The concept and operationalisation of voluntarism

THE CONCEPT AND OPERATIONALISATION OF VOLUNTARISM

It is important that we explain what it means to be a volunteer since AVA is grounded in the concept of being and acting as a volunteer because voluntarism is a concept which is easily misunderstood in the world of today dominated by the idea of remuneration, profit making, lucrative undertakings etc. All these are not bad in themselves, but the founders of AVA realised that these have their own limits.

Voluntarism should not be taken to mean simply working without being paid or rewarded. This is one aspect of it; for AVA this is not the essence of voluntarism. In fact, members of AVA, in addition to what is expected from them are asked to share what they are and have with others. The members of Board of Directors contribute their time and expertise: the members of the Board of Directors are not paid.

Those who enrol as members of AVA are also asked to contribute their time and expertise for the services of AVA. For us being a volunteer also means looking for means to be in solidarity with others, especially the most vulnerable. Therefore, being a volunteers, is not just an idea: it is a serious ethical commitment to look for means to remove what dehumanises others, that is, all that takes away or diminishes our humanity, including our human dignity and identity. In this sense voluntarism takes us beyond the frontiers of calculated rendering and paying back.

We realised that we are not necessarily better than those who might not have been as lucky as we have been. We also realised that all of us, who we are or what we have, comes from what so many people known, and sometimes unknown, have contributed towards our lives. What we are and what we have therefore does not always come from what we deserve or from what we have invested in through our personal efforts. Voluntarism for us is not only a commitment to work for human justice. Nowadays it must include a component of promoting environmental justice since humans can only live and survive if we respect and promote what sustains ecosystems, namely living (biotic) things, of which humans are a component, and nonliving (abiotic) things. In this system there must be mutual and beneficial interdependence and interconnectedness.