On 29th of December ENGAGE in partnership with VSO/ICS is organizing Everybody Can Serve, a market place and forum discussion to promote inclusive volunteerism that means volunteering opportunities also carried out by persons living with disabilities.
So far more than 20 organizations and private companies have applied for the market place and many of them have presented a special idea to be ‘exposed” in a special corner called the ‘Partnership and Opportunities Corner”.
This means we will have to undertake the hard job of selecting the best ideas… Surely it is not going to be an easy task but this shows that there are plenty of organizations, both from private and public sector that are ready to “pitch” their innovative solutions.
Recently UNICEF and ChildReach also came up with Idea Studio, a competition for budding entrepreneurs. These are all confirmations that there is real vibrancy at ground level to come up with new solutions to solve the problems faced by the society. We hope that Everybody Can Serve can offer a little help in establishing new synergies among actors who never worked together and the first step is to start knowing each other.
With Everybody Can Serve we want to prove that:
- Create new connections among different organizations and stakeholders, enabling new forms of collaborations also taking into account the aspirations and needs of organizations run by persons living with disabilities
- Leverage the power of volunteerism to build new opportunities to enhance people’s living conditions, including employability
- Ensure that volunteerism can be seen as an empowerment platform for every single person, including persons living with disabilities
Indeed volunteerism or service can be at the bottom of a pyramid of empowerment and leadership creation. Follow the steps:
-By volunteering, a person gives back to the society.
-By giving back to the society, a person feels part of it
-By feeling part of the society, a person becomes an active citizen
-By becoming an active citizen, a person establishes new connections and relationships
-By establishing new connections and relationships, barriers are broken down, persons get to know each other
-By interacting with other persons, people tend to start having a different vision of the society and of the world
-By having a different vision, by also “accepting” and considering other persons’ points of view, people’s mindsets changes
-With new mindsets, the attitudes and behaviors of persons change too.
As result the society gets better because persons are better persons.
As result, people by volunteering, acquiring new skills and knowledge that can help them find new job opportunities. Most importantly volunteering can buy you a way out of marginalization and distress.
Volunteering can be your key to self confidence building, motivation and positive attitudes that will boost your career’s prospects.
Volunteering is inspirational and as shown it can be “launchpad” for deeper and more profound change.
All this is easy to say but then in the reality it is not easy at all. We know it well at ENGAGE.
Recently a potential donor told us that ENGAGE does only part time interventions therefore we are not “solid” or “tangible” enough to even apply for a grant.
It was a way to say that we are not doing enough, we are not concrete enough, we are not pursuing something substantial. Fair enough, we took the evaluation positively.
While we stand firm on our philosophy, we are thinking deeply and deeply how to raise our “bar” by enhancing our impact and improving our working modalities.
Volunteering at ENGAGE is part time because we believe in the power of soft intervention, though hard to measure, we believe it is sustainable and has a potential for massive scaling up.
Imagine thousands of Nepali with new attitudes towards disability and volunteerism in general. Think of a movement of engaged persons, an engaged but inclusive enough to make sure that everybody can “serve”.
Everybody Can Serve, the event to be held on 29th of December, can be the beginning of a new journey. Please join us from 11.30 am to 5.00 pm at Kupandole Banquet near IUCN Office, few minutes’ walk from main Kupandole road and Bagamati Bridge.
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