Commentary: International Volunteer Day and the Spirit of Gotong Royong
More than one billion people volunteer globally. They are in schools helping children learn. They are advocating for human rights. They are peacekeepers in conflict zones. This International Volunteer Day, we want to thank every person offering their time here in Indonesia, or away from home abroad.
"Volunteering" is undertaken of free will, for the benefit of public good, and where monetary reward is not a motivating factor. Indonesia’s culture of helping one another, which is imbedded in everyday life, is one of the nations many wonderful traits. Community self-help or gotong royong (bring together) is a generations-old tradition. Men and women of all ages can be seen offering help to their neighbour or community any day of the year. It can be seen in the rice fields where communities are working on irrigation, or in cities where people are tidying their local streets together. This quality is a pride of Indonesian culture.
Pride in the spirit of gotong royong will help Indonesia achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 17 SDGs, signed onto by world leaders one year ago, is a universal and bold commitment to people and the planet. Primarily, they aim to end extreme poverty, slow down climate change and tackle inequality by the year 2030. Affordable and clean energy, gender equality, good health and well-being — these are three of the goals which we can all help to achieve. With the help of volunteers, we can.
Volunteers are powerful at the grassroots level. The SDGs call for changes in societal attitudes and behaviours. In communities, volunteers facilitate changes in mindsets by raising awareness. Volunteers have brought local knowledge and experience to workplaces and communities. They can amplify the voices of minorities and the unheard.
Volunteers are powerful even when they are away from home. Through United Nations Volunteer program, we have seen people from a range of ages and nationalities come to Indonesia and get to work. They might be experts in finance, or communications, or project management. Their work experience, along with their openness to experience a new culture is invaluable to teams and organizations. National citizens, too, are taking on volunteer opportunities at home and abroad in each of the United Nations agencies including UNHCR, UNDP and UNDP.
As we all continue to work together, practicing gotong royong, to achieve the SDGs, the motivation and commitment of individual volunteers needs to be matched by responsive and supportive institutions and development actors. The State of the World’s Volunteerism Report which launched mid-2015, showed the “art of the possible.” When all resources available to us are utilized, the challenges of today are manageable. For this to happen, spaces and opportunities need to be created where people are welcome to volunteer their time, knowledge and ability for the benefit of others.
From United Nations in Indonesia, we thank all of you who have volunteered this year. Volunteerism has long been a growing movement. Now we have the SDGs in place, we need more hands on deck than ever before.
Douglas Broderick is the United Nations resident coordinator in Indonesia
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