There is growing recognition that the development framework that will succeed the Millennium Development Goals must ensure a more bottom-up approach to development, one that puts people at its heart and leaves no one behind. To be able to achieve this, it is important that the post-2015 framework looks beyond traditional development approaches and actors.
In designing this framework, we in the global development community have a unique opportunity to think about and encourage a model of development that moves beyond a focus on financial and technical assistance to one that supports more people-centred approaches. And this is where we can really celebrate and learn from the ways that volunteers work — truly from the bottom up.
Volunteer action is the invisible hand in more development solutions than many people think. In Tanzania, volunteers make up three quarters of the civil society workforce and in Uganda they are estimated to fill more than half of civil society jobs. A study conducted by Johns Hopkins University in 36 countries estimated that if volunteers were all packed into one country, it would be the ninth largest country in the world.
About the author
Kate Cotton
Kate Cotton is global adviser, volunteering for development at VSO, the world’s leading independent international development organization that works through volunteers to fight poverty in developing countries. Kate joined VSO from Save the Children Australia and combines extensive experience in the development sector with a genuine passion for understanding and enabling community participation through volunteering.
