Abstract
Variously known as local, informal, or community-based volunteers, people working in non-governmental and community-based organisations throughout Africa play an integral role in starting up and sustaining these organisations, which in turn play a vital role in service delivery and advocacy within communities. Despite the important roles that such volunteers play, they are often overlooked in the literature on volunteering and their contributions downplayed. In this chapter we draw on various studies conducted by Volunteer and Service Enquiry Southern Africa (VOSESA) that focus on the efforts and contributions of community-based volunteers. These include the five-country study on volunteerism in Southern Africa (2007), a study on the relationship between host organisations and international volunteers in Mozambique and Tanzania (2011), a study on volunteer management in South African non-profit organisations (2011), and research on National Youth Service programmes in Africa (2013). The research highlights the contributions of community-based volunteers, points out the types of volunteers that tend to serve, and shows that volunteer engagement is critical to the resilience and sustainability of community-based organisations as well as to the expression of active citizenship for individuals.
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Notes
- 1.
Cited in Fowler, A (2011). “Beyond Civil Society: Civic Driven Change and Governance in Africa”. Africa Civil Society Research Network Conference 2011.
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Perold, H., Graham, L.A. (2017). The Value of Volunteers in Community-Based Organisations: Insights from Southern Africa. In: Butcher, J., Einolf, C. (eds) Perspectives on Volunteering. Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39899-0_6
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