The United Nations (UN) annually observes the international Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development on December 5 every year. Going by the caption of this article, many advanced countries encourage people to become volunteers and they are provided the requisite training from A – Z in various fields. For those people who strongly believe that “Sky is the limit for doing good work” can look forward to becoming volunteers and make some worthy contributions. 

As per the United Nations website, activities and events for the day help promote the impact of volunteering and the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, via volunteering to:

• Help eradicate poverty.
• Achieve universal primary education.
• Promote gender equality and empower women.
• Reduce child mortality and to improve maternal health.
• Reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases.
• Help ensure environmental sustainability.

Government of India can do well to spearhead the message of promoting volunteerism in as many fields as possible with proper back up support like adequate training provided during the induction of volunteers.  It is guaranteed that by motivating volunteers to give their best, many gaps in the society can be bridged very nicely for the smooth functioning of the society. Any advice or suggestion that comes from a volunteer or a group of volunteers if acted upon can result in plugging so many loopholes existing in the society. There are have been numerous comments offered by various dignitaries in different parts or the world in support of volunteers – some of these comments are, volunteers can be taken as the heart of a society; contributions made by volunteers are priceless; volunteers’ help goes a long way in bridging up so many gaps existing in the society. There have been many instances when people start their careers as volunteers in an organisation and then move on to become regular paid employees. 

Let’s hope big encouragement is given to make people aware that doing volunteering work in their free time or leisure time or even in their chosen time can result in achieving big advancement for the society as a whole. Opportunities should be created to include all sections of the population irrespective of age, caste and creed in various aspects of social and economic activities.  Quality training with enough backup support and right tools for motivation should be introduced for attracting volunteers in big numbers in numerous fields.