India is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country on the globe, the most populous democracy in the world, the world’s ninth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the fourth largest economy by purchasing power parity. Yes, it has only 8.5% Internet penetration, but it also has at least 100 million Internet users. (here’s where I got this info, in addition to Wikipedia)
In short, India is really big and really important.
But go to any online search engine and search for
volunteer India
and the links generated are for Westerners – people from Europe or North America or Australia – to travel to India and volunteer.
But people in India want to volunteer in their own communities, with local NGOs. On YahooAnswers, people from India, in India, regularly post and ask where they can volunteer locally, in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, and on and on. Here’s an example of one such person. Where is the online resource for people in India to find volunteering opportunities in their own communities and to learn how to be a great volunteer?
IVolunteer.in comes close to trying. It’s an initiative of MITRA, a not-for-profit organization in Delhi. But its database interface doesn’t allow a search by community, and seems to not be working properly – I did several searches using different criteria, and came up with no volunteer opportunities at all.
Is there really no kind-of VolunteerMatch or AllforGood for India? Really?
And what about a primary resource to help local NGOs in India build their capacities regarding financial management, fundraising, HR management, volunteer engagement, marketing and other key functions? South Africa has one. But not India? NGOsIndia.com comes close to trying…. but is far from there.
If you know of web sites that address either of these issues, please note such in the comments section. I really want to be wrong about these lack of resources for India.
However, please note, I am NOT looking for organizations or programs that send volunteers from other countries to India!
Pushpa Aman Singh commented on this blog on Jan. 7, but when I came here to approve the comment, it had disappeared. Luckily, I still have the email notification with the text of the comment:Jaago Re helps individuals in India connect with volunteering opportunities posted on their sitehttp://www.jaagore.com/Volunteers can use http://www.guidestarindia.org to search for NGOs by keyword/ cause/ location/ communities served and then connect with them by email/ phone to find organisations that may have opportunities. Some NGOs do post volunteering needs on our site in their Needs section.Several coroporate have in house volunteer placement services. NASSCOM Foundation runs MyKartavya.