Roadmap On Volunteering For Development in The Philippines

A Roadmap on
Volunteering for
Development in the
Philippines
Table of Contents
Foreword......................................................................................................................... i
Chapter 1. Introduction................................................................................................. 1
Development Administration............................................................................................ 1
The New Public Service Paradigm: Citizenship at the Core .......................................... 2
Defining Volunteerism..................................................................................................... 3
Volunteerism and Active Citizenship............................................................................... 8
The Philippine Development Plan (2011-2016),
Social Inclusion, and Volunteerism ............................................................................ 10
Chapter 2. A Quick Overview of Volunteers in the Philippines............................... 17

Philippine Volunteerism’s Contribution to Development and Society............................ 17
A Quick Look at Volunteers as Part of the Workforce.................................................... 20
Philippine Volunteers’ Defining Attributes and Characteristics...................................... 24
Principles Adhered to by Filipino Volunteers and
How They Perceive Themselves................................................................................ 26
Chapter 3. Enabling Environment for Philippine Volunteerism.............................. 31

A. Relevant Laws and Policies that Support Volunteerism............................................ 31
B. Volunteer Programs and Initiatives by Volunteer Service Organizations.................. 38
C. School-Based or –Managed Volunteer Programs.................................................... 41
D. Corporate Volunteerism............................................................................................ 45
E. Foreign Service Volunteers....................................................................................... 46
Chapter 4. Mobilizing and Managing Volunteers for Development:

The Need for Upgraded Volunteer Management Systems.................................... 49
Chapter 5. Responding to Development Challenges: The Role

of Volunteers and Volunteer Organizations........................................................... 55
Philippine Volunteers Recognize the Need for “Volunteering for Development”........... 57
Responding to Philippine Development and MDG Goals.............................................. 57
Addressing the Most Vulnerable or Marginalized Group............................................... 59
Plans for Networking (Volunteer-to-Volunteer).............................................................. 60
Chapter 6. A Roadmap on Volunteering for Development in the Philippines........ 63

Track I: Establishment of Internal Volunteer Management System............................... 65
Track II: Analysis of the Socio-economic, Cultural, Economic,
and Political Milieu of Development and Active Citizenship....................................... 70
References.............................................................................................................. 74
R o a d m a p o n Vo lunteering f o r Dev elo p me nt in the Philippine s
i
Foreword
The last six years have seen a confluence of events that underscore
the latent power of volunteerism to address development challenges.
With the Volunteer Act of 2007, the Philippines became one of the few
countries that institutionalized volunteerism as a strategy for national
development and international cooperation. The tragedy of Ondoy,
Sendong and more recently of Yolanda and the Bohol earthquake, and
every major natural disaster before and after it, became catalysts for
modern-day heroism, prodding the Philippine Daily Inquirer to name,
“The Volunteers”, its People of the Year for 20111.
Philippine volunteerism will only reap genuine gains if different actors
come together and map out the future of volunteering. According to
the State of Philippine Volunteerism Report in 20112, among the many
challenges faced by the voluntary sector are advocacy of volunteering
for development at the local level and synergy of volunteering initiatives
with the Philippine Development Plan (PDP). In response to these major
challenges, three (3) recommendations3 were put forward:
1 http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/139673/filipino-of-the-year-2011-the-volunteers
2 First Country Report on the State of Philippine Volunteerism published by the
Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency in 2011.
3 First Country Report on the State of Philippine Volunteerism 2011, page 34.
ii R o a d m a p o n Vo lunteering f o r Dev elo p me nt in the Philippine s
1. Formulation of a Volunteer Sector Plan that will flesh out the

intents of the PDP in terms of sector and regional priorities for
volunteering;
2. Strengthening public-private partnership in volunteerism as a
social infrastructure for building social capital; and
3. Development of an alliance of volunteer networks and
volunteer organizations that will provide the venue and hub
for dissemination and sharing of information and resources on
volunteerism.
All these point to the fact that the country is primed and ripe to scale up
voluntary action and citizen participation and to look at them through
strategic lens. The Philippine Coalition on Volunteerism or PhilCV – a
coalition of volunteer-involving organizations – bound by its niche in
volunteering for development is strategically placed to influence the
future of Philippine volunteerism by tapping extensive knowledge of its
members and partners for the collective aspiration of strengthening the
national voluntary sector.
The Roadmap on Volunteering for Development in the Philippines
is a multi-stakeholder development agenda that is influenced by the
experience of volunteers, volunteer-involving organizations and
partners from government, and builds this collective experience
into a valuable program of action that will be useful not only for
government agencies but also for the wider voluntary sector. It is a direct
response to the challenge of the Philippine Development Plan and in
strengthening partnerships for volunteerism at the forefront of the current
administration’s social contract to the Filipino people and beyond.
The Roadmap took a close look at the issues and challenges of
the voluntary sector and the gaps in the policies and programs of
government including the Volunteer Act of 2007. It also examined the
recommendations of the State of Philippine Volunteerism to enjoin
government and civil-society organizations. By consulting different
stakeholders, the Roadmap underscores convergence among partners and
advocates from its design and development to its proposed agenda.
Overall, the Roadmap shall serve as a guide in designing favorable
internal management systems that will facilitate and boost volunteerism
among volunteers and volunteer organizations and promote volunteering
iii
for development across all sectors of society as well as respond to

priority areas in volunteering for development.
The proposed framework is split into two (2) main tracks with specific
recommendations on activities, desired outputs and outcomes that will
guide volunteering actors towards a vibrant Philippine volunteerism.
Through this framework, the PhilCV hopes to bring together volunteer-
involving organizations and other players on a common page and to
be aligned with government efforts so that we are headed into a shared
vision of volunteering for development.
The Roadmap presents PhilCV some real challenges but also offers
unique opportunities as the Coalition works towards uniting and
synergizing volunteer efforts in partnership with government, civil
society and the wider voluntary sector.
Roadmap on Volunteering for Development
in the Philippines1
Introduction on
Volunteering for
Development
Development administration
1
From the classical model of public administration, mainly characterized
by the bureaucratic and scientific models, scholars turned to
‘development administration’ as the ensuing paradigm, which basically
focused on nation-building as well as socio-economic progress. John
Montgomery (1966) defines development administration as “carrying out
planned change in the economy (in agriculture or industry, or the capital
infrastructure supporting either of those), and, to a lesser extent, in the
social services of the state (especially education and public health).”
Moreover, Fred W. Riggs (1970) has defined development administration
as “organized efforts to carry out programs or projects by those involved
to serve development objectives.” Sapru (1994) revisited the concept
of development administration, and stated that the primary objective
of development administration is to “strengthen the administrative
machinery which would bring about socio-economic development”
(p. 81).
In a study by David Stone (1965, cited by Sapru, 1994, p. 92), an
observation was that “the primary obstacles to development are
administrative rather than economic…Countries generally lack the
administrative capability for implementing plans and programs.”
Furthermore, Sapru (1994, p. 97) exhorts political reform to precede
administrative reform or for both reforms to go alongside each other, “if
the goals of development are to be achieved”. Thus, working to change
power relations, redistribution of resources and the overall focus of
1 Prepared by Dr. Maria Faina L. Diola for the Philippine Coalition on Volunteerism
(PhilCV) as bases for Action Planning.
2 R o a d m a p o n Vo lunteering f o r Dev elo p me nt in the Philippine s
development can and should be part and parcel of a country’s pursuit

of development goals. Sapru adds that “how to make the administrative
state accountable and responsible is the crux of the problem in
developing countries” (p. 97).
The above arguments point to the importance of public administration
systems to better respond to national development goals in bringing
about development, while recognizing public administration systems’
intrinsic link with political and social institutions.
The government need not be the sole player in bringing about
development; instead its relation with other political and social actors,
such as the civil society organizations and volunteer groups, need
accentuation.
The New Public Service Paradigm: Citizenship at the Core

The New Public Service (Denhardt and Denhardt, 2007) extends the
concept of citizen and other sectors of society’s engagement in public
administration. This newer model requires that governments put the
needs and values of citizens first in their decisions and actions in order to
understand what citizens are concerned about. The concept of citizenship
is thus currently given prominence in public administration literature.
The “Citizens First!” program in Orange County, Florida, guided by its
Chairman Linda Chapin, was cited by Denhardt and Denhardt (2007) for
their advocacy on community-orientedness of programs. The Citizens
First program stresses that as citizens, people must demonstrate their
concern for the larger community, while assuming personal responsibility
for things that happen in their community. On the part of government,
Chapin explains that in relation to the government, while citizens assume
the role of citizens, those in government
Must be willing to listen and to put the needs and values of citizens first
in our decisions and actions. We must reach out in new and innovative
ways to understand what our citizens are concerned about. And we
must respond to needs that they believe will help make a better life for
themselves and their children. In other words, those of us in government
must put citizens first. (Denhardt and Denhardt, 2007. P. 178)
Denhardt and Denhardt (2007) propose an alternative to an earlier

administrative model, the New Public Management theory, whose focus
is on the manager and managerial approaches. Their argument for a New
Public Service is drawn from the following: (1) democratic political
theory, as it is basically concerned with the relationship between citizens
3
and the government and (2) alternative approaches to management and

organizational design that stems from the more humanistic tradition in
public administration.
Denhardt and Denhardt’s conception of the New Public Service is also
linked with their concept of citizenship and the community as already
implied above. The authors cite Sandel (1996, cited in Denhardt and
Denhardt, 2007) who highlights the relationship between the state and
citizens in terms of procedures and rights whereby the government
fulfills its responsibility to the citizens by assuring that procedures follow
democratic principles and that the rights of individuals are safeguarded.
According to Denhardt and Denhardt (2007), this view upholds self-
interests as well as the collective self-interests of individuals in society.
The New Public Service model thus embraces the entry of volunteers
in the delivery of public services, promoting the joint sharing of public
service. This is the core of citizenship – service to a larger community
among active volunteers working for change.
Defining volunteerism
Volunteerism has taken on different meanings. We first take the
definition of volunteerism from the point of view of the International
Labor Office (ILO), which considers the economic dimension of
volunteerism. Notice the difference between volunteerism and regular
paid work for each attribute ILO pins on volunteerism. The different
characteristics of volunteerism described below are important to note,
especially (a) that volunteerism is work and (b) that it involves both
“direct” and “organization-based” work, which are especially important
considerations when assessing the contribution of volunteerism to the
economy, and even in establishing the contribution of volunteerism
globally, that is, accounting for what volunteerism might equally
contribute to development in monetary terms if volunteers were to be
paid like regular staff for their work.
Volunteerism has been defined by ILO as unpaid non-compulsory
work; that is, time individuals give without pay to activities performed
either through an organization or directly for others outside their own
household. A number of key features of this definition, and of the activity
it identifies as “volunteer work” deserve special attention. According to
the ILO Manual (2011)2:
2 This section was taken liberally from the ILO Manual (2011).
(a) It involves work. This means that it involves activities that produce
goods and/or services which contribute something of potential value
to its recipients. The activity being measured should contribute to
the production of goods and services that fall within the general
production boundary of the economy as defined in the System of
National Account (SNA). This means that the activity is not done
solely for the benefit or enjoyment of the person doing the activity
or of a member of that person’s household. Thus, playing a musical
instrument solely for one’s own enjoyment is not work and hence
not “volunteer work”; but playing a musical instrument (without
payment) for the enjoyment of residents in a nursing home or
community is. Similarly, training and education activities do not
constitute volunteer work because they do not typically produce an
output that falls within the production boundary of the economy
and therefore do not meet the definition of “work.” Most volunteer
work is within the international concept of employment as presently
understood, but there are volunteer activities that are beyond it.
(ii) To be considered a volunteer, a person needs to do “some” volunteer
work during a specified reference period. In the international definition
of employment, “some” is typically understood to be at least one hour
during a short reference period (of one day or one week. However,
it should be borne in mind that volunteering may be carried out for
shorter periods than this. A one-hour minimum threshold thus has the
potential of undercounting a significant number of volunteers and a
considerable amount of volunteer work, particularly episodes that are
individually short but that are conducted regularly. Thus, as long as the
volunteer activity qualifies as work as opposed to leisure, it may still
be considered volunteer work even if conducted for less than one hour
during a specified reference period.
(b) It is unpaid. Volunteer work by definition is work without pay or

compensation, in cash or in kind. However, some forms of monetary
or in-kind compensation may still be possible without violating this
feature of the definition:
(i) Volunteers may be reimbursed for the out-of-pocket expenses they
incur in their assignment (e.g. travel costs or cost of equipment);
(ii) Services such as a meal or transportation may be provided to the
volunteer so long as their value does not equal or surpass the value of
local market wages;
(iii) Volunteers may receive stipends intended to cover their own living
expenses so long as the stipends are not contingent on the local market
value, quality or quantity of the work, or on its outcome (if any);
5
(iv) Symbolic gifts, or other similar expressions of gratitude for volunteer

