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Newsletter
June 2010
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THIS MONTH'S TOPICS
1. FROM THE SERVICE: Providing feedback to strengthen the online volunteering community
2. TIP: How to switch between the volunteer and organization sections of the website
3. EXPERIENCE: Helping UNHCR raise refugee issues in Latin America and Europe
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1. FROM THE SERVICE: Providing feedback to strengthen the online volunteering community
As the online volunteering community continues to grow, it is important for volunteers and for organizations to submit feedback on their online collaboration. The first objective of the feedback function provided on the website is to strengthen the relationship between volunteers and organizations, enabling them to share their positive or negative experiences in working together over the Internet.
Online volunteers who have worked on an assignment with an organization should always submit feedback. Unless there is a particular reason for keeping the feedback confidential – for example when reporting a serious issue to UNV – providing feedback is an invaluable learning mechanism for organizations, strengthening best practices and educating organizations to change their behaviour towards volunteers in the future.
Organizations should provide feedback to all volunteers they involved in an assignment. Giving feedback is an integral part of acknowledging the time and effort the volunteers have invested in developing products. For many of our users, online volunteering is a new concept they are just beginning to discover. Volunteers who do not receive feedback on their contributions will find this disrespectful and demotivating.
The feedback provided by online volunteers and by organizations is essential for learning about other perspectives and for adapting to their needs. It contributes to better experiences and quality results. In addition, feedback keeps UNV informed about the collaboration between volunteers and organizations, and the successes and challenges they face. Taking a few minutes to reflect on their collaboration and complete the feedback form is your contribution to building a strong and dedicated online volunteering community.
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2. TIP: How to switch between the volunteer and organization sections of the website
The Online Volunteering service website has two sections: one for volunteers and one for organizations. Depending on your use of the website and which section you access, the system will remember your last location and automatically direct you to that section the next time you access the website.
When you created your account, the system flagged you as a volunteer and will always direct you to the volunteer section’s homepage. When you log in you are directed to your volunteer account, from which you can apply for and manage your online volunteering opportunities.
If you are interested in reading the information on the organization section of the website, or if you would like to register an organization, click the grey link “Looking for volunteers?” located in the top right hand corner of the website. This will take you to the homepage for organizations.
You can quickly find your way back to the volunteer section by clicking the grey link “Want to volunteer online?” in the top right corner of page. To access your volunteer account, click on “My Account”.
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3. EXPERIENCE: Helping UNHCR raise refugee issues in Latin America and Europe
The Regional Legal Unit for the Americas of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), based in San José, Costa Rica, has involved around 60 online volunteers since June 2009 to translate news, events and other content from the English website into Spanish and Portuguese. The online volunteers play an essential part in helping UNHCR reach a broader audience in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries, and in involving a larger number of people in refugee issues around the world. The Spanish (www.acnur.org) and Portuguese (www.acnur.org.br) websites put special emphasis on the refugee situation and migration flows in Latin America such as Colombian Internally Displaced Persons and refugees in neighbouring countries. These websites also provide information on refugees in Europe.
The translation opportunities are published on a single-article basis, and the articles are immediately translated to maintain their currency and relevance. Applicants are selected based on their language proficiency, CVs and motivation. They are generally students or professional translators, and share an interest in refugee issues. All candidates are informed about their selection or non-selection for the opportunity to which they applied, and all translations are reviewed and edited where required to ensure quality and to maintain standard terminology.
The UNHCR Regional Legal Unit for the Americas feels privileged to be collaborating with the committed online volunteers mobilized through the UNV Online Volunteering service. Even though contact with the volunteers is through email and all of their contributions are on a purely voluntary basis, “they always accomplish the task they assume, always giving 100% without asking anything back.”
Aline Tissot from Brazil worked at the Ministry for Social Development in Brasilia before moving to France, and has completed more than 10 translation assignments for UNHCR. Aline dedicates around four hours per week to her online volunteering activities. “I always treasured translation and proofreading, and when I realized it could be a powerful tool to take action for development and learning, I became an online volunteering enthusiast.”
Antonio Jussie Rodrigues spent most of his life in the USA and the UK before returning to his native country of Brazil. He invests on average 3 to 8 hours per week into volunteering online. “Apart from being a noble cause to work on, volunteering from home is just great! I always liked to share my knowledge with whoever needed it. I got to know that a little something we give can work miracles on someone else. With the help of the UNHCR I have had the opportunity to make information available to people who would never read an article, for instance, if it was not available in their native language.”
Gustavo Kozemekin from Brazil is an International Relations student and has a keen interest in refugee issues, and the work of UNHCR. Not yet having reached the eligible age to become a UN Volunteer on the ground, Gustavo spends several hours per week volunteering online to deepen his knowledge about humanitarian affairs and gain valuable experience. “I have admired UNHCR since my first year in college. My dream has always been to learn more about it and to help this great organization reach its goals.”
Delia Tasso, an Argentinean living in Italy, was attracted to the UNHCR translation opportunities because the articles need to be posted almost in real time. “I know that such urgency has nothing to do with headline making. The articles come directly from the field in order to flag critical conditions affecting refugees in different enclaves of the world and their pace is determined by the need to put in place working solutions. Translating these cases into different languages is but the initial step of this process.”
