This year marks the 27th anniversary of International Volunteers Day, first established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1985.
Australia is a lucky country. Collectively we are well-off, we enjoy good health, a good lifestyle, and most of us can expect to live to a ripe old age into our eighties and beyond. Women in Australia can expect to have safe pregnancies and give birth to healthy infants. According to World Bank statistics, 996 in every 1000 Australian children will make it to their first birthday, while 25 infants in every 1,000 in Indonesia, and 45 infants in every 1,000 in Papua New Guinea, will die before they turn one. And in sub-Saharan Africa, infant mortality is even more alarming with a 10 per cent–100 in every 1,000–mortality rate of infants in many countries.
International development is complex, and the rate of child mortality is just one of the indicators of how uneven the world is in terms of development. There are other indicators such as levels of income, maternal mortality, access to clean water, nutrition, education, rights of women, freedom of speech, access to employment. In fact, more than one billion people live in absolute poverty on less than $1.25 a day.
Australia can afford to be generous. We reach into our pockets and we give generously to overseas aid. Australians also generously give their time, and give up their creature comforts, by volunteering in developing countries to help people and communities who are not as lucky as we are.
Australian volunteers at work
In Papua New Guinea, Australian Volunteers will help the Gazelle District Health Authority improve the quality of its health services. Volunteers include nurses, midwives, laboratory technicians and health administrators, and will be based at the Kerevat Rural Hospital to build the capacity of workers to provide quality health services and improve health outcomes for the 110 000 people who live in the district.
In Lao PDR, an AVID nutritionist is working on a national school meals program that helps children from all backgrounds to stay in school by providing nutritionally balanced and locally-sourced lunches.
In Namibia, several volunteers have been working with the Namibia Training Authority as vocational educational advisers in areas such as building, mechanics and agriculture.
More than six million Australians contribute their time, energy and expertise to volunteering, doing everything from helping disadvantaged children learn to read to providing companionship to the elderly, to travelling to a developing country to train midwives.
The proportion of people who volunteer in Australia has grown consistently over the past decade across all age groups, from 24 per cent in 1995 to 36 per cent in 2010.
The increase in the number of people volunteering shows a growing interest and commitment by Australians to contribute both locally and globally. There is also growing evidence that a sense of wellbeing increases for those who volunteer as they connect with communities and other individuals.
This could be one reason why Australia has such a long history of international volunteering, dating back to the 1960s.
Today, Australian volunteers are an integral part of Australia's development assistance program.
The Australian Government has supported an estimated 15,000 Australians as volunteers in developing countries as part of its overseas aid program since the 1960s. In 2011–12, more than 1,500 Australians spent some or all of the year in a developing country to make a difference to the lives of people living in poverty, and to make the world a better place.
Ten years ago, there were around 715 volunteers deployed overseas in a single year. This year we have seen around 1,585 Australians in active volunteer engagement, from Tonga to Mongolia, Ghana to Vietnam, the Philippines to Lebanon, and beyond. More than 1,000 Australian volunteers will take up new assignments this financial year in almost 40 countries as part of the Government's Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID) program.
An evolving program
The Australian volunteer program is expanding its reach. For example, on 19 September 2012, the Australian Government and the Government of Maldives signed an agreement to establish the Maldives Education Sector Volunteers Program. Through the Australian Volunteers for International Development program, highly skilled Australian volunteers will be placed with host organisations for up to a year. Placements will be aligned to the Maldives' development priorities and volunteers will share their skills and knowledge with local counterparts, and foster links between organisations and communities in Australia and the Maldives.
This agreement follows a successful pilot of 13 volunteers who were placed in the Maldives Ministry of Education in 2010–11 to contribute to institutional strengthening, for example in curriculum development and improving teacher training.
New technology is also helping more Australians to contribute to volunteering, and to open the volunteering experience to those constrained by location, time or other factors. 'Online volunteering' opportunities are supported by the Australian Government through United Nations Volunteers. Technologies such as the internet, social media and mobile communication are transforming the volunteering landscape.
Australians have a lot to offer. We are well-educated, well-skilled, and willing and able to help. Australia's reputation for ingenuity, know-how and drive is being upheld by our volunteers. But not only are volunteers transferring their 'hard' or technical skills to others, they are also showcasing Australia's reputation for tolerance, respect, understanding and inclusion. And they are bringing their experience and understanding of other countries and cultures–including of the enormous challenges faced through poverty and lack of opportunity–back to share in their own communities in Australia. This knowledge and understanding, and the values of tolerance and respect, help connect people, institutions, business and governments, and have incalculable benefits in advancing international development.