If you want to give back to your community, society, and the world; volunteering is a great way to do this. You can offer your expertise, your time or join in manual labour to a program. It works really well if you got weekends, days, weeks or even months to spare.
Think about a course that’s close to your heart, how you want to leave the world or impact it then find a program that’s in line with that course. You can make a difference in Kenya, contribute to sustainable development goals, immerse yourself in new cultures and challenge yourself.
Some of the areas to volunteer would be children’s homes. It can be in terms of manual tasks, teaching children or playing with the children. Organizations championing for the care of the environment have volunteer programs as well. Other areas to look at would be creative agencies where you can curate free masterclasses, film industries and organizations centred around women empowerment.
Reasons to Volunteer
You may be wondering how it is that a service offered for free could be of any economic benefit. Well, it might not directly put a paycheck in your pocket, but it does help significantly in economic development.
Here are five economic benefits of volunteering
Volunteering Could Help You Land Your Dream Job
Participating in volunteering activities will make you stand
out in an organization. This is because volunteers are usually seen as motivated
and hardworking people who can be relied on. Every employer out there wants to
hire such a person. Another factor that better places you is the personal
network that you will manage to expand during the volunteering process. In the
event that you already have a job, volunteering will help you land an even
better position, which is a big economic benefit.
Volunteering Helps You Learn New Skills
Another economic benefit of volunteering is the fact that
from it, you can learn new skills. Sometimes, when you go into a volunteering
program, you have less knowledge on things. However, as time goes by, you end
up learning new skills that could be very valuable in the future. For example,
you could learn a lot about farming, carpentry work, building, among others.
All these could be very helpful in venturing into businesses in the future,
among others. It could also help you in saving money that you could have used
to hire someone else to do these jobs.
Through volunteering, you are able to help in building
the national economy
Whenever you volunteer, you benefit the national economy
because for the nation to grow the community development has to take place.
Volunteering in education, feeding the hungry, building shelter and in other
projects helps people get access to the basic needs and also helps them
understand what they need to do in order to develop their own economy.
Volunteering helps in raising awareness
Raising awareness against crime, violence and other social
malpractices through volunteering programs helps in development and economic
benefit. It helps people stay away from social vices thus creating a sound
environment for investment, both local and foreign. Investment helps in nation
building.
Volunteering helps you break out of your comfort zone and
learn something new
Just travelling to a different country to participate in
volunteering or doing it locally broadens your mind. It is also a risk worth taking
because it gives you many new ideas as you learn new things. It also builds up
on the ideas that you already had. This is an economic benefit as you could use
these to start a business, contribute more at your work place, contribute in
the government and in many other fields and it could end up improving the lives
of many economically.
How To Look For A Volunteer Program
- Social
Media – There are a lot of people volunteering and posting snippets of
their work on social. Get on there and look at the organizations they
volunteer from.
- Online
research
- AIESEC
– AIESEC is a talent exchange program and has 3 options, global volunteer,
global talent, and global entrepreneur. It has options to volunteer
in Kenya and find legit volunteering programs as well as work abroad
options.
- Communities. Join volunteering communities online. Learn about them, plan and then set out to find one.
Here Are The 10 Places To Volunteer in Kenya.
- Tunapanda
Institute
Location: Olympic Estate, Kibera.
Contact: +254721529930, info@tunapanda.org
Tunapanda is a social non-profit that teaches tech courses in low-income environments such as Kibera.
2. IFRE Volunteers
Website: https://www.ifrevolunteers.org/.
Contact: info@infrevolunteers.org
IFRE volunteers list various local volunteering opportunities such as teaching English, Working in Health Projects, Working in orphanages, HIV/AIDS projects, summer and adventure programs, and teaching in rural areas. The organization caters to foreigners looking to volunteer in Kenya but you can contact them if you’re Kenyan for more details.
3. Youth Alive Volunteers
Location: Ngong Road, Opposite Ligi Ndogo
Contact: +254202052492, info@youthalivekenya.com
Website: http://youthalivekenya.org/
This organization advocates for youth participation in development processes.
4. VSO International
Contact: enquiry@vsoint.org
Website: https://www.vsointernational.org/
Their programs are for people between age 18 and 25 and for corporate volunteering opportunities for their employees. With VSO, you can volunteer in Africa, Asia or The Pacific. Or you have to do is pick your country of choice and apply.
5. UN Volunteers
Website: https://www.unv.org/become-volunteer
Un Volunteers offers people a chance to volunteer in their country,
online or abroad. To apply for UN Volunteers you have to first register in the
UNV global talent pool and track their special calls for assignment to see if
there’s anything that fits you.
6. Sos Children’s Village International
Website: https://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/where-we-help/africa/kenya.
Sos runs programmes suited to strengthen families and cater to orphaned and neglected children in Kenya. They do this by providing vocational training, education, daycare, and medical services in 5 locations.
7. Mully’s Children’s Home
Location: Wood Gardens, Off Wood Avenue
Contact: +254733333121, mcf@mullychildrensfamily.org
Mully’s home welcomes people to share their talents. Whether Kenyan or a foreigner you can contribute to elevating the lives of children. Doctors, trainers, and interns are welcome. Visit their site to learn more.
- Angels
Centre
Location: Waithaka, Behind Dagoretti High School
Website: https://www.angelcentre.org/.
Angels Centre takes in babies of age 2 years and under and provides basic human rights, medical care, love and affection, nutrition, and homes until they find long-term families.
Hopefully, we have helped you pick a place to volunteer and give back to society.