the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). At home in India we see the volunteers working locally in small and often remote communities at the front line of service delivery, of data collection, of diagnosis, and without them we would not be able to do our work. In short, they understand the needs of the community like nobody else.
I shared a great story from a VSO programme in India about Banamali Kalsai, a man with first-hand experience of what it means to be marginalised. Growing up in the Harriman or ‘untouchable’ caste in remote Budhipadar, Orissa, he suffered polio as a child and had to overcome the barriers of caste and disability to complete his education and train as a primary school teacher.
Today, 28 year-old Banamali, helps others who are marginalised so they can access services and justice through his work as a volunteer with the Bolangir Disability Network, the product of a partnership between a local support organisation, ADHAR, and VSO India.
After the Right to Information Act was introduced in India in 2005, ADHAR began to mobilise local volunteers to manage Right to Information (RTI) clinics. For two years Banamali and 35 volunteers spread information about the Act and he was asked to help people to file applications or complaints, under the Act. Recently, locals wanted a hand pump repaired that had been out of order for two years. Within days of Banamali assisting them to submit an RTI application, the pump was fixed and local women no longer had to walk long distances to collect water.
It’s so important that the people at the highest levels hear about this and how volunteers like Banamali really do make a massive difference.
Perception change
I really think that recognition at the UN level has a lot to do with changing perceptions about volunteers, so in my intervention I spoke specifically about how volunteers are not a cheap or free form of labour. Their contribution is best harnessed when they work alongside paid and trained staff and are supported by them in guiding their own development.
This chimes with my own experience as a volunteer during my student days, when I worked in a school for blind children. I think I learnt a lot as well as helping and it gave me a huge sense of satisfaction as well as an ability to relate to people while realising how fortunate I was. It shaped my commitment to effect social change.
The year ahead
This year is extremely critical and the open working group structure is vital. VSO is already participating in post-2015 discussions in many countries. However continuous advocacy and lobbying through the year is now essential to ensure the development framework agreed in September 2015 (which will replace the MDGs) specifically name and recognise voluntary groups as a key partner in the new architecture.
We need to keep documenting and sharing the things we have learnt through volunteering, stressing the impact we are having so that there is a body of evidence in circulation that proves our case, like the Valuing Volunteering research VSO has been doing.
I think there is scope to become more active at the regional level too, in a way that complements what we’re already doing at the national and global levels. For example, there is the potential to engage in the Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development.
This opportunity at the UN was important for volunteer groups. I believe we are being heard and I look forward to being part of the force that we will exert in the year ahead to ensure that the invisible become visible where it matters most.
Further information
The HLPF on Sustainable Development is the body that will be responsible for monitoring the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are the goals that replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire next year. The HLPF met in New York from 30 June to 11 July 2014.
On 2 July Anjali Sen spoke to Member States as lead discussant on behalf of Volunteer Groups during the morning hearing at ECOSOC.
On 3 July, Anjali also took part in a UN Volunteers side event panel discussion called "Volunteer Action Counts for Sustainable Development: How to strengthen accountability of the post-2015 framework through citizen engagement".
Find out more about VSO's involvement in the post-2015 process.
