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Newsletter
February 2010
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THIS MONTH'S TOPICS
1. FROM THE SERVICE: Facts and figures: Online volunteering trends
2. TIP: How to manage online volunteering opportunities
3. EXPERIENCE: Harnessing online volunteers’ language skills to promote volunteerism in Bosnia and Herzegovina
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1. FROM THE SERVICE: Facts and figures: Online volunteering trends
In 2009, volunteers submitted over 20,500 applications for online volunteering opportunities published on our website, resulting in 12,500 individual assignments carried out by 8,500 online volunteers. Although the statistical average profile of an online volunteer in 2009 is that of a woman, national of a developing country, 31 years old, with a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Administration and employed in the private sector, all segments of society are represented:
53% of online volunteers were women and 62% were from developing countries. 82% were between 18 and 35 years of age and 1% were retired professionals. 2% considered themselves as people with disabilities.
The majority (75%) of organizations benefiting from online volunteers’ support in 2009 were NGOs and other civil society organizations. Most assignments undertaken by online volunteers benefited projects in Sub-Saharan Africa (35%) or projects with a global reach (35%). Most assignments focused on education (40%) and youth (17%), and the tasks for which organizations required the most support from online volunteers involved translations from and into international and local languages (30%), as well as writing and editing (26%).
88% of online volunteers rated their online collaboration with organizations as excellent or good, as did 92% of the organizations.
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2. TIP: How to manage your online volunteering opportunities
After you submit your online volunteering opportunity to UNV for publication, it is reviewed and assessed against the opportunity criteria prior to publication on the website. All opportunities are listed in the Manage Opportunities section of the organization account and can be sorted by title, publication date, status, etc. If you have a long list of opportunities, you may also wish to use the additional filter to display opportunities with a specific status only, or archive opportunities you do not want to see in the active list.
An opportunity will stay online and available for online volunteers to submit applications until you close the opportunity, or for a maximum of 60 days when it expires. You can re-publish closed and expired opportunities, provided no edits are made, within 60 days. If the opportunity is closed or expired for longer than 60 days, or if it is edited, it will need to be re-submitted to UNV for review before it can be published. Opportunities that have been re-published for longer than a year cannot be published again. You can, however, easily create new versions of these opportunities by using the duplicate link.
If you realize you do not have enough time to manage the involvement of online volunteers, you may wish to consider sharing the organization account with colleagues or specially-mobilized online volunteers and give them access to your organization’s opportunity and volunteer management tools. To do so, access the Manage Profile / Administrators section and send out invitations to the people you would like to access your organization account. Once they have accepted your invitation, you can transfer ownership of the opportunities to them. Please note that you will keep the overall responsibility for the organization’s online volunteering activities.
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3. EXPERIENCE: Harnessing online volunteers’ language skills to promote volunteerism in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Since March 2009 a group of five online volunteers has been providing local language expertise to support the work of the United Nations Volunteers programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNV BiH). These volunteers, most of them expatriates, have made invaluable contributions by making website content available in the local language and translating policy briefs and other materials used by UNV in its mission to promote volunteerism at the country level.
Just two weeks after publishing an online volunteering opportunity, Robin Ujfalusi, Knowledge Management and Public Relations Assistant at UNV BiH, had the translation team set up and ready to take up the task. He coordinated the team’s online collaboration, which resulted in approximately 60 pages of high-quality translations from English into Bosnian, sometimes to tight deadlines. Although the entire collaboration was via email, this has never posed any problems with regard to the volunteers’ commitment or ability to deliver. “They have never said no, they have never been late. It is only thanks to them, we have all the texts and the website in the local language which is so crucial for communication with local partners”, he says.
Ivana Ostojic has been living in Austria for several years and is currently studying for a Master’s degree in English Literature and Linguistics. Formerly a translator for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina during regional elections, and still feeling very connected to her native country, she was delighted to discover this translation opportunity. In addition to her experience with this online collaboration as “very flexible, efficient, functional, pleasurable and useful,” it gave her “new insights and opened up new perspectives to the various ways the UN system functions,” she says.
Biljana Skerlic, who was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, grew up in the United Kingdom and is currently studying English Language and Literature in Sarajevo. She felt honoured to be able to participate in UNV BiH’s activities because she believes “it is vital for young generations to participate in making a better connection and relationship with other people and cultures”.
Sanjin Buljko, who was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, lives in the USA and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, was a volunteer for many years before discovering online volunteering. “I strongly believe in volunteering and wanted to encourage it in my home country. I had never tried this form of volunteering before so this was an exciting, new experience for me. What's especially great about online volunteering is that it allows anyone with a computer and Internet to contribute their time and expertise to help organizations around the world”.