work, may be given to the volunteer so long as they are not equal to the
value of local market wages;
(v) Whether the value of any such reimbursement is considered equal to or
more than the value of local market wages may well vary from place
to place. In-kind provision of food in a low-wage area, for example,
may constitute significant compensation. Each country should make
these determinations in accordance with local customs, and survey
administrators may wish to include the resulting decisions in the survey
instructions;
(vi) Volunteers may receive non-monetary benefits from volunteering in
the form of skills development, social connections, job contacts, social
standing and a feeling of self-worth;
(vii) Corporate volunteering programmes present a different situation
since some businesses provide incentives for workers to participate
in such programmes, such as offering paid time off. Where such
incentives exist, the resulting activity violates the “unpaid” provision
of the recommended definition and should therefore not be counted
as volunteer work. Rather, this should be considered a corporate in-
kind contribution. On the other hand, where the encouragement takes
the form of organizing employee group volunteer activities without
financial compensation being paid to the participants, the resulting
activity does qualify as volunteer work;
(viii) More generally, volunteer activity that is carried out concomitantly
with paid work would not qualify as volunteer work (for example, a
truck driver who picks up and carries a hitchhiker during paid working
hours would not be doing volunteer work).
(c) It is non-compulsory. Volunteer activity must involve a significant

element of choice. Persons engage in these activities willingly,
without being legally obliged or otherwise coerced to do so. Court-
mandated unpaid work, work mandated as part of a prison sentence,
and alternative service related to a military draft would therefore be
excluded. Social obligation, such as peer pressure, parental pressure
or the expectations of social groups, however, does not make the
activity compulsory.
(i) Unpaid apprenticeships required for entry into a job and internships
and student volunteer work required for graduation or continuation in a
school or training programme violate the non-compulsory feature of the
definition and should therefore not be considered as volunteer work.
(ii) Adding filter questions about compulsory service to a survey on

volunteer work may be important in some contexts, particularly in
countries that employ mandatory national service in lieu of military
service or that regularly mandate community service by court order.
(iii) Because young persons do not have the legal capacity to engage or
refuse to engage in the activities discussed here on their own, and
therefore it cannot be meaningfully determined if the “non-compulsory”
criterion defining volunteer work is met, the ILO Manual recommends
a minimum age cut-off point for measuring volunteer work. The cut-off
age recommended is 15 years and above, but countries may choose to
use a lower boundary if warranted by local circumstances, for example
if the minimum age for inclusion in employment and unemployment
is different. For purposes of international comparability, countries that
use a different age cut-off point for defining in-scope volunteer work
should report the fact.
(d) It embraces both “direct” volunteering, i.e., volunteer activities

engaged in directly for other households, and “organization-
based” volunteering, i.e., volunteering done for or through
nonprofit institutions or other types of organizations. The definition
of volunteer work recommended in the ILO Manual covers both of
these types of volunteering. This is so because direct volunteering
is at least as important as organization-based volunteering in many
countries, particularly in countries or regions where there are fewer
nonprofit organizations through which persons might volunteer.
Restricting volunteer work to activities undertaken through a
particular type of organization makes the definition dependent on the
presence of that type of institution, and this presence varies widely
among countries. While both forms of volunteering fall within the
definition of volunteer work recommended here, their separation in
the data is important for classification and reporting purposes. For
example, only organization-based volunteer work for non-profit
institutions can be counted towards the satellite account of non-profit
institutions.
(e) It does not embrace work done without pay for members of
the volunteer’s own household. Most experts on volunteering
agree that work done for family members, especially “immediate”
family members, does not qualify as volunteer work. As noted
earlier, however, a problem arises in using “family” as the unit of
observation, because the definition of “family,” and even “immediate
family,” is imprecise and differs widely among different countries
7
and cultures. Rather than using this imprecise term, the definition
recommended here adopts the usage common in labor force
surveys, which use the “household,” i.e. persons living together
in the same housing unit, as the unit of observation. While more
precise, however, this term is not without its own complications. In
particular:
(i) Setting the boundary at the household level may well affect the rate of
direct volunteering in different countries because of cultural differences
in the range of family members who commonly live in the same
household. Countries may need to take this into account in reporting on
the extent of volunteer work.
(ii) Foster parenting poses a particular challenge. Foster-parenting could
be considered volunteer work where (1) it is a short-term activity
undertaken for a few days or weeks, (2) there is a clear understanding
that the child will not stay with the foster family once permanent care
is found and is therefore not a part of the foster family’s “household,”
and (3) any stipend provided is below the actual cost of the services
provided or expenses incurred. Where a child’s care is long-term,
however, the child becomes a member of the household, thus placing
the foster-parenting outside the scope of volunteer work. Even in cases
where the foster-parenting is a short-term activity, calculating the hours
volunteered by the foster-parents is complicated, because it is difficult
to separate hours volunteered from hours spent engaged in other
household activities. Countries where this activity is widespread may
therefore need to formulate rules of thumb to limit the number of hours
foster-parenting can legitimately be considered to occupy in a typical
day or week.
(f) It includes volunteering done without compulsion in all types of

institutional settings: nonprofit organizations, government, private
businesses, and “other”.
(g) It does not limit the scope of volunteer work to a particular
beneficiary. Volunteer work can be conducted to benefit an
assortment of organizations and causes, including people, the
environment, animals, the wider community, etc. (ILO Manual
2011).
While volunteerism for ILO means unpaid work, it may entail even paid
work in formal organizations based on the United Nations Framework.
The latter defines parameters of volunteerism as having characteristics
of free will, non-pecuniary motivations and benefit to others. In addition,
the UN Framework recognizes the expressions of volunteerism as

formal service delivery, mutual aid and self-help, and civic participation.
However, the UN explains that the context influences volunteerism,
especially local culture and the social milieu.
In the Philippines, Sec.4 of RA 9418 defines “Volunteerism” as an act
“involving a wide range of activities, including traditional forms of
mutual aid and developmental interventions that provides an enabling
and empowering environment both on the part of the beneficiary
receiving and the volunteer rendering the act, undertaken for reasons
arising from socio developmental, business or corporate orientation,
commitment or conviction for the attainment of the public good and
where monetary and other incentives and awards are not the primary
motivating factors.”
On the other hand, the same Section of the Volunteer Act defines
“Voluntary Sector” as “those sectors of society that organize themselves
into volunteers to take advocacy and action primarily for local
and national development as well as international cooperation and
understanding, while “Volunteer Service Organizations“ are defined in
this Act as refers to a local or foreign group that recruits, trains, deploys
and supports volunteer workers to programs and projects implemented by
them or by other organizations or any group that provides services and
resources, including, but not limited to information, capability building,
advocacy, and networking for the attainment of the common good.
Hence, different forms of active citizenship and volunteerism are
recognized by UN, ILO, and by volunteer groups in the Philippines.
Volunteerism and Active Citizenship

It is ideal that organizations offering voluntary service should adopt
volunteerism as an approach and strategy, making it an integral part of
the mission of the organizations. Corollary to the spirit of volunteerism
are ideals of Citizenship, which means taking one’s responsibility as
a citizen of the country, living the values of cooperation, patriotism,
hard work, respect for others, respect for the law and government,
truth, freedom, love, equality and peace3. What this entails is that
the management of the volunteer service program must in itself be
consultative and democratic.
9
Public service and active citizenship

The link between public service and citizenship is discussed at
length by Denhardt and Denhardt (2007) in their New Public Service
model, which stresses the ethical dimension of citizenship, defining
it as “citizenship concerned with the nature of one’s membership
in a political community, including such issues as the rights and
responsibilities of citizens.” The authors cite Aristotle’s Politics as
“that which gives a classical account, an expression of an “ideal”
view of citizenship4 (Pocock, 1995, p.42 cited by Denhardt and
Denhardt, p. 46). By this, the two authors mentioned above elucidate
that citizens engage in the work of the polis because that is the means
by which they can attain their fullest humanity.
In the context of democracy on the other hand, Barber (1984) further
explains that in participative democracy, the movement is towards
the creation of active, interested communities of citizens “who are
united less by homogeneous interests than by civic education and
who are made capable of common purpose and mutual action by
virtue of their civic attitudes and participatory institutions” (Barber,
1984, p. 117). The vision entails a transformed citizenry, from being
private individuals with self-interests to having a regard for the
public good.
Denhardt and Denhardt (2007, p. 54) quote Thomas Jefferson who
once reminded one of his friends to be more active in national affairs
and to do more public service, saying: “There is a debt of service due
from every man to his country, proportioned to the bounties which
nature and fortune have measured him”.5 Towards this direction of
a democratic ideal, the two Denhardts conclude that it behooves
individuals to become engaged and requires that active citizens be
moved by a commitment to serve others and the community. Clearly,
the spirit of volunteerism can perhaps be fueled by an equally
defining active citizenship attitude.
3 Taken from Local Government Agency/DILG (2005), Good Citizenship Handbook.

4 Denhardt and Denhardt cite Pocock for this view: Pocock, J.G.A. 1995 (p. 42). “The
ideal of citizenship since classical times”. In Theorizing Citizenship, ed. Ronald Beiner,
29-52. Albany: State University of New York.
5 Original source of quotation by Denhardt and Denhardt (2007): Staats, Elmer. (1988).
“Public service and the public interest”. Public Administration Review (March –April):
601-5.
Mutual responsibility and citizenship

Mutual responsibility is an important facet of the spirit of
citizenship, which is also being stressed in the new public service.
If volunteerism were to be espoused fully by both government and
non-government actors under the new public service model, then
this spirit of shared responsibility or mutual responsibility has also
to be emphasized. It has also been recognized by Pranger (1968)
as a direction to which citizen action can direct itself. Pranger
(1968, p. 53)6, cite Denhardt and Denhardt (2007, p. 51) contends
that the more virtuous conduct of citizens is when they veer away
from the culture of power, rather, they act responsibly as an agent
“for common participation based on independent points of view,
eventually fostering that mutual responsibility, which alone enriches
the commonwealth’s life” (Denhardt and Denhardt, 2007, p. 51). The
mutuality aspect of citizenship is considered a key variable that may
unlock gray areas in action-oriented and participatory types of public
service programs of the government and even those programs of non-
state actors.
The Philippine Development Plan (2011-2016), Social

Inclusion, and Volunteerism
The Philippine Development Plan (2011-2016), which specified
volunteerism as a cross-cutting strategy in pursuing the vision of
inclusive growth and President Aquino’s vision of a Social Contract with
the Filipino people further gave impetus to volunteerism. Specifically,
Chapter 8 on Social Development of the PDP (2011-2016) provides that
The government shall reinforce the practice of
volunteerism in the delivery of social services, provision
of technical assistance, responding to disasters and
undertaking humanitarian efforts, especially in remote
and unserved areas. The sector shall mobilize the talents,
expertise, time and energies of volunteers from the
academe, NGOs and government and foreign volunteer
organizations.
Furthermore, on January 10, 2011, Pres. Benigno Aquino III issued
Proclamation No. 92, “Declaring Year 2011 as the 10th Anniversary
6 Original source: Pranger, Robert J. (1968). The eclipse of citizenship. New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston.
11
Celebration of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10) in the

Philippines, in support of the Global Theme, Volunteering for the
MDGs.” This Proclamation encourages greater voluntary participation
and active commitment from the public, private, business and civil
society sectors to promote volunteerism for the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) including peace and development in the country.
Also, the House of Representatives issued on October 11, 2011
Resolution No. 183, expressing the appreciation for the role of volunteers
in nation-building and supporting IYV + 10.
Implications for Volunteering

Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino III recognizes the role
of volunteerism in the development of the nation when he declared
in the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 the adoption of
volunteerism as one of the key strategies for social development, as
follows:
“The government shall reinforce the practice of volunteerism
in the delivery of social services, provision of technical
assistance, responding to disasters, and undertaking
humanitarian efforts, especially in the remote and unserved
areas. The sector shall mobilize the talents, expertise, time,
and energies of volunteers from the academe, corporate sector,
NGOs, government and foreign volunteer organization.”
A major achievement during the ten-year period is the marked

increase or upscaling of mobilization and engagement of volunteers.
This has, in turn, resulted to more partner groups and communities
benefiting from volunteer assistance, as mostly documented in the
media.
Following the call for volunteerism as a cross-cutting approach for
development under the PDP, a number of Regional Development
Plans (RDPs) 2011-2016 likewise incorporated volunteerism in the
policy statement and strategies, in particular chapters such as in
good governance and the rule of law, peace and order, sustaining
development, education and youth empowerment and social
protection.
Accomplishments in the academe sector include improved academic
performance of students, especially to those who dwell in poor
or underprivileged communities, strengthening of community

organization and sustainable community development.
President Aquino’s priority agenda are as follows:
1. Good governance and anti-corruption
2. Human development and poverty reduction
3. Economic development
4. Security, Justice and Peace
5. Climate change adaptation and mitigation
Based on the PDP, the following are the broad chapters where the
Aquino administration will base its platforms until 2016:
1. In pursuit of inclusive growth
2. Macroeconomic policy
3. Competitive industry and services sector
4. Competitive agriculture and fisheries sector
5. Accelerating infrastructure development
6. Towards a resilient and inclusive financial sector
7. Good governance and rule of law
8. Social development
9. Peace and security
10. Conservation, protection, and rehabilitation of the
environment and natural resources
Opportunities for volunteerism are aplenty in Aquino’s PDP.

