• AN OPPORTUNITY TO IMPACT SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE SOCIETY 

The process by which human interactions, relationships, behavior patterns, and cultural norms change over time is referred to as social change. These changes eventually transform cultural and social institutions, concepts, and rules, which will inevitably have a long-term impact on society. 

Volunteering at an NGO can provide you with a platform to contribute to the greater good in your community. There are numerous non-profit organizations that pursue various goals or passions.

They could be focused on hunger, education, women’s empowerment, job creation, and other SDGs. You can volunteer, intern, or work with anyone of interest to ensure that you are making an effort to affect change.

 

  • INCREASE YOUR EMPLOYABILITY

As a graduate, university student, or even someone willing to explore new career paths, volunteering or working with an NGO can increase your employability success.

Recruiters value soft skills such as teamwork, communication, relationship building, perseverance, training, and many others.

Volunteering or working with an NGO can also help you build capacities in digital marketing, designing, visual and written communication, administration, project management, content creation, funds, and grant raising, as soft skills are just as important to a recruiter as hard skills.

 

  • MEET NEW PEOPLE AND NETWORK

Non-profit organizations are frequently made up of people of various ethnicities and cultures.

Working with them will provide you with new perspectives on life as well as new profitable friendships.

Attending critical events with other organizations or policymakers in their line of change, who could be national or international individuals, is also part of key activities in these organizations.

 

Volunteering as a young or middle-aged person can help you build a network of contacts that you will need in the near or distant future.

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  • INCREASES YOUR CHANCE OF FINDING NEWER OPPORTUNITIES

The sky is not your limit, but merely a stepping stone. If you want to be a part of global change by joining international organizations, volunteering with non-profit organizations in your home country could be a good starting point.

Before bringing you on board to make an international change, these organizations want to know how capable you have been with the national space you have been given.

You will have to demonstrate that you have been useful to your country and that you can be useful to the rest of the world.

 

  • BUILD HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE 

For example, if you have a passion for providing education to the less advantaged, as we do at Flexisaf Foundation, you will eventually find yourself on the field visiting poor communities, meeting with the parents of the children you intend to educate in order to obtain their approval, supervising the schooling activities you have put in place or are a part of, and many other practical activities that actually change lives.

It’s the same practical experience as ending world hunger, immunizing a health-deficient community, drilling wells to provide clean water, and many other things.

Such experiences make you extremely valuable to the rest of the world.

 

  • MAKE HISTORY

There are many people for whom the sands of time cannot wash away the weight of their names and lives lived on Earth. Nelson Mandela, a South African legend who advocated for education, and Martin Luther King, a hero who died for the cause of ending racism, are two major examples from Africa. Their names and deeds will live on in history.

If you want to be a hero and make history, start small by volunteering with an NGO. Perhaps you will discover a new passion that will inspire you to create the breakthrough that will make your name known far and wide.

 

  • LEARN HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN NGO

Passion and research will give you the grit required to start an NGO in Nigeria, other African countries, Canada, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, and so on, but seeing how it is run will be more beneficial in learning how to start your own NGO. Volunteering at an NGO will give you an idea of how to run your own, what roles to hire, how a project is conceived and implemented, and how to find people who share your passion. You will also be able to ask questions about topics you are unfamiliar with.

 

  • BUILD YOUR CV/RESUME

When applying for a job or a scholarship, we must submit our CVs or resumes to the recruiter because it expands our experience and demonstrates how we fit into their company or organization. To be eligible for popular scholarships and fellowships such as the Chevening scholarship, the Chevening fellowship, the Commonwealth scholarship and fellowship, Mandela Nelson Fellowship, and many others, we would need to write essays and resumes demonstrating unrivaled involvement with society, making changes, and giving hope to the hopeless.

 

  • PREPARE YOURSELF FOR POLITICAL ROLES

To be a person who rules from a political position, change can only be truly effected if one is leadership minded, and being a leader from the start will put the people’s best interests first. Volunteering or working with an NGO will give you the people’s hearts while also qualifying you for the role.

Odinaka Agbo August 2, 2022 1 Comment Activities, Blog, Stories, Volounteers