Centre for
Promotion of Voluntarism (VOLACT) (1994)
Objective: Including and encouraging the spirit
of voluntarism. It is perhaps the first systematic attempt to
promote volunteerism in the country. It envisages inculcating
an ethos of service by building up a corps of volunteers from
various target segments like Senior Citizens, house wives, professionals
and students. (This is great!
How does one contact them in Mumbai? Vinay)
Strategy: Includes
- Promoting voluntarism
- Motivating NGOs in using volunteers
- Matching volunteers to voluntary
agencies
- Nurturing the relationship between
the NGOs and volunteers.
VOLACT commenced its
operation in November, 1994, and to date has managed to place
695 volunteers in 110 NGOs. This activity is as yet unfunded but
is being supported by SOSVA's scarce resources because SOSVA is
convinced of the "need" for a project of this kind and more importantly
SOSVA's strategy is not donor drives.
The venture was launched in Pune city in late 1995 out of SOSVA's
internally raised resources. It then expanded the base of operations
to Mumbai and was supported by the Aga Khan Foundation in this
effort.
Results: In the first year, 1995, the results obtained
in Pune and Mumbai was very encouraging as the table below shows.
|
City
|
NGOs
|
Volunteers
Enrolled
|
Volunteers
Placed
|
|
|
|
Male
|
Female
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
Total
|
|
Pune
|
46
|
140
|
220
|
360
|
134
|
173
|
307
|
|
Mumbai
|
41
|
116
|
200
|
316
|
50
|
97
|
147
|