Hereunder are the actionable items where volunteers can work on:
1. In pursuit of inclusive growth
• Human development and capacity building
• Education
2. Macroeconomic policy
3. Competitive industry and services sector
• Tourism
• Developing human resources
4. Competitive agriculture and fisheries sector
• Environment
13
5. Accelerating infrastructure development

6. Towards a resilient and inclusive financial sector
7. Good governance and rule of law
• Public service delivery
• Anti-corruption and transparency efforts
8. Social development
• Attaining the MDGs
• Health and basic education campaigns
• Community-driven development
• Mainstreaming climate change adaptation and disaster
risk reduction in social development
• Mainstreaming gender and development
• Strengthening civil society-basic sector participation and
public-private partnership
9. Peace and security
10. Conservation, protection, and rehabilitation of the
environment and natural resources
• Environmental education
• Resource management
• Conservation, protection and rehabilitation of natural
resources
• Protection and conservation of biodiversity
• Coastal and marine resource management
• Raising public awareness on disaster risk reduction
and management and improve adaptive capacities of
communities
• Institutional strengthening and capability building
Actionable items for Volunteering

Promoting inclusive volunteerism is realized through the efforts
of the different organizations in the deployment of volunteers in
their programs, projects and activities. While it was mentioned that
volunteers can practically do any development service, it cannot
replace the government’s regulation or law enforcement function as
well as in the collection and disbursement of government money.
Volunteering for jobs involving safety considerations will have to be
evaluated on a case to case basis, depending on the qualification of
the volunteer.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Guidebook to Volunteering

(1999) lists down several possible areas where volunteers can play
a role. This Guidebook attempts to make general categories of
volunteer work based on various literature reviewed on volunteering
and actual experience. Some examples are listed for reference:
(1) Maintenance roles such as cleaning up litter or trash, organizing
clean-up campaigns, removing graffiti and cleaning vandalized
walls, mending broken chairs, painting chairs and houses, etc.;
(2) Administrative roles, such as filing or typing, training and
monitoring volunteers, doing library filing and cataloguing of
books and other resources, recruiting volunteers, courier service,
photocopying, sales of books, giving orientation to visitors, etc.;
(3) Resource management and technical / advisory service, such
as environmental conservation activities, assisting in medical
missions, relief and rescue operation, community-based forest
management, performing archaeological work, sustainable
agriculture, conducting land mapping surveys, feeding laboratory
or research animals, assisting in the conduct of experiments,
testing water salinity, writing scientific reports, etc.; and
(4) Public service, such as orientation to the public on a community
program, skills training on livelihood and credit, giving talks
to the public (children, women, elderly, disabled, indigenous
peoples), conducting a demonstration on specific skills,
orientation on safety and health programs, leading environmental
education activities, producing pamphlets and other public
information materials, producing an audio-visual materials,
preparing a multi-media program, etc.
According to the Country Report on the State of Volunteerism in the
Philippines 2001-2011, the following areas are the actionable items
where volunteers can pitch their services:
ACADEME
• Responding to the mandate of the academic institution of
implementing extension programs in partnership with the
community.
• Capacity-building
• Health and nutrition
• Community development
15
NGOs
• Delivery of social services
• Agriculture
• Education and research
• Implementation of specific activities related to the
institution’s mission and objectives
• Promotion and advocacy
• Capacity building
• Livelihood/Entrepreneurial
• IT related activities
• Emergency and relief operation/rehabilitation
GOVERNMENT
• Environment
• Health and nutrition
• Agriculture
• Delivery of social services
• Education
• Psychosocial services
• IT related activities
• Emergency and relief operation/rehabilitation
• Promotion and advocacy
One major area where volunteerism can perhaps play a distinctive
and significant role is in disaster risk reduction and management
(DRRM). As one of the top five (5) countries that are most
vulnerable to the debilitating effects of climate change, the
Philippines will definitely need the helping hands of volunteers.
Observations have shown that there has been little planning, if
not systematic planning, done during pre-disaster in the case of
the Philippines. However, there are sporadic efforts on the part of
volunteer groups engaging with local governments to mobilize
volunteers for DRRM. On the part of government, initiatives have
already been started by the Metro Manila Development Authority
(MMDA) regarding disaster response as well as by LGU volunteer
groups working on DRRM through their DRRM Councils.
Related to DRRM are volunteer activities regarding the environment,

in the form of coastal clean up events, tree planting, to advocacy
programs. The VSO Bahaginan’s model forest project is one example
of a volunteering for the environment activity, very much aligned
with the PDP.
Volunteering by the Youth is also a major area for action in the
Philippine context. Currently, engagements by various youth
volunteer organizations are forged with the academe, churches,
local government units, communities, and youth-focused NGO
projects. Some of these youth volunteer programs are : the Jesuits
Volunteer Program (JVP), AMA, International Citizen Service (ICS)
Kapamagogopa Muslim-Youth Volunteering.
A Quick Overview of
Society
2
Volunteers in the Philippines
Philippine Volunteerism’s Contribution To Development And
Volunteerism’s contribution to development has been recognized. A

landmark law, Republic Act No. 9418, or An Act Institutionalizing a
Strategy for Rural Development, Strengthening Volunteerism and for
Other Purposes has committed the government to provide a conducive
and enabling environment for volunteers and volunteer organizations
through the establishment of a mechanism to protect volunteer’s rights
and privileges and recognize their vital contributions to society. All other
government structure from national to local levels are enjoined to adopt
volunteerism as strategy for rural development. Recognizing the value
of volunteerism, the Act also enshrined the integration of volunteerism
at all levels in the educational system to shape the hearts and minds of
young people into becoming an active part of our civil society and global
citizenship.
In this paper, civil society organizations, including NGOs are considered

volunteer groups. The Johns Hopkins study on the Comparative
Nonprofit Sector by Salamon, Sokolowski and List (2003) posited that
all civil society organizations (CSOs) can be considered voluntary
organizations. According to the authors, CSOs receive a predominant
share of their revenue not from market transactions or government
support but from private contributions. The term “voluntary sector” or
“charitable institutions” are mentioned in the study as concepts used to
convey a semblance of independence from state or market control and
volunteerism. In this study we include as volunteer groups those civil
society organizations with volunteer programs.
At the same time, non-government organizations (NGOs) and people’s
organizations (POs), dominant players in the civil society sector, are
recognized in the Philippine 1987 Constitution (Art. II, Sec. 23) and
cooperatives (Art. XII, Sec. 1) as partners in development and in
promoting the welfare of the nation. The Philippine Constitution thus
encourages the right of the people and their organizations to effective and
reasonable participation at all levels of social, political, and economic
decision-making (Art. XIII, Sec. 16).
The return to democracy of the Philippine government after the
non-violent people power revolution of 1986 further opened up
democratic spaces at the lower echelons of government. The Philippine
Constitution’s aims of people empowerment and citizen’s participation
in local government were further promoted with the passage of the Local
Government Code of 1991. The Code similarly highlighted the role of
NGOs at the local level and further provided for NGO/PO participation
in local special bodies, development projects, sectoral representation, and
local legislative bodies.
Thus both the Philippine 1987 Constitution and the Local Government
Code have recognized civil society organizations as equals and
partners of government in the delivery of social services as well as in
development policy-making. The People Power or EDSA Revolution of
1986, a testament to volunteerism in action, especially paved the way for
the unprecedented growth of NGOs in the country. As prime movers in
many social service programs, NGOs in the Philippines have contributed
significantly in the areas of children and youth development, provision
of health services, strengthening people’s organizations for informal
settlers, assistance in peace and security programs especially during
19
armed conflicts and disaster response and management, according to

the First Country Report on the State of Philippine Volunteerism Report
(2012, p. 11).
Among the projects by NGOs documented in the Country Report are the
mobilization of children volunteers to act as champions for the disabled
ones as a way to develop the desire to volunteer at a very young age
which was documented by the National Council for Social Development
(NCSD); sustainable health programs for the elderly, medical services
for indigents and a drug rehabilitation center set up by the family of
Pampanga Private Sector Representative for Health Dr. Roberto DV.
Ramirez; peace and security programs especially during armed conflicts;
and disaster response, rehabilitation and capacity building for those
affected by calamities. (PNVSCA Country Report on the State of
Volunteerism in the Philippines, 2012).
In terms of volunteerism’s economic contribution, the International
Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) – Philippines recognizes that the
sector of Filipino volunteers is a growing sector and a sizable economic
factor. It launched “Philippine Project: Ten Million Volunteer Hours” in
2011 to recognize the quantitative contribution of Filipino volunteers
for national-local development in the Philippines. The Project aims (1)
to document at least 10 million hours of volunteer work done within the
Philippines by Filipino volunteers during the past 10 years, and (2) to
initiate the design of a national volunteering agenda for the next 10 years
(Ocampo, 2010). It enjoins institutions from the academe, business, non-
profit, and government sectors to document its volunteer engagement
effort and to set the ways forward for volunteerism in the country. By
December 2011, the Project documented 17,209,271 volunteer hours
from 34 participating organizations from the government, academe, civil
society and business sectors. These volunteer hours were rendered during
2007 to 2010 (Ocampo, 2010).
Further taking stock of volunteers’ contribution equivalent in terms
of wages, using the present slightly above-the-minimum wage rate of
Php 500 per day, these hours are equivalent to Php 1,075,606,312.50
contribution to social development in just four years (2007-2011). This
is the economic valuation of “labor” rendered by Filipino volunteers
in the country. It may be considered the undocumented volunteers’
share in the Philippine Gross National Product, hidden decimals in the
Human Development Indices, and invisible factors contributing to the
Millennium Development Goals.
The results give credence, economic value and added respect to the
contribution and impact of volunteers.
Project 10 Million Volunteer Hours is the first nationwide survey to
establish a system for measuring the quantitative dimensions – extent and
nature - of volunteering. IAVE Philippines will continue to implement
this project, hoping that in the next couple of years, it can document at
least 100 million volunteer hours (Ocampo, 2010, p18).
On 4 - 5 October 2010 during the 11th National Convention on Statistics,
NSCB presented a paper about its efforts towards the formulation
of a conceptual and statistical framework for the measurement of
the contribution of volunteer work in the Philippines. The paper was
aimed primarily to illustrate the feasibility/viability of the valuation
methodologies suggested in the UN Non-Profit Institutions (NPI)
Handbook. Subject to the limitations of the pilot Time Use Survey and
the heroic assumptions we made, the paper illustrates the methodology
and provides the following insights on the contribution of volunteer work
in the Philippines.
• In 2000, volunteers rendered an estimated 312.3 million hours of
volunteer service.
• In 2009, the total value of volunteer work reached Php 44.5
billion, from Php 20.1 billion in 2000. On the average, the value
of volunteer work increased annually by 10.2 percent at current
prices and by 6.4 percent at constant prices, during the 9-year
period from 2000-2009.
• Volunteer work constituted about 0.6 percent of GDP from 2000-
2009 (Virola, et al. 2010).
Romulo Virola, former Secretary General of the Philippine’s National
Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB) pondered that the magnitude of
volunteerism in the Philippine context certainly does not impress but
studies elsewhere cited by Mayer (2003) support the idea that modest
gains in social capital and increased levels of voluntary participation
can translate into large social and economic gains; that raising social
capital can be more effective development strategies than direct policy
interventions.
A quick look at volunteers as part of the workforce

The significance of volunteers as part of the workforce has been
investigated in a global research conducted by the Johns Hopkins
21
University. Close to half of the NGOs surveyed in the participating

countries relied on volunteers for their work. The study also showed
that volunteers comprise a significant percentage of the adult population
in the countries covered. In particular, for the Philippines, despite the
relatively small percentage of NGOs of the total labor force, the reliance
on volunteers for NGOs is one of the highest among the 35 countries
studied.
Global situation of the civil society workforce

In the Johns Hopkins study, the workforce of the civil society sector
in a country was measured as the percent of the economically active
population working for CSOs in either paid or volunteer positions7.
To further illustrate a comparative view of paid versus unpaid
volunteer workforce across countries, Salamon et al. shows that
in the 1990s, of the 39.5 million full-time employee civil society
workers8 covered in the 35 countries in their study, approximately
16.8 million or 43 percent are volunteers and 22.7 million or 57
percent are paid workers (Figure 1). Salamon and his team argue
that this situation shows that the civil society organizations are able
to “mobilize a sizeable amount of volunteer effort.” The authors
contend that the actual number of people involved in the civil society
sector exceeds even these numbers because most volunteers work
only a few hours a week and even many paid employees work part-
time. For example, the actual number of people volunteering for
CSOs in these 35 countries exceeds 190 million. According to the
study of Salamon and his team mates, this represents over 20 percent
of the adult population in the 35 countries.
7 The data for the John Hopkins study was collected at different time periods (1995 for
most of the 22 original countries and 1997 or 1998 for the Phase IIB or 13 countries),
but rather than focus on absolute size, the study examined the relative size of the civil
society in a given country since the relative size was assumed not likely to change
much over the two or three year period of the study.
8 In their analysis, Salamon et al. explained that employment data for both paid and
volunteer are expressed in full-time equivalent (FTE) terms to make them comparable
among countries and organizations. Thus, they point out that an organization that
employs 20 half-time workers would have the same number of “full-time-equivalent”
workers (i.e., 10) as an organization that employs 10 people full-time. Similarly, an
organization that employs 10 fulltime paid workers would have the same “workforce”
as an organization that engages 50 volunteers who work one day a week, or one-fifth
time, each.
Fig. 1. Civil society organization vs. volunteer labour, 35 countries*

(Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Sector Study)
Source: John Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project
Philippine volunteers in the workforce

