Bryzhytska D. B., Reutskova O. N.
Oles Honchar Dnipropetrovsk National University, Ukraine
RESEARCHES INTO GLOBAL VOLUNTEERISM
Indifference is a paralysis of the soul.
Anton Chekhov
Volunteerism has been existing for many centuries. Although, in different countries, this phenomenon has various names: in Botswana – mephato, Ecuador – minga, in Rwanda – kwitango, South Africa – ubuntu, it is a universal human phenomenon that unites all cultures at all levels of economic development among both genders and all ages.
According to the draft law «On volunteerism», volunteering – is considered to be any social, public benefit non-profit activities and motivated actions of volunteers and volunteer organizations made by works and services to individuals, legal persons and society in general. Volunteering is intended to promote goodness or improve human quality of life.
The term «to volunteer» originates from the noun and first was mentioned in 1755. That meant «one who offers himself for military service» by M. Fr. Voluntaire. In the non-military sense, the word was first recorded in the 1630 s.
Nowadays several types of volunteering can be defined. They are:
– Skills-based volunteering.
– Volunteering in developing countries.
– Virtual volunteering.
– Micro-volunteering.
– Environmental volunteering.
– Volunteering in an emergency.
– Volunteering in schools.
– Corporate volunteering.
– Community voluntary work.
– International work-camps.
The sphere of volunteering is now being developed worldwide. As it can be seen on the Figure 1, the obvious majority of volunteers (48 %) come from Sub-Saharan Africa. Europe and the CIS take the second place with 19 % and then come Asia and the Pacific (17 %).
Figure 1
If we take a look at the statistics (Figure 2) of the quantity of volunteers in Europe, we can see the following: 25,48 million of Germans are said to be volunteering, England has the second position with 17,9 million people involved, and Hungary closes the top three with a relatively small number of 3,7 million people.
Talking of the age of European volunteers, it can be noticed that the adults are in minority, except for Wales, where 69 % of volunteers are adults.
In gender ratio there is a following tendency: 64 % are male volunteers, and thus 36 % are female.
Unfortunately, Ukraine cannot boast of being very active at voluntary activities. Instead, we run many international programs that aim at helping Ukrainian nation. The United Nations Volunteers is one of the biggest volunteer communities in the world and it also performs in Ukraine. They include HIV awareness, ecology, volunteerism and millennium development goals. As a result of their activity (Figure 3), they have engaged 2284 Ukrainian volunteers and it is a great number for our motherland.
Figure 2
Figure 3
There are some interesting facts about voluntary work in Ukraine:
– Among the volunteers vast majority (over 80 %) is young people aged from 15 to 19, and over 72 % of the volunteers – women.
– Euro 2012 is associated with the most massive volunteer project in the history of Ukraine.
– In Ukraine during Euro 2012 more than 12,000 volunteers were involved, 2,879 out of them – UEFA volunteers.
– 78-year-old driver from Donetsk became the oldest volunteer in Ukraine, who worked during the UEFA Cup.
– 62-year-old businessman from Switzerland cycled to Kyiv, in order to work during the EURO 2012 as a volunteer in anti-doping community.
– According to the UN report on the state of volunteerism in the world (2011), in Ukraine, only 10 % of the volunteers are involved in volunteering organizations, called «third sector».