VOLUNTEERING-SOLIDARITY

United Nations volunteering; It considers poverty reduction, sustainable development, health, youth empowerment, climate change, disaster and emergency management, social integration, humanitarian aid and in particular social exclusion and anti-discrimination strategies. According to the 2018 State of the World Volunteering Report, the number of volunteers in the world today is more than 1 billion ... This number is considered to be equivalent to 109 million full-time workers. If we consider volunteers as a country, we can say that volunteers constitute the fifth largest country in the world in terms of full-time workforce.

Volunteering; refers to any activity in which time is spent to benefit other people, groups or organizations. Volunteering is a form of social activity that people carry out to benefit people and society. According to another definition, volunteering; It is the sharing of many values such as mind, body, time and labor given to us with people and other beings without expecting a direct response.

Turkey, a rich accumulation and even though it has vast experience in volunteering, we see the great potential not used enough considering the international standards. Our country should benefit more from the cultural richness, volunteers and volunteering potential of our youth. In this way, Turkey will increase much more than the social capital.

In our country, whose youth population between the ages of 15-30 corresponds to 25.3 percent of the total population, the mission and vision set by the Ministry regarding youth are in line with the achievements of volunteering. The Ministry of Youth and Sports takes a leading role in institutionalizing volunteering.

Volunteering is one of the phenomena with the highest social, economic and political acceptability as a global common value that goes beyond local, regional and national borders. Volunteering, which has emerged in different ways in different geographies throughout history and has a strong tradition, is a public policy that is used both in times of prosperity and crisis.

Local, national and international organizations attach special importance to volunteering in order to hang on to the increasing isolation, alienation and individualization in the urbanization and globalization process.

Volunteering is now accepted as a stand-alone discipline, especially in academies in developed countries. In the 21st century, volunteering has become a field of study where thousands of articles and books are published.

Although the importance of volunteerism is acknowledged, there is no common definition agreed upon. This situation makes it difficult to conceptualize and allows flexibility in its definition. Volunteering is accepted as a value that has a positive meaning in people's world of thought and brings people and societies closer.

Although volunteerism is a widely used concept, it is often confused with visiting, donation, charity, kindness, philanthropy and participation. Volunteering; It includes a conscious action, effort, spending time, using knowledge and skills, continuity, helping others, mutual consent without any material expectations. Volunteering is generally considered as a leisure activity. Volunteering is realized as a social responsibility rather than a personal responsibility, and it is one of the most beautiful ways of active citizenship.

Volunteering can be regarded as a common value of the whole world, as it provides great gains for individuals, institutions, society, countries and the whole world. A well-defined, structured and framed volunteer system can play an important role in empowering the individual, society and the state.

Volunteering activities can take place mostly in voluntary organizations, but also in some public institutions and private sector. Volunteers, who come from different ideas and structures and have an important place in the success of voluntary organizations, increase participation and act together to solve the problems of the society. Since volunteers and NGOs generally maintain their existence in connection with each other, the strengthening of volunteering depends on the increase in the quantity and quality of NGOs.

Source: 2019 Volunteer Year Strategy