Volunteerism as a tool to increase society’s trust in NGOs

(Волонтерство, как инструмент повышения доверия общественности к НПО)

“Be the change you want to see in the world”

(Mahatma Gandhi)

Structure:
1. Introduction
2. Volunteerism situation in Kazakhstan
2.1. Positive aspects in volunteerism development
2.2. Pressing problems in volunteerism development
3. Recommendations for volunteerism development
4. Volunteer Internet resources in Kazakhstan

1. Introduction

Before we start to consider the issue of volunteerism, it is important to understand the

definition of “volunteer” and “volunteerism”, specifically within the context of this report.

A volunteer is a person who performs or offers to perform a service out of his or her own
free will, often without payment.1 A volunteer can be any person who feels a need to help
others and acts upon that idea. The beneficiaries of the volunteer services include people of
different needs: sick and poor children, children of alcoholic and drug-dependant parents,
youth, disabled, retired, unemployed, and poor people, and also other NGOs, animals,
nature and etc.

Volunteerism is the donation of an individual's time and skills to a social or specific cause.

The concept of volunteerism, as generally perceived through Western standards, is new for
Kazakhstan. The idea of community support, however, has an ancient history in the territory
of Kazakhstan. Voluntary help used in obeyance of laws control, material help to poor
nomads and others. “Asar” is an ancient act of voluntary help to those who “asked for help”
(as it translates from Kazakh). Everybody answered this request helping in construction
winter houses, organizing childs’ birthdays, weddings, and funerals. Asar could join people of
different ages and social status in common deal – helping to the person in need. That was
the first steps in spreading the idea of voluntary act oriented for not only personal but also
community benefit. Times passed, Asar is still happens but together with it a new type of
help appeared – volunteerism.

The more recent idea of volunteerism began to develop here from 1993 when UNV Program
started to work in Kazakhstan. In addition to a programmatic focus, the government of the
Republic of Kazakhstan sponsored and participated in the joint financing of the UN General
Assembly’s Resolutions. In November 1997, Kazakhstan together with more than 100
countries signed a Resolution A/RES/52/17, which declared 2001 year as an International
Year of Volunteers. In December 2002, Kazakhstan together with Indonesia, Laos, Mauritius

1 http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Volunteer
1
and Niger sponsored the Resolution A/RES/57/106, which states “…that volunteerism is an
important component of any strategy aimed at, inter alia, such areas as poverty reduction,
sustainable development, health, disaster prevention and management and social integration
and, in particular, overcoming social exclusion and discrimination”.2

The first Kazakhstani NGOs opened after Kazakhstan got its Independence in 1991, trying to
spread volunteerism as a new form of help in society, raising civil participation and solving
community’s problems with the help of its own resources. Even now, in spite of a lot of
achievements in the volunteerism sphere it is still on the initial stage of development, which
needs a lot of attention from the side of all parties: NGOs and international organizations,
government agencies and business structures.

2. Present situation with volunteerism in Kazakhstan

2.1. Positive aspects in Volunteerism development

NGOs are the main organizations in society that involve volunteers in their activities. The
2009 NGO Sustainability Index states that according to the Ministry of Culture and
Information, Kazakhstan has “…7,307 public associations, the most common legal form of
NGO. Kazakhstani NGOs are mainly distributed among the following sectors: ecology,
children and youth, women’s issues, health, culture, art, science, education, legal rights,
social rights, NGO capacity building, and disabled adults and children. Many third sector
experts note that the most active NGOs number 200.”3

On 30 April 2010, the “National Volunteer Network” (NVN) was created. NVN is a joint
project of the UNV Program, Civil Alliance in Kazakhstan, and volunteer organizations in
Kazakhstan to create a united Kazakhstan volunteer network in order to provide productive
and effective development of volunteer initiatives and civil society. In November 2010, the
first Volunteer Camp was conducted for NGO representatives, Peace Corps Volunteers in
Kazakhstan, UN volunteers, international experts from China, and UNDP representatives.
The main goal of the camp was to further develop a volunteerism culture in Kazakhstan by
educating the representatives of volunteer organizations and implementing new methods
and technologies into their activities. At the moment, it is the largest network in Kazakhstan
that joins together organizations and individuals interested in volunteerism development in
Kazakhstan.

Results from the work of NGOs and civil society include:

1. Volunteerism and Government.

25 July 2006: the President of Kazakhstan signed “The Concept of Civil Society
Development in Kazakhstan: 2006-2011” (“The Concept”). The Concept supports
organizing and establishment of civil society by opening different types of non-

2 General Assembly, A/RES/57/106, Follow-up to the International Year of Volunteers, distr.: 13

February 2003, p. 1, http://www.undemocracy.com/A-RES-57-106.pdf
3 USAID, The 2009 NGO Sustainability Index, p 117,
http://www.usaid.gov/locations/europe_eurasia/dem_gov/ngoindex/2009/kazakhstan.pdf
2
 commercial organizations, including NGOs, which suppose to involve the population
into voluntary active social position.

