International Volunteer Day for Social and Economic Development 2020: Volunteer Your Time Towards Ways That You Can Make Sure Everyone Is Safe and Healthy From COVID-19 This Holiday Season and Beyond

By Harrish Thirukumaran

After difficult and unusual times during these past couple of months this year, we are now approaching December, the final month of 2020. I say this as since March 2020, our collective lives here in Ontario and Canada have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing us to follow a host of public health guidelines and physically distance from each other. In turn, our normal daily lives have been temporarily halted to combat this disease.

While there is discussion and speculation that things will be different in 2021 with attention being directed at the possibility of vaccines, one will have to wait and see how this turns out and continue doing what we can to control the situation. This, in one instance, is accomplished through volunteering, especially since the pandemic has undermined the economy resulting in job losses for many individuals including yourself possibly. It can reignite that sense of purpose in life that jobs are fundamentally meant to do while making an impact on society’s wellbeing overall.

The contributions of volunteers have also been recognized by the United Nations (UN) with International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development. This occasion is commemorated on December 5. International Volunteer Day is a chance for individual volunteers, communities, and organizations to promote their contributions to development at the local, national, and international levels. By combining UN support with a grassroots mandate, International Volunteer Day is a unique opportunity for people and volunteer-involving organizations to work with government agencies, non-profit institutions, community groups, academia, and the private sector.

It was adopted by the UN General Assembly through Resolution A/RES/40/212 on December 17, 1985. Since then, governments, the UN system and civil society organizations have successfully joined volunteers around the world to celebrate the Day on 5 December.

Through the years, International Volunteer Day has been used strategically: many countries have focused on volunteers’ contributions to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, a set of time-bound targets to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.

The organization of International Volunteer Day is generally the result of a partnership between the UN system, governments, volunteer-involving organizations and committed individuals. Representatives from the media or academia, foundations, the private sector, faith groups, and sports and recreational organizations are often involved too.

In terms of the day’s theme for 2020, it focuses on spreading the message of Together We Can Through Volunteering. Over the last months, as the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged across the world, volunteers have been at the forefront of medical, community and societal responses. Headlines in the world’s media have paid credit to volunteers for all kinds of work, from helping to provide medical care, to doing shopping for vulnerable neighbours, or checking up on elderly people living alone.

The COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan by the World Health Organization (WHO) identifies community volunteers as key stakeholders for risk communication and community engagement. This signifies the value that WHO sees in volunteers in relation to the pandemic.

In that sense, I encourage everyone to volunteer your time towards these and other practical ways that you can make sure everyone is safe and healthy from COVID-19 this holiday season and beyond.