“Volunteers do not necessarily have the TIME; they just have the HEART”- Elizabeth Andrew

The second chapter of ‘KIA: Knowledge in Action’ volunteering series with selected volunteers from Vasai, Kalyan, Khadki, Goa and Rajkot were conducted through a virtual platform. As the training is designed in a web series mode it was held in three learning sessions L1 – Introduction, L2 – Communication, L3-Resource Mobilization. It was also conducted as a pre-training to prepare the volunteers for onsite training as the advanced training. At the end of each session, volunteers were given a task based on the topic of the upcoming session.

The first session focussed on orienting the participants on ‘Volunteering: a way of living’ and Caritas India volunteering. Mr Chinmay Rao, Caritas Samaritans facilitated the training by sharing about the benefits of volunteering for the society and for an individual. He also added his personal experiences of being a Caritas Samaritan and working out of their own comfort zones. The session focussed on the advantages of being part of organised volunteering. Through his experience in organised volunteering he shared that it supports in expanding volunteer’s network, he/she shall have access to resources, the code of conduct for volunteers, policy manual etc.

Lead trainer for the second and third session was Mr Kushal Neogy, Director Partnerships, CRS. L2 primarily focussed on communication. The participants were oriented on the critical points of preparing a good case story. The session covered essentials of report writing as well. The do’s & don’ts of report writing challenges while writing a report and the importance of capturing effective photographs according to the requirement of the target audience. The session ended with facilitator’s feedback on case stories presented by the volunteer participants.

L3- Resource mobilization dealt with the essentials of fundraising. The session began with a group discussion on the importance of raising funds and modalities of increasing brand awareness. The volunteers were oriented on fundraising principles and strategies while being introduced to the fundraising cycle. The aspect of donor reporting was also highlighted along with each of the above mentioned.

The three days training series ended with participants preparing the volunteering action plan for the upcoming three months and sharing their feedback on the training. KIA Volunteers training is focussed on training volunteer leaders, who shall be responsible to build a network of volunteers within their geographical area. At the end of the training, the participants were registered as Caritas Samaritans. The next series shall be held for volunteer leaders from the MP region.