2. Volunteerism and Population.

Such Republic events as Volunteer Development Seminar in March 2009 and
Volunteer Camp 2010 showed that further ways of volunteerism development has
become a valuable part of society. An increasing number of people want to volunteer,
which is a quite different situation in comparison to earlier years when volunteerism
was associated with military services. During the seminars on volunteerism at schools
in early 2003-04 years the pupils could mention “terrorist” during the brainstorming
“How do you think, who is a volunteer?”, while now this can happen quite rarely.

The questionnaire conducted during the Volunteer Camp among 35 organizations

participants showed that in these organizations work more than 2,500 volunteers,
what include about 11,000 hours in a month, on average. This numbers can be
multiplied to 5 times, taking into account about 200 active NGOs in Kazakhstan.
Unfortunately, there is no state official research on the economic contribution of
volunteers into the country economic, but according to the research made by the
Coordination Volunteer Center “Komanda SOS” (Almaty) the contribution made by the
volunteers of the center during 1 year and 6 months is more than 40 million tenge.4

According to the “Analyses of Volunteerism situation as a Resource for Development

of Kazakhstan”: “About 90% of volunteers think that beneficiaries (for example,
disabled, children, socially vulnerable and poor population, those who come to the
organization and etc.) appreciate contribution into their life as a volunteer”5.

3. Volunteerism and Business.

There is not lot of information on cooperation of business and volunteerism.
Nevertheless, some businesses can support financially different types of local and
international organizations, including NGOs and Funds. The work of these
organizations can involve volunteers and/or develop volunteering.

2.2. Pressing problems in volunteerism development

As mentioned above, volunteerism development in Kazakhstan makes it first steps. A lot was
done but there is more to do. “According to the results of research carried out for the 2009
National Report … Thirty-one percent of NGOs polled considered one of the weaknesses of

4 The information is taken from the movie “Rings in the Water” dedicated to volunteerism in
Kazakhstan, produced by Coordination Volunteer Center “Komanda SOS” (Almaty), Charity
Foundation “Seimar Social Fund”, UNV Program in Kazakhstan, and National Volunteer Network
5 Research of Ministry of Culture and Information and UNV Program in Kazakhstan, “Analyses of
Volunteerism situation as a Resource for Development of Kazakhstan”, Report on research and
concrete instances, Astana 2008, p. 22. The research involved 338 volunteers, 95 representatives
of volunteer NGOs, 22 representatives of the authorities, and 24 representatives of business
structures. Total volume of selection was 479 respondents.
3
NGO organizational development in Kazakhstan to be the lack of a tradition of
volunteerism”.6

1. Volunteerism and government.

The Concept pays attention to the importance of civil society development, however
neither of the words “Volunteer” nor “Dobrovolets” (in Russian) are mentioned in the
Concept. The general conception that “The volunteerism institute will be developed in
the country as a high level of civil society development” 7 is proposed. Nevertheless,
during the Youth Camp 2010 and Volunteer Camp 2010, among the most acute
problems of volunteerism in Kazakhstan, connected with the government, were the
following: no law on volunteerism, lack of support of volunteer initiatives on
Government level, low status of a volunteer, and no support of volunteerism and
volunteers at schools, universities, and colleges. Therefore, the NGOs and volunteers
face such problems, as: use of volunteers as free labor workers, low level of sharing
information and experience among the volunteer organizations and volunteers in
different regions.

As a result, most NGOs became successful in work with volunteers, try to motivate
volunteers only counting their own resources and methods, making volunteering
interesting, useful and inspiring. The biggest age group involved in volunteering is
youth. According to the results of the research, conducted by Center SANDJ in 2008,
41% of youth are volunteers aged 19-25 years old and 34% are – 15-18 years old 8.
Without having strong government support, motivation tools can dry up and the
amount of volunteers will decrease, what will also influence to NGOs activities and
economic of the country.

2. Volunteerism and population.

Other problems, encountered by the participants of the Youth and Volunteer Camps
included the following: unclear understanding of volunteering among population, lack
of social advertisement about volunteerism, absence of positive image of a volunteer,
absence of modern interpretation of volunteer culture as of nowadays reality, and
difficulties of volunteerism development in rural areas, and as a result volunteers can
face with misunderstanding of people around them (relatives, friends, colleagues, and
others), disrespectful attitude, and feeling of spending their time for nothing. It is also
important to note that only more than 50% of people are positive about volunteers’
services9.