In the Philippines, civil society organizations of different sizes,
causes, resources, voices, activities, and impact have come into
being. In 2005, Ledivina Cariño said: “The Philippines is home to
the most vibrant civil societies in the world with about half a million
organizations, accounting for two percent of the labor force and the
whole voluntary sector contributed about 1.5 percent of the country’s
GDP” (cited by Castillo, 2009). Cariño (2002) further stated that
the total non-profit expenditures in 1997 were about 6.5 percent of
the combined national and local government budget. The figure on
the following page shows that the Philippines ranks third among the
35 countries studied in the Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Sector Project,
whose civil society organizations rely on volunteers for their work.
So, while the percentage of civil society workforce to the total
labor force is only 1.9% based on the Johns Hopkins study (with
the Philippines belonging to the bottom 9 among the 35 countries),
the ratio of volunteers to paid staff in Philippine CSOs is still high
compared with the rest of the 35 countries studied.
23
Fig. 2. Percent
Percentofofcivil
Civilsociety workforce
Society in 35 countries
Workforce's Reliance on Volunteers
(Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Sector Study)
In the Philippines, volunteerism has had a long, rich, diverse,

cultural tradition. Under its many cultural names, guises, and
dimensions, volunteerism remains embedded in the tradition of
sharing, of helping. Notions of Filipino volunteerism employ various
indigenous meanings such as Bayanihan; Damayan; Kawanggawa;
Pahinungod; and Bahaginan which can translate into various types
of volunteering such as academe-based volunteering, corporate
volunteering, government-supported volunteering, nongovernmental
organization volunteering and foreign-supported volunteering.
Whether understood as tulong (help), pakikipagkapwa-tao (a
shared sense of one’s humanity), pagbabahagi (sharing)
or paghahandog (offering), volunteerism can bring significant
benefits to individuals and communities in the Philippines and can
help nurture and sustain a rich social texture and a strong sense of
mutual trust and cohesion, essential to the stability of Philippine
society. Participation in groups and organizations provides
opportunities to learn about others, builds trusting relationships and
decreases prejudices against others. People get to know more people
and the willingness to engage and to support each other broadens the
social information network. Relatedly, social capital can motivate
“outsiders” to participate in volunteer work and might form new
relationships which will bring collective action toward common
goals of the community or groups. Overall, the act of volunteering
demonstrates a balance between an individual’s self-interest and the
public interest, according to former NSCB Director Virola (2010).
Philippine Volunteers’ Defining Attributes and Characteristics

According to the United Nations, there are three defining characteristics
of volunteering. First, the activity should not be undertaken primarily for
financial reward; second, the activity should be undertaken voluntarily,
according to an individual’s free will, and third, the activity should be
of benefit to someone other than the volunteer or to society at large,
although it is recognized that volunteering brings significant benefit to
the volunteer as well.
The Philippines has always been characterized as a democracy with a
very dynamic and active civil society. Years after the dismantling of the
Marcos dictatorship, the civil society sector has expanded and continued
25
to participate in the development processes of the country (Yu-Jose, in

CSRI, 2011). Hence, development work has been a familiar field of work
for most of the civil society in the country, including volunteer service
organizations.
According to Carmel Veloso Abao of the Civil Society Research Institute
(CSRI), the most fundamental attributes of CSOs are that they are
voluntary, non-governmental, and non-profit.
Using the Johns Hopkins study on the Comparative Nonprofit Sector
by Salamon, Sokolowski and List (2003), all civil society organizations
(CSOs) can be considered voluntary organizations. According to
the authors, CSOs receive a predominant share of their revenue not
from market transactions or government support but from private
contributions. The term “voluntary sector” or “charitable institutions”
are mentioned in the study as concepts used to convey the above
meaning. Using actual experience of the 35 countries included in the
Johns Hopkins research, five structural or operational features define the
entities which the authors consider the “civil society sector”:
Organizations: these entities are either formal or informal as long
as they have some organizational permanence and regularity as
reflected in regular meetings, a membership and some procedures
for taking decisions recognized by the participants as legitimate.
Private: the entities are not part of the apparatus of the state, even
though they may receive support from government sources, yet they
do not receive significant public support.
Not profit distributing: not commercial in purpose and do not
distribute profits in the course of their operations, but any profits are
plowed back into the objectives of the organizations; must have a
public purpose defined by the people involved.
Self-governing: fundamentally, these organizations are in control
of their own affairs and have their own mechanisms for internal
governance.
Voluntary: membership or participation in them is not legally
required or otherwise compulsory; entity relates to its public
purpose, but one which its country’s citizens define for themselves
by virtue of their decisions to take part on their own initiatives in
the organizations affected.
Principles Adhered to by Filipino Volunteers and How they

perceive themselves
The principles a Filipino volunteer adheres to may be clustered into:
(a) Pursuit of integrity; (b) Mission-driven, high sense of purpose,
consistency; (c) Knowledge transfer, empowerment, capacity-building;
(d) Community-orientedness, oneness; (e) Proactive attitude, dynamism,
flexibility; and (f) Selflessness and humility. These typology are based on
the responses of the volunteer-participants at the National Volunteering
Month held last December 2014. An attempt to cluster the description of
Principles of the Filipino volunteer is done below:
Table 1. Principles Filipino Volunteers Adhere To*
Pursuit of Mission-driven, Knowledge Community- Proactive Selfless-
integrity high sense of transfer, oriented attitude, ness and
purpose and empowerment, ness, dynamism, humility
passion; consis- capacity-build- oneness; flexibility
tency ing;
• Excel- • Goal -oriented • Empower- • Kapit-bisig • Kusang- • Kung
lence ment loob anong
• Fueling the • Respect skill
• Integrity passion • Pay it forward for the • Going out ang
community from one’s pwede
• Sustain- • Contemplative • Una sa ser- comfort niyang
ability in Action bisyo; huli sa • Ecumeni- zone ibigay
benepisyo cal
• True wit- • Creating mo- • Flexibility • Sacri-
ness and ments of joy • Ripple effect: • 1 for all, All fice
consis- The one you for 1
tency • (You) know helped will • Humble
your mission also become • Openness
in life volunteers to the
themselves Interfaith
• Volunteerism
as equalizers: • Doing
minimizes good
the barriers together:
because there oneness
is a common-
purpose why
you’re volun-
teering
• Padugo: we
bleed for the
cause
* Responses from Volunteer-Participants at the National Volunteering Month, December

2014
27
On the other hand, self-descriptions on the characteristics of a Filipino

Volunteer as described by the FGD participants during the National
Volunteering Month in December 2014 were as follows:
• A good leader is a good • Dedicated

servant • Cultural and Social
• Skilled yet obedient Awareness
• Trustworthy • May malasakit
• Skilled • Compassion
• Selfless • God fearing
• Optimistic • Peace loving
• Mobilizer • Open minded
• Motivator • Flexible
• Influencer • Adaptable
• Assertive • Respectful
• Open to ideas of others • Angking Talino
• Innovative • Knowledge and Skills
• Compassionate • Critical Thinking
• Resilient • Heart for Others
• Culturally Rooted • Skilled hands to Reach Out
• Ingenuity • Discerning Heart
• Versatile • Heart with deep Faith and
• Resourceful Love for God
Inherent in every Filipino are profound cultural characteristics and

dominant values, which are trust in God and family centeredness, as well
as the propensity to give more of the self to others. Dr. Grace Aguiling-
Dalisay of the University of the Philippines explains the association
between Filipino volunteerism to concepts of the Filipino self or
pagkataong Pilipino, which is characterized by the relationship between
the Filipino’s loob (inner being or self) and labas (external dimensions
or other). This dynamic, Dalisay says is represented by the kapwa or
one’s shared identity or shared inner self and one’s pakikipagkapwa,
or a “holistic interaction with others who are treated as fellow human
beings”. (Dalisay, et al., 2004, p. 24).“Pakikipagkapwa” (self in relation
to others) has been advanced as the fuel to Filipino volunteerism.
This concern for “kapwa” is what motivates a volunteer to share his

or her services, without which the service becomes meaningless. An
important characteristic of a good volunteer is the ability to get along and
empathize with others because he lives in the community, says Aguiling-
Dalisay (2004).
Much of the native values and traditions are retained, notwithstanding
the massive influx of western ideas and influence. Isang duguan
(one blood, one people), bayanihan (volunteerism), pagtutulungan
(helping one another), pagbibigay galang (respectfulness), kasipagan
(industriousness), mapagkakatiwalaan (trustworthiness), katapatan
(loyalty), kusang-loob (initiative), kapatiran (brotherhood), sama-sama
(all together), pagdamay (sympathy), pagkalinga (to care for) and
bukal sa loob (flowing from within or from the bottom of one’s heart),
pakikipagkapwa (self in relation to others), pananagutan (assuming
responsibility in work) and pagpapakatao (being human) are some of the
values embedded in Filipino culture and history. Together, these indicate
the humaneness innate in every Filipino where family, kinship and
community ties are the core of their way of life.
Historical consciousness of these values has evolved like the concept
of justice from inequality to equality, and to human dignity; from the
tribe, to the family, and to the nation. True values among Filipinos have
remained unchanged but enhanced to adapt to new environment, to
become a tradition for the next generation to practice and continue.
“Bayanihan” signifies a communal spirit of volunteerism that enables
completion of tasks through the power of unity and cooperation. It
expresses as well the importance of being heroes to one another for the
common good. “Bayanihan” originated from two Filipino words: bayani,
which means “hero or heroine”; and “bayan”, which means nation, town,
or community.” Combining the essence of both words from which it was
derived, “bayanihan” means a sense of community. In a wider sense, it
refers to the spirit of cooperation, camaraderie, and unity.
For instance, a Filipino will volunteer to help in building a community
bridge. His motives could be that of hiya (shame) for not being
cooperative; pakikisama (camaraderie), because he will also pass that
bridge or that his barkada (friends) are asking him to help and express
dangal (honor) because it is an honorable thing to be of use to the
community. It is in this cultural setting that volunteerism has become a
way of life. (“The Volunteer” Centennial Issue. 1998)
29
Volunteerism in the Philippine context is imbibed while still young,

primarily through the influence of the family and schools, and carried
on in adulthood and public life. The passion for caring, service to the
poor and the disadvantaged, have been part of Filipino experience while
young as they join their parents in charity work, church- based activities
and in association with civic-oriented groups.
In the process, volunteers realize their self-worth in the service that they
extend, enhanced their career developments, provided them with social
networks that are both personal and professional, and the recognition
they receive strengthens their resolve to continue their volunteer service
and further validates their sense of mission and purpose. Volunteerism
allows the spiritual dimension to come to light and be at the forefront of
human development.
The tenet of Christianity is love for the other, particularly in the
dimension of the Cross. For the Christians, the Cross of Jesus Christ
gives them strength to endure suffering and death with the hope of
resurrection, as what God did when He raised Jesus from the dead.
On the other hand, Islam as a guiding principle is volunteering in itself
as it is service to God. It is a value that is good and once translated into
action, there is a positive change in oneself, which can readily convince
others to change as well. This is their social responsibility and/or an
obligation toward one another.
For the Muslim world, life is anchored in the transformation of values,
first at the level of the spiritual, then the moral values and lastly, the
material values. For them, to develop spiritually and morally, one must
be free from ignorance. They have to know first their religion and be
tolerant to their Muslim brothers.
The Philippine Agenda 21 on sustainable development has explicitly
acknowledged the spiritual dimension in the entire process of
development, pervading in nature, human beings and society; and with
it, the harmonious integration between human and social development is
achieved (PNVSCA, 2012, pp.3-4).
Enabling Environment
for Philippine
Volunteerism
3
A. Relevant Laws and Policies that support Volunteerism
The Philippine government recognizes the need for continuing support of
development partners in the process of implementing a more responsive
development plan. The Philippine government has been generally
supportive of citizen participation in development. The first Philippine
Corporation Law, which encouraged local private philanthropy, was
passed in 1906. Likewise, Batas Pambansa Blg. 68, which established the
Corporation Code of the Philippines, explicitly recognized the operation
of religious corporations, colleges and other educational institutions as
non-stock corporations (Sec. 88).
In 1964, the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency
(PNVSCA) was created as a committee to concretize the Philippine
Government’s commitment to the agreement reached during the
International Middle Level Manpower Conference held in Puerto Rico in
1962, adopting volunteerism as a tool for socio-economic development.
The PNVSCA became an office in 1973 and then an Agency on 12
December 1980 through Executive Order No. 6359. It is the government
agency mandate to promote and coordinate volunteer programs and
services in the Philippines under the administrative supervision of the
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). It closely
works with other government agencies, NGOs, the academe, the
corporate group, the media and other partners in converging and linking
the different volunteering efforts and resources so that they are aligned
with national priorities and assist especially the marginalized sectors and
communities. The PNVSCA takes the lead in advocating and recognizing

the contributions of volunteers to nation-building and international
cooperation (PNVSCA Agency Profile).
As early as 2001, the House of Representatives Committee on Rural
Development initiated the formulation of a legislation on volunteerism.
As a result, Republic Act No. 9418 or the Volunteer Act of 2007 was
passed into law on 10 April 2007.
The Volunteer Act Of 2007

