What is volunteering?
Volunteering is a supportive and social activity, altruistic by essence, which is carried out through a private organization and in a specific project or programme. It’s a free, ethical choice, linked to your values and personal motivations.
What is required: people with an open attitude, respectful, responsible, supportive and committed.
How does it work?
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1.
Think
Think and consider why you want to volunteer.
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2.
Understand
Understand the needs that are around you and decide with which one you feel most identified so as to invest your time and effort, taking into account your abilities and motivations.
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3.
Search
Search for different NGOs and contact them to better know the people that form them and the programmes they carry out. Remember - you don’t have to go to the other side of the world to get involved in projects where you can participate and get involved.
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4.
Consider
Consider if there is room for you in a programme or project and what contribution you would make to that organization.
Types of volunteering:
Local volunteering
Volunteering can be done locally, in your own community. If you live in a city and search for a bit, you will surely find an organization with whose mission you feel identified.
Virtual volunteering
Virtual volunteering can be done remotely since there are tasks that do not necessarily require travel and having an internet connection is enough to carry them out: design tasks, programming, news writing, legal advice, accounting, tax, translations, etc...
International volunteering
And through international volunteering, you can live in another country, and collaborate with local NGOs on their projects, in minimum stays of 1 month that usually include: a previous training, a continuous monitoring of the work done and an analysis of the impact that the program gets in the local ecosystem, and finally a component of awareness and visibility in your immediate environment.
Voluntourism
Do not confuse international volunteering with solidarity, sustainable or responsible tourism.
Voluntourism usually lasts a few weeks and has a function of awareness of the person travelling, thanks to the knowledge of the activities carried out by the local NGOs of immersion in the local culture without prejudging the reality that there it is and which do not imply the realization of any specific work.
From Gotongo we promote voluntourism, as long as it is carried out as part of a project that provides development to the local community where it travels and is managed through NGOs or specialized agencies, and not as a trend of living adventures or experiences believing that our simple presence will help.
International cooperation
It is the professionalization of volunteering. It is carried out by people with professional training and specific experience and who are employed by entities that promote economic, social and environmental development through different projects in impoverished countries.