Young volunteers suffer from a lack of support from their families and surrounding
people. Parents may prohibit working with volunteer organizations in the context of its
mentality and historical cultures. Friends can disrespect a young person for working

6 See 3, p. 118
7 “The Concept of Civil Society Development in Kazakhstan: 2006-2011”, part 7,
http://ru.government.kz/docs/u060154~2.htm (available only in Russian)
8 “Review of the non-governmental sector situation in Kazakhstan and development
perspectives”, Chapter 8, Astana 2009, http://www.zakon.kz/154623-obzor-sostojanija-
nepravitelstvennogo.html (available only in Russian)
9 See 5, p. 22
4
 for free as material values have bigger priority in the modern world. School, college
and/or university teachers and administration mostly doesn’t pay any attention to the
student’s volunteer work, and the student doesn’t get any appreciation for fulfilling
his/her civic duty and helping others.

Only 13.4% of people over 31 are involved in volunteering10. “At the same time, 47%
of NGOs pointed that they can be interested in involving pensioners into their work,
mostly because of their experience, knowledge, and free time what make them more
desirable as volunteers”11. Therefore, this direction of volunteerism development is
perspective and needs attention.

3. Volunteerism and business.

According to the “Analyses of Volunteerism situation as a Resource for Development
of Kazakhstan”: “Only 12.5% of companies involve work of volunteers. But 88 % who
doesn’t use volunteer services pointed that they are interested in involving volunteers
into their activities in future”.12

However, among the problems enumerated during the Camps are the problems that
business structures don’t consider volunteer experience as valuable during the
recruiting process, and usually the pointed volunteer experience in resume doesn’t
play any role for businesses. However, volunteer experience can make big
contribution into young person’s professional growth and development as it is already
proved by the experience of other countries.

3. Recommendations for volunteerism development

Therefore, below are recommendations which can be helpful in further steps in volunteerism
development in the Republic of Kazakhstan, combining efforts of the relevant stakeholders:
government, NGOs, and business structures.

For Government:
- The Law on Volunteerism is necessary for raising the volunteer status in the country,
volunteering conditions and documentation, and to formalize volunteer institutes. The
necessity of volunteer’s legal support and protection of the volunteer’s basic rights is a
hot theme for discussions among volunteer organizations. It can, at least, prevent
using of volunteers as free labor workers, raise volunteer status among all the
stakeholders and population, clear volunteerism meaning, and help volunteers in
fulfilling their noble deals.
To initiate official research on defining volunteer input into the country’s economy
- To promote volunteerism from schools, also recognition and support of volunteer work
during study and admission procedure at colleges and universities.
- To include volunteerism development to the social order (“socialny zakaz”) in the
tender process.

10 See 8, chapter 8.
11 See 8, chapter 8.
12 See 5, p. 28.
5
 - To support social advertisement of volunteerism all over the country, including mass
media resources.
- To initiate programs on international or, at least, Central Asia volunteer exchange.
- To provide better support to volunteer NGOs at rural areas.

For NGOs:
- To lobby the Law on Volunteerism into the government structures.
- To promote social advertisement, initiate contests to volunteering movies and reels,
cooperate with Mass Media in printing articles and programs on volunteering.
- To involve also people of older years into volunteering.
- To join the National Volunteer Network as one of the possibilities of sharing
information and experience exchange, finding new partners and trainers,
implementing joint projects and etc.
- To work with volunteers, parents, teachers, and administrators, educating about the
idea of volunteerism, organization mission, goals, and activities, and any other
information which can help parents to understand the real meaning of volunteering
and its importance for a young volunteer and the country.
- To promote volunteerism in schools, colleges and universities.

For Businesses:
- To involve volunteers and volunteer organizations into implementing social projects for
local communities.
- To recognize volunteer experience during the recruiting process.
- The support volunteer organizations in promoting social advertisement and mass
media publications.

Cooperation of all three sectors together with international organizations will bring
volunteerism to a new stage of its development in Kazakhstan. Volunteering movement is
quite new for the country and it has its difficulties and perspectives. A lot of efforts made to
reach all the positive aspects mentioned in this report and stayed outside of it. Much more
have to be done to raise volunteerism development to the next stage. Volunteerism
establishment needs serious contribution of civil society, strong support of different
government agencies, and permanent attention of businesses. This case the volunteerism
will not be associated only with military services and disrespectful work, but take its true and
deserved place in the community being as a tool to increase society’s trust in NGOs,
government, and businesses.

4. Volunteer Internet resources in Kazakhstan

- www.unv.org (UNV Program)

- www.volontery.kz, www.facebook.com/kzvolontery (National Volunteer Network)
- www.civilsociety.kz (Civil Alliance in Kazakhstan)
- www.forngo.kz (resource site for NGOs)
- www.scribd.com/doc/19492259/Kazakhstan-Volunteer-Handbook
- http://volunteer.kz (Coordination Volunteer Centre “Komanda SOS”)
- http://www.volonter.kz (Initiative group of volunteers, working with orphan children)
6
The report prepared by:

Irina Kim
Member of the National Volunteer Network,
National UN Volunteer
irinakim2@gmail.com

OSCE Review Conference,

26 November 2010