The passage on April 10, 2007 of Republic Act 9418, An Act
Institutionalizing a Strategy for Rural Development, Strengthening
Volunteerism and for Other Purposes, marked a major milestone in
the annals of volunteerism in the Philippines. The efforts to establish
a legislative framework to harness the rich and diverse voluntary
initiatives among various sectors into an effective and integrative
partnership and channeling its energy in support of national
development, dates back even as early as 2001.
Volunteerism is an evolving practice that has extended its reach and
relevance over time. While volunteerism retains its essential role in
building social cohesion among our people through the traditional
self-help and mutual support, it has emerged and been recognized
globally as a strategy and instrument for participatory development
to achieve socio-cultural and economic transformation, technical
cooperation and solidarity within nations and between nations.
At the helm of this initiative is PNVSCA, as it worked closely with
the House Committee on Rural Development, relentlessly seeking
champions of volunteerism among lawmakers and leaders in the civil
society to support these goals. Indeed the law affirms and validated
what has been a cultural value that our country is gifted with –
“Bayanihan”, a tradition that is alive and shared by our people.
The task to put flesh in the policy framework commenced with the
formulation of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) on
February 5, 2009. PNVSCA’s partners in the volunteer program have
already signified their cooperation to work together and collaborate
in developing programs and projects that will accelerate development
in the rural areas through volunteering.
33
RA 9418 committed government to provide a conducive and

enabling environment for volunteers and volunteer organizations
through the establishment of a mechanism to protect volunteer’s
rights and privileges and recognize their vital contributions society.
All other government structure from national to local are enjoined to
adopt volunteerism as strategy for rural development. Recognizing
the value of volunteerism, it also enshrined the integration of
volunteerism at all levels in the educational system to shape the
hearts and minds of young people into becoming an active part of our
civil society and global citizenship.
Other national policy instruments issued during the period are the
Republic Act 101211 or the “Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management Act of 2010” passed in 2010 that provides for
government agencies, CSOs, private sector and LGUs to mobilize
individuals or organize volunteers in the delivery of disaster risk
reduction programs and activities, and Executive Order No. 468
issued in 2005 providing for the revitalization of the Volunteer
Probation Aide (VPA) Program of the Parole and Probation
Administration (PPA).
From the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 can be found a
recent landmark policy identifying volunteerism as a cross-cutting
strategy in pursuing the vision of inclusive growth and the Social
Contract with the Filipino People of President Benigno Simeon C.
Aquino III for development.
Under Chapter 8 on Social Development, the PDP 2011-2016
provides that “The government shall reinforce the practice of
volunteerism in the delivery of social services, provision of technical
assistance, responding to disaster and undertaking humanitarian
efforts, especially in the remote and unserved areas. The sector
shall mobilize the talents, expertise, time and energies of volunteers
from the academe, corporate sector, NGOs, government and foreign
volunteer organizations.”
Following this lead, a number of Regional Development Plans
(RDPs) 2011-2016 likewise incorporated volunteerism in the
policy statement and strategies in particular chapters such as in
good governance and the rule of law, peace and order, sustaining
development, education and youth empowerment and social
protection.
The most recent milestone is the inclusion of volunteerism in the

United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF)
2012-2018 launched in November 2011. In the UNDAF document,
volunteerism has been cited as a strategy in supporting inclusive,
sustainable and resilient development (UNDAF 2012-2018).
Other Government initiatives

As mentioned above, the Philippine 1987 Constitution has already
given recognition to Philippine nongovernment organizations and
people’s organizations, which has made volunteerism in the country
its official imprint as partners in Philippine development. The role
of the NGOs and People’s Organizations (POs) (Art. II, Sec. 23)
and cooperatives (Art. XII, Sec. 1) as partners in development and
in promoting the welfare of the nation is institutionalized in articles
of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. This document encourages the
right of the people and their organizations to effective and reasonable
participation at all levels of social, political, and economic decision-
making (Art. XIII, Sec. 16).
The return to democracy of the Philippine government after the
non-violent people power revolution of 1986 further opened up
democratic spaces at the lower echelons of government. To further
the Philippine Constitution’s aims of people empowerment and
citizen’s participation in local government, the passage of the Local
Government Code of 1991 further highlighted the role of NGOs
at the local level and provided for NGO/PO participation in local
special bodies, development projects, sectoral representation, and
local legislative bodies. Under the Code, at least one-fourth of
the seats of the Local Development Council are allocated for civil
society or the private sector (Sec. 107). The Code mandates the
creation of special bodies, which are the Local Pre-qualification Bids
and Awards Committee (Sec. 37), the Local Health Board (Sec. 102),
the Local School Board (Sec. 98), and the Local Peace and Order
Council (Sec. 116).
At the moment, the only formal mechanism for people’s participation
in the local government’s development activities is through the local
special bodies.
A government agency that covers major cities of Metro Manila,
the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), has
explicitly called for helping hands from volunteers, with the cutback
35
in their personnel. An orientation program for the mobilization of

500 MMDA disaster volunteers was held at the MMDA headquarters
last August 22, 2010. The MMDA Public Safety Office assessed
the volunteers’ skills. Based on the assessment, the volunteers were
grouped, each group to undergo a relevant rescue training program
by the first week of September.
When one of the most wicked tropical storms struck the central part
of the Philippines, The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority
(MMDA) deployed hundreds of rescue personnel, police and fire
officers, and relief volunteers deployed by Metro Manila mayors
to the provinces in the Visayas that were devastated by typhoon
Yolanda. MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino conveyed his gratitude
to the 220 members of the Metro Manila Council (MMC) Rescue
Legion who took part in the rescue and rehabilitation efforts in Leyte
and Samar.
“These rescue and aid workers worked alongside the MMDA
humanitarian assistance team for weeks in the typhoon-ravaged
communities in Leyte and Samar. Their contribution to the relief
efforts is invaluable, and we at the MMDA are honored to work with
them,” said Tolentino, during the awarding ceremonies at the MMDA
headquarters in Makati City, after the typhoon.
There are also tie-ups between public agencies for volunteering
activities as can be seen in the partnership between the Metropolitan
Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and East Zone
concessionaire Manila Water Company. Their partnership has
expanded beyond environmental initiatives with the recent
coordination and integration of the MMDA’s Emergency Volunteer
Corps Program and the water provider’s own emergency and
disaster preparedness plans. Both agencies agreed to foster tighter
coordination during times of emergencies and calamities. Several
months ago, MMDA sealed a partnership with Manila Water in
promoting its Toka Toka Environmental Advocacy Campaign. On the
other hand, Manila Water provided support to MMDA’s Anti-Heat
Stroke Campaign.
Thus, in line with DRRM, another recent policy instrument is the
“Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010”,
which mandates CSOs, the private sector and LGUs to mobilize
individuals or organize volunteers in the delivery of disaster risk
reduction programs and activities. Also, Executive Order 468 was
issued in 2005, which provided for the revitalization of the Volunteer

Probation Aide (VPA) Program of the Parole and Probation
Administration.
There are still gaps however, with regard to civil society participation
in local government units’ development work. We note however the
opportunities for further sharing local development responsibilities.
A past study by the DILG (2001) in collaboration with the Urban
Resources and the Evelio B. Javier Foundation, Inc. (EBJFI) on
People’s Participation in the LDCs showed the following general
agreements between non-government and government participants
of the study on the assessment of people’s participation in local
development councils:
• There is widespread desire for both LGUs and NGOs to
cooperate in local development LDC activities;
• Both groups wish to work together in planning, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of development projects that would
lead to improved local conditions;
• There is a genuine desire among the majority of both bodies to
expand the role of LDC activities and to share responsibility in
dealing with new issues; and
• In most provinces and urban areas, there is a high degree of
mutual respect of NGO members for LGU personnel and vice-
versa.
However, the general areas of concern identified by the 2001 DILG
research as requiring attention to achieve the full potential of
People’s Participation in the LDCs are as follows:
• Dissemination of information, both about the LDC as an
institution and about its activities, powers and procedures;
• Improving the possibility for people’s participation in local
government decision-making by increasing the proportion of
functional LDCs;
• Improvements on the method by which members are appointed;
• A consideration of the issue of size of the LDC;
• The Relationship between the LDC and the Sanggunian (local
councils); and
• The problem of political interference.
37
Non-government volunteer organizations (NGOs/CSOs,

Faith-based, Academe, Corporate, INGOs) initiatives9
There are other legislations that provide the legal basis for the
various types of NGOs recognized in the Philippines. The Social
Reform Agenda (SRA) instituted in September 1994, through
consultations between government and basic sectors, forms part
of the Updates of the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan
(1996-1998). In 1997, the Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation
Act10 institutionalized the basic sectoral and NGO participation in
effective planning, decision-making, implementation, monitoring
and evaluation of the SRA at all levels (Sec. 5). Basic sector
representatives are included in National Anti-Poverty Commission
(NAPC).
There are also laws which contain significant provisions in fostering
CSOs. Such laws are generally seen as positive policy instruments
for pushing sectoral agendas and strengthening the non-profit sector
in the Philippines, particularly in program formulation and delivery.
The 1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law recognized NGOs,
farmers’ organization, cooperative, and rural workers’ association
for both their traditional service delivery roles and as public
interest groups. The government recognizes the right of farmers,
farm workers and landowners, as well as cooperatives and other
independent farmers’ organization, to participate in the planning,
organization, and management of the program, and shall provide
support to agriculture through appropriate technology and research,
and adequate financial, production, marketing and other support
services (Sec. 2).
In the realm of housing, NGO participation is also fostered. The
role of housing is recognized as a catalyst of economic growth and
development. Many LGUs have created Local Housing Boards.
People’s participation is encouraged under the Urban Development
and Housing Act of 1992 wherein they are provided an opportunity
to be heard and to participate in the decision-making process (Sec.
2e). The Home Guaranty Corporation Act of 2000 declared the
policy of the State to undertake, in cooperation with the private
9 The narrative for this section was liberally taken from the Final Report of a Technical
Assistance for the DILG-LGA, “A Proposed Framework for Establishing the
Volunteer and Citizenship Program (VCP) of the Local Government Academy (LGA):
Bayanihang Bayan in Our Place”. Diola, Faina. 2012
10 http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno8425.htm.
sector, a continuing nationwide housing program that will make

available decent housing at affordable cost. The government shall
increase the private sectors’ participation in the investment of their
funds into the mainstream of housing finance for developmental and
end-user financing requirements (Art. 4).
Other forms of citizen empowerment in the country are through the
promotion of cooperatives. The Cooperative Code of the Philippines
of 1990 was declared a policy to foster the creation and growth
of cooperatives as a practical vehicle for promoting self-reliance
and harnessing people power towards the attainment of economic
development and social justice (Sec. 2). A cooperative is a duly
registered association of persons, with a common bond of interest,
who have voluntarily joined together to achieve a lawful common
social or economic end (Sec. 3). In the furtherance of this Code, the
Cooperative Development Authority Act was passed to promote the
growth and expansion of cooperatives as a major and indispensable
component of national development plans. For a strengthened and
more comprehensive law on the promotion and development of the
country’s cooperatives, the new law, Philippine Cooperative Code of
2008 was enacted. Under this new Code, cooperatives are expected
to play important roles in the country’s social justice and sustainable
economic development programs and as partners of government
(Art. 2).
B. Volunteer Programs and Initiatives by Other Volunteer

Service Organizations11
Some of the leading non-government volunteer service organizations’
activities are described below.
1. International Association for Volunteer Effort Philippines

(IAVE)
The International Association for Volunteer Effort Philippines (formerly
the Philippine Association for Volunteer Effort) is a network of
organizations and individuals that promotes volunteerism as a Filipino
way of life. The network is engaged in diver volunteer programs and
11 The narrative for this section was liberally taken from the Final Report by this author
for a Technical Assistance for the DILG-LGA, “A Proposed Framework for Establishing
the Volunteer and Citizenship Program (VCP) of the Local Government Academy
(LGA): Bayanihang Bayan in Our Place”. Diola, Faina. 2012
39
mobilizes all sectors of Philippine society to serve others through

volunteer efforts. IAVE is open to both organizations that are engaged in
volunteer service programs and/or volunteer management and individuals
who are in professional management and/or training of volunteers.
Its main activities and events include the following:
• Training Course on Volunteer Management
• National Conference of Volunteer Managers
• Retirees and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) Training
• IAVE Asia Pacific Regional Volunteer Conference
• IAVE World Volunteer Conference
• PAVE Annual General Assembly
• National Volunteer Month
• International Volunteer Day
2. Volunteer Organizations Information Coordination and

