Digital Reach

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Azhar Qureshi of the Eco-Conservation Initiatives (ECI) scheme
based in Pakistan, noted that volunteers “are always ready and
responsive. They have the real spirit and dedication it takes to
support others. It’s very exciting to make friends and create part-
nerships with people who live all over the world.”
Online volunteering has an enormous potential to maximize
the engagement of on-site volunteers and NGOs in specific inter-
ventions such as providing support to HIV and AIDS initiatives.
A Tanzania-based NGO focusing on youth, the Tanzania
Media and Youth Development Association (TAMEYODA), used
the OV service to help the NGO with one of its HIV and AIDS
prevention projects. These online volunteers, many with HIV
and AIDS prevention advocacy experience, advised the NGO
on how to conduct youth seminars and debates, researched and
provided international institutional contacts, edited booklets
on HIV and AIDS, and provided links to online information
from other organizations that could benefit the NGO and those
it serves. Kaanaeli Kaale of TAMEYODA said: “Through the OV
service, I think the UN will achieve the goals to empower
people, especially those who live in extreme poverty around the
world.”
Online volunteers have also proved to be invaluable in times of
crisis. Following the December 2004 tsunamis that ripped
through the Indian Ocean region, online volunteers answered
one NGO’s call for support in researching and contacting compa-
nies wanting to donate goods. At one point, the Internet-based
NGO Global Hand had more than 60 online volunteers assisting
in getting lifesaving supplies to people in the affected countries.
Global Hand’s Mike Tozer said: “Within a few days of the tsunami
disaster, online volunteers compiled and enhanced information
resources [and] found out who was working where and whether
they had any particular needs or offers of assistance mentioned
on their website. The impact the online volunteers have had on
our work has been phenomenal.”
To recognize online volunteers’ commitment, each year the OV
service solicits nominations for its Online Volunteer of the Year
award. In 2005, nine individual online volunteers and one team
of four people received the award for their contributions to
supporting the work of their host organization. In total, the award
winners hailed from ten countries ranging from Madagascar to
Pakistan.
One such organization is Shine A Light. Kurt Shaw, executive
director of the NGO, said: “Without the support of online volun-
teers, Shine a Light would be infinitely less capable of supporting
Latin American organizations that serve homeless and working
children. This service has been invaluable for us, and we thank
[OV] sincerely for providing the space in which small NGOs like
Shine a Light can find the qualified volunteers we need.”
In response to this year’s winners, the UNV executive coordi-
nator said the efforts of online volunteers serve as an example of
the power of volunteering for development. Ad de Raad said:
“This group of dedicated volunteers represents the very best of
what ordinary citizens can do online to help overcome poverty,
fight the spread of HIV and AIDS, and support the advancement
of human development worldwide in general.
“The purpose of this award is not only to recognize their
contributions to development, but to demonstrate to others
what they can do to support international efforts to meet the
MDGs. Online volunteering is a powerful way of making use of
ICT to engage people in direct action, to unleash new resources,
to get connected, and to foster a new global constituency for
development.”
For more information on the Online Volunteering (OV) service, visit:
To learn more on UNV’s activities, visit:
or send an email to:
Since the start of the Online Volunteering (OV) service in 2000, online volunteers have completed more than 10 000 assignments for some 700
non-governmental and civil society organizations
Photo: UNV/Jean-Baptiste Avril