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Newsletter
March 2010
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THIS MONTH'S TOPICS
1. FROM THE SERVICE: Results of the 2009 user survey
2. TIP: How to manage feedback
3. EXPERIENCE: Online volunteers develop software for enhancing education in Cameroon
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1. FROM THE SERVICE: Results of the 2009 user survey
In January 2010, the Online Volunteering service sent out a survey to the users who were active in 2009. This included all volunteers who had applied to an online volunteering opportunity and all organizations that had submitted an opportunity for publication. The purpose of the survey was to give you the opportunity to provide feedback on the services and tools UNV provides, and consequently further adapt them to your needs.
The feedback we received was very positive: 86 percent of survey respondents rated the website as good or excellent, with that same rating given by 86 percent of respondents to the website design and by 87 percent to the navigation; 87 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with the website’s contents, e.g. contents on the Resources section.
Good or excellent was also how 89 percent of respondents rated the timeliness and 88 percent the relevance of the Online Volunteering service team’s user support, as did 91 percent of responding organizations with regard to the guidance they received for writing opportunity descriptions and 88 percent for volunteer and opportunity management. 89 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with the frequency of the newsletter, and 84 percent with the newsletter content.
Overall 82 percent of the respondents rated their satisfaction with the services provided by UNV’s Online Volunteering service as good or excellent. Although very encouraging, this leaves room for improvement and we will continue working on enhancing functionalities and processes.
We are grateful to all of you who responded to the survey and thank you for your valuable contributions.
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2. TIP: How to manage feedback
Upon completion of an online volunteering assignment, we ask organizations and volunteers to provide feedback on their collaboration through the Online Volunteering service website. UNV monitors the feedback in order to be informed about users’ satisfaction with their online collaboration, to follow up on potential issues and to take appropriate action when required.
Your feedback is very important to us and is a prerequisite for your organization to be able to issue certificates to online volunteers.
When do I submit feedback?
Feedback should be submitted at the end of your collaboration with a volunteer. The feedback link becomes available three weeks after a volunteer applied to your online volunteering opportunity.
How do I submit feedback?
Access the Manage Volunteers section of your account and click the feedback link that appears next to a volunteer’s name.
Is the feedback I submit confidential?
At the bottom of the feedback form, you can choose to either share the feedback with the volunteer, or to keep it confidential. Sharing your feedback with the volunteer can be a way to acknowledge a job well done, or to highlight aspects they could improve in the future.
Can I access feedback submitted by volunteers?
Feedback submitted by volunteers can be accessed in the View Feedback section of your account. If volunteers decided to share their feedback with you, you will see their ratings of your collaboration; click on the stars to access the feedback form and see more detailed information. If the volunteer indicated in his/her feedback that s/he did not work on the assignment, no stars will be displayed.
How is my organization’s feedback average calculated?
The stars at the top of the View Feedback section reflect the average of all shared feedback that both volunteers and applicants submitted for your organization. This information is visible to your organization and to UNV, but not to volunteers or other users. The categories correspond to the questions on the volunteer feedback form, and can show you which aspects of your collaboration with volunteers could be improved. For example, feedback by candidates who never heard from your organization – whether or not their application was accepted – will reflect negatively on the “Responsiveness to applications received”.
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3. EXPERIENCE: Online volunteers develop software for enhancing education in Cameroon
A team of motivated online volunteers collaborated with the ‘GIC Technologies Nouvelles au Cameroun’ organization, developing school management software for various educational institutions in the country. The specially-developed software application is one element of the organization’s computer literacy programme. Their aim is to increase computer access via the national school system and to support the networking and management of educational institutions while further familiarizing them with the use of computers. The application is free of charge and is currently being used for testing purposes by one school before it will be made available to various schools and vocational training centres in Cameroon for the academic year 2010-2011.
Working from February until the product’s completion in July 2009, and under the overall guidance of the organization’s representative Daniel Onana, the online volunteers took on a variety of tasks divided into separate modules, including analysis, design, development, creation of test protocols, testing and debugging, as well as developing the software’s user manual. Several online conferences were organized between the organization’s representative, project manager and developers to enhance the collaboration and clarify different aspects of the software. “These people, despite their distance due to living in different countries such as Senegal, Togo and Cameroon, showed exceptional team spirit and fraternity. The level of communication was always excellent, both with the organization and between the various volunteers, who practiced a familiar atmosphere amongst themselves,” says Onana.
Jeanne Roux Bilong, who is a national of Cameroon, holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science and works as IT Officer at an educational centre in Senegal. “I chose to be a volunteer for this organization, and this particular assignment, because I wanted to make a personal contribution to social development in Africa. It was also a chance for me to help schools in Cameroon to improve how education is carried out.”
Sibout Ndédi, from Cameroon, has a technical degree in Computer Science and has worked as Systems Analyst for various enterprises in Cameroon. “I wanted to contribute to this task because the organization aims to promote the tool of information technology in my country, especially in schools.”
Pedanou Kudzo Max Macaire, from Togo, has a background in computer maintenance and works as a network administrator in the private sector in Togo. “I think that through this online collaboration and working with other people, I was able to develop my computer skills. I chose this organization because its intervention is in education, and maybe one day we can do the same in my country.”
Louis Nikong Ombiognio, from Cameroon, has a technical degree in Computer Science with a focus on application development. He works as an IT specialist in the private sector. “I am interested in anything related to improving the quality of human life, and, as such, often taken part in activities within an association for young people in my home village of Batanga. However, I have always felt powerless when faced with images I have seen from all over the world of the difficulties some communities face every single day. Therefore, when I discovered that, via online collaboration, I could lend a hand to organizations working all over the world, I had no hesitation to get involved.”