Exchange (VOICE)
VOICE was created in 2001, when the International Year of Volunteers
(IYV) was declared. The creation of VOICE began with a series of
consultations, beginning in the first quarter of 2001, when consultations
were held with program partners and NGOs. This was undertaken in line
with a program review of a Philippine-based southern volunteer program.
An International Conference to address the role of volunteerism in
strengthening civil society in developing countries was convened in
SEARSOLIN-Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro City in December
2001. These gatherings revealed a common aspiration of volunteers
and volunteer managers, expressing the need for a mechanism that
would facilitate the exchange of learning and resources among
volunteers. Special mention was made of the need to ensure the adequate
representation of the volunteer groups in Visayas and Mindanao.
Over the next two years, the Task Force organized a series of National
Consultative Workshops aimed at validating the need and structure
of the proposed mechanism. The workshop discussions resulted in a
consensus to form a duly registered, autonomous national organization
of volunteers. In keeping with the goals of the proposed network, the
group later came to be known as the Volunteer Organizations Information
Coordination and Exchange (VOICE).
Subsequent partnerships were established with PNVSCA and the
Pambansang Samahan sa Sikolohiyang Pilipino (PSSP) volunteering

research project.
This local initiative found its first international partner, Volunteer Service
Organization (VSO), with the latter’s programmatic redirection towards
support for national volunteering. On September 2003, VOICE was
registered as a non-stock, non-profit organization at the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC).
3. VSO Bahaginan
The VSO Bahaginan, founded in 2004, is the federation member of
VSO in Asia and the Pacific. VSO is the world’s leading independent
international development charity that works through volunteers to fight
poverty in developing countries. VSO Bahaginan is committed to fight
poverty and social disadvantage through a wide range of volunteering
development programs.
VSO Bahaginan recruits, trains and sends skilled professionals to
work in partnership with organizations in Asia, Africa, Latin America,
the Caribbean and the Pacific. This volunteer organization manages
and develops business partnerships with companies who release their
employees on short-term volunteer placements. VSO Bahaginan supports
organizations, programs and advocacies that promote volunteering
for development. This is done by developing products and conducting
training to help national volunteering partners to practice good volunteer
management. Young people are involved and given a chance to make a
real difference in their exchange communities.
Through VSO Bahaginan, Filipino volunteers serve in developing
countries in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Pacific and the Caribbean
promoting development goals in HIV and AIDS, livelihood, disability,
health and social being, and participation and governance.
Majority of available assignments are for skilled professionals who are
able to live and work overseas usually for up to two years. Volunteers
must possess qualifications in the chosen field and should have at least
three years’ related experience. Employees of partner companies bring
much-needed business and management skills to developing countries
by volunteering for short periods (averaging 6-12 months) in VSO
assignments.
In the Philippines, VSO’s national volunteering program is called
KaBAHAGI, which assists local partner organizations develop strategic
41
and sustainable volunteer programs and work with volunteers in

communities on short-term volunteering engagements.
4. Among the major NGOs working on volunteer programs are the
Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), which pioneered
rural development and local democracy in the country and which was
the first NGO to send its workers in the villages to implement its four-
fold program of education, livelihood, health, and self-governance, and
the National Council on Social Development (NCSD) working on social
issues, particularly on children’s rights and issues. Around 500,000
NGOs are said to exist in the country although development NGOs that
are registered are around 10,000.
C. School-Based or -Managed Volunteer Programs

1. Under the 1987 Philippine Constitution, it is the prime duty of the
state to serve and protect its citizens. In turn, it is the responsibility of
the citizens to defend the security of the State. The government may
call upon the people to defend the State and all citizens may be required
to render personal, military or civil service (Sec. 4). In response, the
government implemented the National Service Training Program Act
of 2001, which requires students in higher and technical educational
institutions (private and public) to render personal, military, or civil
service. Under the National Service Training Program (NSTP), the
students could opt to participate in at least one of the three different
components:
(1) Civil Welfare Training Service (CWTS) that is geared towards
activities that have social impact by contributing to health,
education, environment, entrepreneurship, safety, recreation, and
moral of the citizenry.
(2) Literacy Training Service (LTS) focuses on training students
to become teachers of literacy and numeracy skills to school
children, out-of-school youths, and other service in need of their
service.
(3) Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) prepares the youth in
national defense.
In the management of the different National Service Training Program
(NSTP) Components mentioned above, school authorities exercise
academic and administrative supervision over the design, formulation,
adoption, and implementation of such Components in their respective

schools, provided that in case a Commission on Higher Education
(CHED) - or a Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA) - accredited NGO has been contracted to formulate and
administer a training module for any of the NSTP Components, such
academic and administrative supervision shall be exercised jointly with
the accredited NGO. Such training module, however, should be first be
accredited by CHED and TESDA (Sec. 10).
While the National Service Training Program (NSTP) is sometimes
seen as contrary to volunteerism due its “required” nature in tertiary
education, nevertheless it is deemed a valuable entry point for
engendering volunteerism among the youth especially those who choose
to do the civil welfare training service and even the literacy training
service.
2. The academic sector has also joined the growing trend of
volunteerism. The University of the Philippines’ (UP’s) Ugnayan ng
Pahinugod allows its faculty, students, alumni and employees, as well
as the units and organizations they represent, to get involved in the life
of the nation through the willing service. The University allots annual
funding for the program which is, in turn, shared by all the UP/OC units.
The initial efforts at institutionalizing the UP’s -Visayas (UPV) Ugnayan
ng Pahinungod started in January 1994, when volunteer committees
explored collaboration with the LGUs hosting the UPV campuses and
facilities. A month after, Memoranda of Agreements were signed with the
province of Guimaras and the municipalities of Leganes and Miag-ao in
Iloilo province.
From an initial 50 volunteers, the number has geometrically grown to
more than 3,000. Today, Pahinungod continues to touch more lives, as
more faculty, research and extension program staff, alumni and students
are taking the vision of serving the Filipino outside the rigid walls of the
University. Non-UP alumni who join the volunteerism movement are
referred to as Kaibigan ng Pahinungod. Since its operation, over 28,000
Filipinos have benefited from the various programs of the UPV Ugnayan
ng Pahinungod. These beneficiaries include the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD), women, youth, fisher folks, high
school students, public school teachers, POs, NGOs and LGUs, among
others.
Government line agencies, LGUs, NGOs and POs which have programs
in underserved communities are also considered as partners of Ugnayan.
43
Partners are expected to provide accommodation for the volunteers,

ensure their safety and provide all the necessary support to ensure the
success of the volunteer programs being implemented in the area. A
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the partner and the
University is forged to formalize the partnership.
However, there is an increasing need for financial and material support
for the services rendered by the volunteers. This calls for the generation
of funds aside from the regular budget received from U.P. and outside
sources. The Kaibigan ng Pahinungod (Friends of Pahinungod) was
formed for this purpose. Kaibigan is a network of individuals and
organizations that are willing to support the program financially. Its
creation means that more and more individuals and groups outside of the
University are being tapped to support the efforts of voluntarism in the
country.
Another possibility for scaling up beyond UP is the involvement of other
state colleges and universities that are located across the archipelago. The
experience of the UP/OC could encourage these colleges and universities
to also institutionalize their own volunteer service programs. If this
happens, academic institutions in the country can become real channels
for the people and the government in the pursuit of development.
3. The Jesuit Volunteers Philippines Foundation, Inc. (JVPFI)12,
a program housed at the Ateneo de Manila University, allows the
youth who are searching for the opportunity to contribute to society,
build community and companionship, and deepen their spirituality
by assisting in social, pastoral, and development works of missions,
apostolates, NGOs, schools, and social development agencies. Many of
these organizations have scarcity in human resources such as teachers,
youth educators, community organizers, and parish workers. So JVP
provides well-educated, highly dedicated individuals who are engaged in
development work.
4. The Institutional Network for Social Action or INSA of the Miriam
College is today a merger of 3 offices namely, the Community Extension
Services Office (CESO), the Office for Social Involvement (OSI) and
the “old” Institutional Network for Social Action (INSA)13. In 1970, the
Social Development Program (SDP) was created. Its goal was to carry
out the social objective of then Maryknoll College, which was to develop
12 http://jvpfi.org/about/
13 http://www.mc.edu.ph/centers/institutionalnetworkforsocialaction.html
students who are socially aware and oriented to the service of others.
With the yearning to create more impact, Miriam College merged CESO,
OSI and the “old” INSA into one center with unified vision and goals.
The “new” INSA, as an advocacy center, upholds its commitment to
the empowerment of the poor and marginalized groups in the society
and envisions a transformed society where justice and peace prevail. In
addition, within Miriam College, INSA commits itself to raise the social
awareness and deepen the social involvement of teachers and students
and orchestrate volunteerism as expression of solidarity with the poor as
well as to build local leaders’ capabilities for community development
and advocate for the advancement of people’s rights. 
5. The Vincentian Center for Social Responsibility (VCSR), the core
group for volunteer action under the Integrated Community Extension
Services (ICES) of Adamson University, is a recognized center for
quality developmental services for and with the socially disadvantaged
under the inspiration of St. Vincent de Paul. It is a center that facilitates
the extension of relevant community services that contributes to the
development of partner communities towards the building up of the
Filipino nation.
The VCSR projects are systemic in nature, community-based, savings-
based and politically engaged. It takes the community situation as the
jump-off point of any undertaking and deals with all stakeholders as
partners. The VCSR volunteer projects are then replicated elsewhere
after thorough planning, evaluation and monitoring based on the United
Nations’ Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS), which initially
tests successes and weaknesses of the projects before proceeding to
sectoral and multi-sectoral formation leading to formation of federations
for community advocacy and political/cultural empowerment.
6. The Xavier University Ateneo de Cagayan Volunteers for
Community Outreach and Resource Development (VCORD) of the
Xavier Science Foundation (XSF) supports the various educational,
social and scientific pursuits of the College of Agriculture. At present,
VCORD works closely with the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro
as its secretariat for the Archdiocese Center for Empowerment and
Social Services (ACCESS), which serves as the coordinating unit of
the archdiocese in mobilizing activities such as forums, symposiums
and circles of discernment meetings and discussions on issues that
the archdiocese strongly advocates. VCORD also provides technical
assistance in facilitating the church’s continuous Organizational
45
Development and/or Leadership Training and Formation for priests/

seminarians and religious lay leaders.
VCORD hopes to engage partners and volunteer alumni in continuing
volunteerism (area -specific Development Innovations), where returned-
alumni volunteers continue to engage in volunteer work through more
flexible time and logistical arrangements. Through this, the VCORD
Program will be able to engage former volunteers - who are now experts
working in consultancy - and make use of their time and talent during
formation and training of the new batches of volunteers. Under this sub-
component of VCORD, dubbed Continuing Volunteer Service, alumni
and former volunteers will enjoy opportunities of sharing and delivering
services needed in empowering and capacitating communities needing
assistance and developmental services.
7. Associate Missionaries of the Assumption Volunteer Program
(AVP) is a volunteer program managed by the Associate Missionaries of
the Assumption – Philippines Foundation, Inc. (AMA-Phil.), established
in 1997. The volunteers are recruited through the assistance and
recommendations of the AMA alumni and RA Sisters in the different
regions and countries. The Campaign and Recruitment Committee
designed the module, which helped in facilitating the campaign talks.
A great number of young people have been recruited from the existing
mission areas where past volunteers had worked. The presence of
volunteers in these mission areas inspires young people to also give a
year of service.
D. Corporate Volunteerism
One of the best practices of corporate volunteerism documented by the
PNVSCA in their study is the Intel Involved Volunteering Program in
the Municipality of Trias, Cavite City. This program built a “town of
volunteers”, which focused on environment, education, health, safety
and community outreach. The Program also pioneered strategic and
sustainable activities, now incorporated in local government policies.
Intel provided a matching program for grant volunteering hours spent
by its employees, valued at US$80 for every 20 hours of work spent
in selected educational institutions or NGO in the communities. The
equivalent amount is given to these institutions. It was reported by
PNVSCA that in September 2007, Intel was able to raise nearly US$ 37
million benefitting 33 public schools and more than 30,000 students in
General Trias, Cavite City.
Other private companies have practiced corporate social responsibility

(CSR), where the academe, NGOs, and government have benefited from
their partnership with private companies through their volunteering
programs. Some of these reported partnerships in volunteering efforts by
private companies have been Pfizer with Our Lady of Grace Academy in
Roxas City in Caregivers Training; the Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran with the
LGUs of Tayabas, Quezon Province, the whole Province of Ifugao and
Valenzuela City in Early Childhood Development Program; the Gawad
Kalinga (GK) with the Central Luzon State University in building GK
communities and in sending faculty, staff and students to volunteer for
agriculture, livelihood, and nutrition requirements of the community;
TESDA national government agency with Kraft foods; and the DENR
with private companies in its National Greening Program.
Other corporate foundations that are active in volunteer work are the
ABS-CBN Foundation’s Sagip Kapamilya and the GMA Network’s
Kapuso Foundation, which have led in mobilizing volunteers and
resource donations for rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts and in
providing 24-hour news and information on how citizens can be of help
to victims of disasters. The SM Manila Cyber zone area has engaged in
mass blood donation activities.
F. Foreign Service Volunteers

As reported by PNVSCA in its Philippine volunteerism status report,
partner Foreign Volunteer Service Organizations (FVSOs) in the country
have provided volunteer assistance in Philippine development and
have coordinated mainly through the PNVSCA. Some of these FVSOs
are: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ),
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Korea International
Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Australian Youth Ambassadors
for Development (AYAD), Australian Volunteers for International
Development (AVID), Organization for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural
Advancement (OISCA), United States Peace Corps (USPC), United
Nations Volunteers (UNV) and VSO Bahaginan Foundation.
As mentioned above, PNVSCA prepared the Foreign Volunteer Program
Deployment Framework (FVPDF) in 2007 in partnership with FVSOs,
which serves as guide for the deployment of foreign volunteers in the
country.
47
The USPC and OISCA have been the longest-running foreign volunteer
service organizations in the country, celebrating their 50th anniversary
in the Philippines, with programs that, according to PNVSCA, are still
relevant to Filipino communities till this day.
Mobilizing and Managing
Management
Systems 4
Volunteers for Development:
The Need for

