Promoting Volunteerism at the Conference on Honduras 2003
There are many words and concepts that are closely associated with
Honduran culture. Unfortunately, "volunteerism" isn't one of them.
Therefore, you can imagine my pleasant surprise to find that there is
a new institution in Honduras called the Presidential Agency on
Volunteerism.
The agency, headed by Otto Martinez, was established last year by the
Maduro Administration. I liken it to Americorps in the US, which was
created by the Clinton Administration in 1993. The mission of the
Agency on Volunteerism is to promote volunteerism in Honduras and
strengthen the organized participation of society in the search for
solutions to community problems.
These sound like very nice words, and the idea behind the effort is
noble enough. Only time will tell whether this agency will succeed in
capturing the hearts and minds of the Honduran public. In the
industrialized world, citizens generally have more spare time on
their hands than people in developing countries such as Honduras and
easier opportunities to get involved in volunteer work. In the US,
the infrastructure for individuals to channel their excess energy is
well-developed.
In Honduras, this "channeling" process for willing volunteers is a
little more problematic, a lot more cumbersome. My sense is that
Hondurans can be inspired as much any anyone else to give of
themselves freely and enthusiastically to worthy causes. But there
has to be some creative leadership for this to happen and be
sustained for generations to come.
Given the lack of an ingrained tradition for volunteerism in
Honduras, such leadership cannot occur in isolation. It has to be
developed and reinforced through relationships with individuals and
groups for whom the spirit and experience of volunteerism comes as
second nature.
There are thousands of individuals representing hundreds of
organizations, companies, churches, and universities abroad who are
working on a wide range of projects to help meet the basic needs of
the Honduran people. Some are as large as Catholic Relief Services
(www.catholicreliefservices.org), while others such as Rodger
Harrison's Paramedics for Children (www.paramedicsforchildren.com)
and Michael Miller's Micah Project (www.micahcentral.org) are much
smaller.
The bottom line is that all of these foreign volunteers are making a
real, albeit quiet, impact on Honduras. What is missing is not only
more coordinated interaction between these groups, but also between
these groups and the Honduran government and Honduran businesses.
Imagine the exponential growth effect that you might put in motion if
everyone--Hondurans and their foreign friends--were working from the
same page and sharing information and contacts as a rule, rather than
as the exception.
One of the panels at the Conference on Honduras in Copan Ruins on
October 24-26, 2003, will be the Panel on Volunteerism. The goal of
that panel will be to encourage a national dialogue on how citizen
volunteers can work jointly, seamlessly with government and industry
in Honduras to facilitate and expand the valuable work in which
they're already engaged.
For information on the Presidential Agency on Volunteerism, see
www.presidencia.gob.hn/voluntariado. For more information on the
Conference on Honduras 2003, see www.projecthonduras.com/conference.
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