Engaging stakeholders from different communities to volunteer for the development of society and creating changemakers have been the strategic focus of Caritas India. It understands volunteering as a powerful and practical way to reach out to the most marginalized sections and reduce poverty and inequality. It believes that it is only when people step forward – either as local or national citizens – that sustainable change happens. By enabling people and the communities to play a more active role in development by volunteering, the essential pre-conditions for systemic and sustainable change such as ownership, participation, empowerment, and inclusion – can be realised.

Creating volunteer leaders is the most effective way of spreading a network of volunteering. With this mission, Caritas India initiated a series of training volunteer leaders in the selected dioceses. On 12^th & 13^th March 2021, 25 volunteer leaders from Caritas Goa were trained on volunteering policy, how to mobilize and engage volunteers. The training on day one began with sessions by Mr Melvin’s introducing the 4 key strategic pillars followed by sessions by Ms Jenny, Officer -Volunteer Management, Caritas India, on volunteering policy followed by situational case studies, wherein the participants were divided into smaller groups to find a feasible solution to the situations. The day ended with an activity-based session on becoming a good leader.

The session highlighted faith, trust, teamwork, and perseverance as the key aspects to be a strong leader. The day ended with participants listing down the existing volunteering activities and calculating the volunteering hours. Day 2 of the training began with a recap presented by the participants followed by a session on how to mobilize volunteers leading to challenges faced by participants while engaging volunteers. Participants shared the common challenges they have faced while managing volunteers and the challenges faced by them while being a volunteer themselves. The solutions to the challenges were brought out by fellow participants themselves through discussions and group activity.

The participants attending the training came from three volunteerism areas namely: – Cansurvive Programme, Prison Ministry and Co-ordinators working on the various projects undertaken by Caritas Goa. The participants were grouped as per their area of volunteerism and were instructed to formulate a plan of action for their respective area for a period of three months under the criteria – Number of Volunteers targeted; Timeline to complete the target; Timeline for Registration; Engagement Plan of Volunteers; Type of support required from Caritas Goa/ Caritas India.

The key success of the training was the involvement of all participants in every aspect of the training sessions conducted which was only possible due to proper time management and co-ordinated efforts by the faculties. The training ended on the note that “The key to successful leadership is influenced and not authority and the only real training for Leadership, is Leadership”.