Upgraded Volunteer
Currently, the Philippine government has initiated efforts towards

recognizing the contribution of volunteers to the economy, even
as volunteer contribution to social development has already been
established. As pointed out earlier, the contribution of the government
in highlighting volunteerism in the country is the initial study on
measuring the economic impact of volunteer contributions to Philippine
development conducted by the National Statistical Coordination Board
(NSCB). The study came up with a framework for measuring volunteer
work and developing appropriate mechanism via a satellite account on
nonprofit institutions within the context of the Philippine System of
National Accounts (PSNA).
The study by Salamon reveals that not only do countries vary
considerably in the overall size of their civil society sectors; they also
vary in the extent to which these organizations rely on paid as opposed
to volunteer workers. Thus, while volunteers comprise 43 percent of
the total civil society workforce among the 35 countries, reliance on
volunteers varies greatly among countries, from a low of about 3 percent

in Egypt to a high of 75 percent in Sweden, a developed country, and
Tanzania, a developing country.
There are considerable differences in the scale of volunteer work in civil
society activity, even among the less developed countries, according
to Salamon et al, and certainly among developed countries. Figure 4
shows that, while the average reliance on volunteers among the 35
countries is 38 percent, with no marked difference between developed
and developing and transitional countries, a clearer picture of countries’
reliance on volunteer workers across countries could be discerned. The
Philippines, a developing country, ranks third among the 35 countries
in terms of reliance on volunteers, with about 63.8 percent share of
volunteers sharing in the civil society workforce. It follows Sweden
(75.9%), the top country with greater share of volunteers workforce in
civil society organizations, and Tanzania (75.2%), the second country in
terms of share of volunteers in its civil society workforce.
Among the developed countries covered in the Johns Hopkins study,
the Scandinavian countries Norway, Sweden and Finland had the
more volunteer workforce in their civil society organization workforce
than paid staff, while for the developing and less developed countries,
Tanzania, the Philippines, and Uganda had the majority of volunteers in
their workforce compared with paid staff, in that order.
Volunteer work provides important employment training and a pathway
into the labor force; it enhances social solidarity, social capital, political
legitimacy, quality of life, social inclusion and integration; and it
provides a sense of personal satisfaction, fulfillment, well-being, and
belongingness to persons who volunteer. Where there are high levels of
voluntary participation, there are also high levels of trust in others, lower
levels of violent crime, lower mortality levels, and better educational
outcomes. In 2001, the United Nations passed a Resolution that identified
volunteering as “an important component of any strategy aimed at
poverty reduction, sustainable development, health, disaster prevention
and management”.
Cariño stated that together, paid labor and volunteers employed in
nonprofit institutions is about 1.8 percent (Johns Hopkins in their study
cited 1.9%) of the working age population. Culture and recreation
nonprofit institutions rely the heaviest on volunteer labor, with six
volunteer workers for every paid worker. Health, social services,
51
development and housing, and law/advocacy nonprofit institutions have

one volunteer worker for every paid worker.
The above shows that the paid workforce in the Philippines does not
necessarily displace volunteers as is sometimes alleged, considering the
still relatively large percentage of volunteers in the total civil society
workforce in the country.
In fact, the authors contend that in general, based on their study, the
larger the paid civil society workforce, other things being equal, the
larger the volunteer workforce.
However, this said, while volunteering may be free, managing
volunteers comes with a cost. To manage volunteers professionally and
systematically, some volunteer groups in the Philippines have established
their own systems and procedures, although there are only a handful of
them.
Systems, processes and mechanisms have also been instituted and
strengthened to improve effectiveness and efficiency in volunteer
program management.
The Foreign Volunteer Program Deployment Framework (FVPDF) was
prepared by PNVSCA in 2007 in partnership with the foreign volunteer
service organizations (FVSOs) to serve as guide in the deployment of
foreign volunteers in the country.
The program areas identified are in accelerated economic growth and
job creation, improved social justice and delivery of social services,
enhanced education and youth opportunity and environmental
sustainability; while priority geographical areas include the first 30
provinces with high poverty incidence and 4th and 6th income class
municipalities.
Making use of the recent developments in information technology,
some organizations set up online volunteering facility for easy access
on volunteer opportunities. iVolunteer.net.ph was set up in 2003 by
Pinoy-Rin, to facilitate matching of volunteer needs with available
opportunities for volunteering. The Philippine National Volunteer Service
Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA) has a well-placed set of guidelines
for foreign volunteers in the country, while the agency’s volunteering
for development program is the Bayanihang Bayan with national
government agencies.
DSWD also launched its DSWD Online Registry of Volunteers on

Disaster Risk Management and Response in 2010. Any individual,
family, group, organization and corporation that would like to volunteer
can log on at DSWD website. The registry also serves as a national
database of volunteers for disaster risk management and emergency
response.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) through
the Local Government Academy (LGA) has just launched its Volunteer
and Citizenship Program (VCP), and has just developed a Volunteer
Handbook for Managers. As well the National Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management Council (NDRRMC) has developed a set of guidelines
and is in the process of developing an operations manual, as stipulated
in Rule 7, Sec. 3 (Powers and Functions of the Office of Civil Defense),
letter (p), which stipulates that the OCD shall produce a Manual of
Operations for volunteers in consultation with various stakeholders.
Some of the more advanced volunteer management systems in the
placement of volunteers can be seen in those institutionalized in VSO
Bahaginan, while The Jesuit Volunteers Philippines Foundation,
Inc.’s Manual of Operations includes provisions on the roles and
responsibilities in the Volunteer Service Program and the recruitment of
volunteers, matching of volunteers and the accepting institutions, skills
enhancement and even documentation of files.
Examining the following listing of strengths and weaknesses, for the
voluntary sector to be a potent force to effect change as partners for
development, it needs to develop two tracks towards its institutional
development: one focusing internally on the voluntary sector and
its management infrastructure, especially the strengthening of the
voluntary sector’s knowledge base; the other, outward-looking, with a
main goal of crafting of the sector’s development agenda serving and
engaging the larger society within the context of the country’s socio-
cultural, economic, and political milieu. This shall be further explained
in the details of the Roadmap on Volunteering for Development in the
Philippines Sec. VI below. Adopting the concept of citizenship, the
voluntary sector thus needs to decipher its larger community, which it
purports to serve.
Based on the past Volunteering Expos organized by VSO Bahaginan, the
following strengths and weaknesses of, and opportunities for volunteers
and volunteer service organizations in the Philippines are observed and
identified as follows (Diola, for VSO Bahaginan, 2013):
53
a. Major strengths and assets:

• A variety of volunteer service programs abound in the different
volunteer service organizations which have operated in the
country for several decades.
• Funding and resource available to support volunteer programs
in the private sector. At the same time, there is current interest
among foreign and development organizations in funding
volunteerism for development.
• Ready helping hands in the academe, NGOs, religious
organizations/mission work exist
• An enabling legal framework to mainstream volunteerism in
government agencies and local government already exists.
• A culture of volunteerism and helping those in need is innate
among Filipinos.
b. Weaknesses and opportunities:
• While diverse in their expertise and areas of concerns, the
volunteer service organizations are still fragmented in their
efforts to work along the same concerns, and possibly achieving
greater impact. Others still lack organization and management
skills to sustain their work.
• The national government focal point for coordinating
volunteerism in the country (the PNVSCA) lacks human and
possibly technical resources for promoting and supporting
volunteerism and volunteer programs in the country
• While being open and with a new program for implementing a
volunteer program for local government units, the DILG/LGA is
still a neophyte in the world of volunteering. At the same time,
it is burdened by a multiplicity of functions at the local level,
with the local chief executives constantly having to balance off
politics versus development.
• While already existing, legislation governing volunteerism in the
country needs to be pushed and implemented fully.
• Volunteerism as an approach to development work has
been documented and reported, but measuring its actual
contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP)
is a fundamental concern by planners and policy-makers in
development agencies. However, there are other non-monetary

contributions that volunteerism provides. Thus, the metrics for
accounting volunteerism contribution to national well-being and
development need to be established for volunteerism to take its
proper place in the development and even in the corporate world
and for the individual volunteer’s own self-actualization.
• At the moment, there is neither official database and directory
of volunteer service organizations available nor harmonized
data along this. Although some volunteer activities have been
profiled and analyzed in the first country report on the State of
Volunteerism in the Country by PNVSCA in 2011, the report
may have missed out accounting for other major players and
achievements in volunteerism in the country.
• Alongside the lack of a directory of volunteer service
organizations in the country is also the dearth of publicity of the
good work and contributions done by volunteers. Some reports
by international volunteers in the country are documented, but
no mainstream publication or report on local volunteer programs
exists.14
• Since there exists a variety of volunteer service programs from
different volunteer service organizations, there is potential for
learning and knowledge generation and therefore a wealth of
resources for capacity-building for second-generation leaders
in the voluntary sector. It is necessary to identify mentors who
can be tapped and who shall lead in this knowledge generation
and sense-making in volunteer work. The mentors can lead
in network formation, connecting, reflecting, sharing, and
celebrating their experiences in volunteerism.
• While currently appearing as a weakness, direction-setting and
formulation of a road map for volunteering in the country is
an opportunity for the different players in volunteerism in the
country to work together as a sector.
14 As far as the researcher has reviewed, there is no official regular publication on the
actual accomplishments by volunteers in the country, as evidenced by the first and only
official report published by the PNVSCA on the State of Volunteerism in 2011.
Responding to
Development Challenges:
The Role of Volunteers

and Volunteer
Organizations
5
Volunteerism can be expressed in almost any development service;
however it cannot replace the government’s regulation or law
enforcement function as well as in the collection and disbursement of
government money. Volunteering for jobs involving safety considerations
will have to be evaluated on a case to case basis, depending on the
qualification of the volunteer.
What may volunteerism do and may not do? Based on literature reviewed
for this Report, volunteers are basically individuals or organizations with
no promise, expectation or receipt of compensation, but may sometimes
receive an allowance for either transportation or food, depending on their
host organization. Others who volunteer outside their places of residence
may be afforded some accommodation by their host organizations.
In general, volunteers may do almost any kind of work except in a
few areas where state or government function may not be entrusted to
other non-state or non-government entities. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service Guidebook to Volunteering (1999) lists down several possible
areas where volunteers can play a role. This report attempts to make
general categories of volunteer work based on various literature reviewed
on volunteering and actual experience. Some examples are listed for
reference:
(1) Maintenance roles such as cleaning up litter or trash, organizing

clean-up campaigns, removing graffiti and cleaning vandalized walls,
mending broken chairs, painting chairs and houses, etc.;
(2) Administrative roles, such as filing or typing, training and monitoring
volunteers, doing library filing and cataloguing of books and other
resources, recruiting volunteers, courier service, photocopying, sales
of books, giving orientation to visitors, etc.;
(3) Resource management and technical / advisory service, such as
environmental conservation activities, assisting in medical missions,
relief and rescue operation, community-based forest management,
performing archaeological work, sustainable agriculture, conducting
land mapping surveys, feeding laboratory or research animals,
assisting in the conduct of experiments, testing water salinity, writing
scientific reports, etc.; and
(4) Public service, such as orientation to the public on a community
program, skills training on livelihood and credit, giving talks to the
public (children, women, elderly, disabled, indigenous peoples),
conducting a demonstration on specific skills, orientation on safety
and health programs, leading environmental education activities,
producing pamphlets and other public information materials,
producing an audio-visual materials, preparing a multi-media
program, etc.
However, volunteer programs cannot take the place of government or
the state in active law enforcement or in enforcing the government’s
regulatory functions. Nor may volunteers take the place of the judicial
system in acting as judges to settle cases, even as volunteers can do
mediation activities. Volunteers may not also be used for handling
government money, except maybe for collecting entrance fees in
museums and other cultural places. Lastly, as in most volunteer
organizations especially with regard to health and environmental
activities, the use of volunteers in hazardous jobs may not be used,
depending on the technical training and background of the volunteers.
As the Johns Hopkins study shows, while the Philippines has a small
fraction of civil society organizations as a portion of its active population
compared with other countries, volunteerism in the Philippines plays a
major role in the delivery of services, being the top country with reliance
on volunteers for its CSOs as shown in the study. Fees and payment for
services remain the major source of its cash income; however, on the
57
whole, with a minuscule cash contribution from philanthropy, volunteers

are a major human resource for CSO operations in the Philippines. While
there is no systematic data on the state of volunteerism in the country, a
closer look at the legal framework for volunteerism and CSO operations
will help explain the current situation.15
Philippine Volunteers Recognize the Need for ‘Volunteering

for Development’
The past Volunteering Expos organized by VSO Bahaginan in 2011-
2013 have elucidated the need to align volunteering in the country with
national development priorities and to clearly discern the contribution
of volunteerism in the country. Although the Philippine government is
teeming with poverty alleviation programs, one of the rallying poverty
programs adhered to by the Philippine government, that is, with clear
indicators, and which aligns the country’s efforts on poverty alleviation
with those of other countries around the world, is the achievement of
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the post-2015 agenda,
anchored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
According to the State of Volunteerism in the Philippines Report (2012),
the voluntary sector in the country has continued to show commitment
to help the less fortunate and to work towards development. But much
still remains to be fulfilled in other aspects of poverty reduction and
achievement of the MDGs, as the table below illustrates. From the Third
Volunteering Expo held last March 2013, it was pointed out that the key
theme of consultations for post-MDG points to the greater need to look at
the multi-dimensionality of poverty.
Responding to Philippine Development and MDG Goals

Affirming the need to direct volunteering in the country towards change
and development, In the FGD that was conducted last December 5 by the
Philippine Coalition for Volunteerism, reveals that volunteer groups are
willing to work towards support for the development aspirations of the
country. At the launching of the PhilCV, at the Oakwood Premier~Joy
Nostalg in Ortigas, Mandaluyong City, attended by representatives from
the government, non-government organizations, academe and faith-based
15 A Proposed Framework for Establishing the Volunteer and Citizenship Program (VCP)
of the Local Government Academy (LGA): Bayanihang Bayan in Our Place. Diola,
Faina. 2012.
groups, among others, the following breakdown of CSO activities have

been mapped according to Post-MDG, critical targets, and MDGs, and
PDPs.
Table 2. Indicative Areas of Development Work Selected by Volunteer
Groups that May be Considered as Priority Areas for Volunteering for
Development*
Post MDG Number of
Organizations
1. Poverty Reduction 18
2. Environmental Sustainability 10
3. Peace and Security 10
4. Accountable, Responsible, and Inclusive governance 13
5. Fair and stable global order 4
6. Culture and Identity 12
Critical themes
1. High population growth 7

2. Urbanization and sustainable development 8
3. Internal and international migration 1
4. Population aging 2
Millennium Development Goals
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger 13

2. Achieve universal primary education 10
3. Promote gender equality and women empowerment 9
4. Reduce child mortality 4
5. Maternal health 5
6. HIV/AIDS 6
7. Environmental sustainability 8
8. Global partnership 7
10-point Agenda of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP)
(2011-2016)
1. In pursuit of inclusive growth 13
- Human development and capacity building 17
-Education 14
2. Macroeconomic policy 1
3. Competitive industry and services sector 3
-Tourism 1
- Developing human resources 7
4. Competitive agriculture and fisheries sector 2
59
-Agriculture and fisheries 2

5. Accelerating infrastructure development 2
6. Towards a resilient and inclusive financial sector 2
7. Good governance and the rule of law 5
-Public service delivery 4
- Anti-corruption and transparency efforts 6
8. Social development 11
- Attaining the MDGs 9
- Health and basic education campaigns 14
- Community-driven development 16
- Mainstreaming climate change adaptation and disaster risk 9
reduction in social development
- Mainstreaming gender and development 5

- Strengthening civil society – basic sector participation and 7
public-private partnership
9. Peace and security 4
10. Conservation, protection, and rehabilitation of the envi- 5
ronment and natural resources
- Environmental education 11
- Resource management 7
- Conservation, protection, and rehabilitation of natural 8
resources
- Protection and conservation of biodiversity 7
- Coastal and marine resource management 5
- Raising public awareness on disaster risk reduction and 8
management and improve adaptive capacities of communi-
ties
- Institutional strengthening and capability building 8
* Responses from founding partners of PhilCV during the Focus Group Discussion, held
during the National Volunteering Month, December 2014.
Addressing the Most Vulnerable or Marginalized Groups

Glaringly missing in the Statement of Development Goals, either from
the part of the Philippine Government or of the UN on their MDGs,
is a movement towards empowering the Persons with Disabilities
(PWDs), whose concerns were voiced out by a participant at the National
Volunteering Month. The Roadmap shall endeavor to include the PWDs
and other marginalized groups, such as children in conflict with the
law, women victims of violence, informal settlers, internally displaced
persons in conflict areas in its priority agendas.
In the era of globalization and interconnectedness, more and more we

see the role and capacity of volunteerism to be a force that can forge
commitment from people around the world, including and especially the
youth to act on important issues and play a significant role in society.
In the Philippines, youth volunteer groups can be coordinated by the
National Youth Commission (NYC). Created through Republic Act
No. 8044, the NYC works in tandem with principles through which
the National Comprehensive and Coordinated Program on Youth
Development was formulated, including:
Overall, there seems to be a preference for volunteer work on poverty
reduction, basic services such as education and health, capacity building
and community development.
So far there has been no mention on any networking or volunteer-
to-volunteer activities that have been conducted to optimize the full
potential of volunteers for development. Also, there has been no citation
of current initiatives or efforts to harmonize volunteering activities with
a) Organizational goals
b) Community / local area priorities
c) National goals
d) Other sectoral priorities
Plans for Networking (Volunteer-to-Volunteer)

In order to accomplish its work on Volunteering for Development, the
voluntary sector needs to establish a network of like-minded volunteers
who can selflessly choose to work for development projects in line
with priorities of the state and of regional or international development
institutions. Volunteer-participants at the National Volunteering Month
last December 2014 indicated their interest to enter into partnerships with
the following sectors:
Academe
- They want to collaborate with agencies that already promote our
advocacy.
- They also want to partner with PhilCV
- San Miguel Corporation
- LGU
- Corporation Sector
61
- Children, Youth, and Parents

- CSO’s & GO
- Faith-based Academe
NGO/CSO
- Build alliances with other NGOs/CSR
Government
- All of them want to be well rounded by networking and engaging
with each and everyone. (verbatim)
Corporate
- For the corporate sectors to work with the Government
especially on Governance issues, bottoms up budgeting, PBAC
- To tap all types of volunteers – Retirees, diaspora, professionals,
and youth.
- Volunteer programs aligned with business values
- Health Organization with health educational
- Broadcasting with communication
A Roadmap on Volunteering
for Development in the
Philippines
6
The Roadmap on Volunteerism for Development, drawn upon
examination of current laws and policies, programs and projects,
reflections on past volunteering conferences, secondary review
of literature, and focus group discussions with volunteer service
organizations, is intended to serve as lampost for the voluntary sector and
its core group (PhilCV members) in the Philippines to carry out a vision
for change and development in the country, in partnership with other
development institutions.
Overall, the Roadmap shall help the Volunteer Sector (PhilCV network
members) design favorable internal management systems that will
facilitate and boost volunteerism among volunteers and volunteer
organizations and promote volunteerism for development across all
sectors of society as well as respond responsively to selected / priority
Volunteering for Development areas. The Goals of the Roadmap on
Volunteering for Development are as follows:
Goal 1: Implement and Examine the Workability of the Volunteer Act
Goal 2: Establish and Strengthen Volunteer Management Systems
Goal 3: Establish a Volunteer-to-Volunteer Support and Networking
System
Goal 4-N: Implement Priority Development Goals and Advocate for

Reforms
The objectives of the Roadmap are as follows:
a) To facilitate and support different volunteering sectors in
adopting / setting up of volunteer management systems,
procedures, and practices in order to effectively and efficiently
manage volunteers
b) To develop and spread knowledge about volunteering for
development
c) To recognize, promote and celebrate the achievements of
volunteers
d) To contribute to effecting change in society and bringing about
inclusive development through volunteerism and engagement in
local development processes.
In line with Republic Act (RA) 9418 or the Volunteer Act of 2007,
the Roadmap shall likewise aim to contribute inputs towards policy
adjustments on volunteerism that shall strengthen diverse efforts
among actors in the voluntary sector in the country and, to the extent
possible, work towards “an integrative and effective partnership for
local and national development as well as international cooperation and
understanding” (RA 9418, Sec. 3. Statement of Goals and Objectives).
To sustain volunteerism at the local level, it is incumbent upon
development agencies and volunteer service organizations that an agenda
for citizen empowerment and volunteer organizations’ involvement
in local or community development especially towards attaining the
MDGs, be crafted based on socio-economic realities. While promoting
volunteerism and active citizenship in local development activities,
especially in support of the achievement of the MDGs, volunteerism
advocates in the country may be able to ensure that volunteering
activities contribute to the harmonization of local with national
development goals.
In crafting a Roadmap to Volunteerism, we take off from the agenda
on volunteering16 based on previous reflections and actionable areas in
16 Drafted by this author for VSO Bahaginan, based on the three Volunteering Expos
(2011-2013).
65
the past coming together of volunteers and volunteering groups at the

Volunteering Expos from 2011 to 2013, organized by VSO Bahaginan.
Packaged as an Action Agenda, the document was entitled: The Future
We Want for Volunteering. It was proposed that the Agenda be expressed
as Ties that Bind a Caring Nation.
We reiterate what the Action Agenda for volunteerism calls for: that
the collaborating partners including government, non-government,
the academe, as well as private volunteer service organizations in the
Philippines, or foreign volunteer service organizations which have
existing volunteer programs, or with a long record of volunteering
activities and with a wide network of volunteers, adopt the Agenda for
Action.
Mindful of PNVSCA, the government agency mandated to coordinate
an existing volunteer program for government agencies, the Bayanihang
Bayan Program, and the PNVSCA’s current need to promote the
program, especially among local government units17; the DILG/LGA’s
recently launched Volunteer and Citizenship Program whose aim is the
promotion of volunteerism and citizenship for development at the local
level; and the voluntary sector’s different voices expressed as the Future
We Want throughout the Volunteering Expos, the following milestones
for volunteerism are proposed to be adopted:
Track I: Establishment of Internal Volunteer Management

Systems
1. Vision-, Principles-, and Direction-Setting on Volunteering for
Development
Volunteer and volunteering organizations need to share a common
vision, principles, passion and a set of action for volunteerism and
citizenship in the country, and establish the contribution of these
voluntary actions to development in the country.
This milestone entails supporting and promoting current and
future government initiatives related to volunteering such as the
Bayanihang Bayan Program (BBPs) of the PNVSCA, the NSCB’s
17 The need to promote and expand the Bayanihang Bayan Program among local
government units is based on personal discussions by the author/consultant with
PNVSCA staff and from the discussions at the Conference on the State of Philippine
Volunteerism conducted last December 2011.
crafting of a monitoring and accounting system for volunteers, as

well as the DILG/LGA’s Volunteer and Citizenship Program, and the
major volunteer programs of volunteer service organizations with
networks on a national scale, such as VSO Bahaginan, International
Association for Volunteer Effort Philippines (formerly the Philippine
Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE), Volunteer Organizations
Information Coordination and Exchange VOICE, etc. The founding
members and partners of the Philippine Coalition for Volunteerism
(PhilCV) shall coordinate and solicit the inputs of a wide range of
volunteer organizations as possible.
In the absence of a generally-agreed framework for development
work,the voluntary sector, to be led by PhilCV, will preferably
streamline its initial direction-setting activities to support the MDG
and its post-2015 targets, as well as priority areas of the Philippine
Development Plan. In general, the overarching theme, in tune with
the MDGs will be aimed at poverty reduction and community
empowerment. The latter is recognized as another direction based
on the past Volunteering Expos anchored by VSO Bahaginan, as
reflected upon and expressed by the participants during the past
volunteering expos.
The formulation of Volunteer Development Plans (both by members
of the PhilCV and PhilCV itself), Volunteer Management Policies
and Volunteering Standards for Philippine Volunteerism, based
on best local practices judged as such by among PhilCV members
as well as practices worldwide, are envisioned as outputs for this
milestone. PhilCV will spearhead the formulation of these major
activities, which it will conduct as a series of activities.
Voluntary Management policies and systems will be shared and
openly discussed by management, paid staff and volunteers within
the voluntary sector itself. The adoption of volunteer policies
represents an important step in developing a coherent understanding
of the role, value, and scope of volunteering or possibilities for
volunteers.
Towards this end, part of the expected output for this First Track
is a mapping and categorization of Volunteers in the Philippines,
with the members of PhilCV again as the lead in the process of this
information mapping.
67
2. Rationalized enabling mechanisms that support, promote, and

activate volunteering initiatives
a. Advocacy for supportive policies. To support, promote,
and activate government initiatives related to volunteering
mentioned above, an enabling environment / legal framework
will be advocated. The existing multi-sectoral advisory body
(MSAB) coordinated by the PNVSCA will be strengthened and
augmented to serve as feeder for policy inputs on volunteerism
and development. However, in the interim, a network or
consortium of volunteer service organizations may serve as the
think-tank and resource for future directions of volunteering and
citizenship, to be coordinated by the Philippine Coalition for
Volunteerism.
Together with an augmented MSAB, the PhilCV shall work
towards serving as a coordinating body to facilitate engagement
in the policy-making process. Initially, the PhilCV will study
existing policies and recommend and craft policies that will
augment, streamline, and harmonize flagship volunteer programs
of the various volunteer service organizations in the country
including government, private as well as non-government
organizations in line with clear priority development agendas, at
the national as well as specific local levels.
b. Creation of an information / database management system
and funding support mechanism for the voluntary sector
and for the other sectors of society regarding a wide range of
volunteer opportunities and the contribution such opportunities
would likely bring to local development. Information and
financial management systems need to be rationalized
and managed to establish the clear role of volunteerism in
development. This database management may also help
document evidence-based research.
By properly recognizing their role in development through a
good information and financial management system, citizens and
volunteers are enabled to play the fullest possible part in building
a diverse, tolerant, just and compassionate society. Corollary to
this, the resources shall include reading materials for academic

purposes to inculcate citizenship values and volunteerism in
schools.
The PhilCV shall also endeavor to present this Roadmap of
Volunteering for Development in the Philippines, the process of
which has presumably been started by the PNVSCA, which may
be included in a chapter in the future Philippine Development
Plan. Although this effort is spearheaded by PNVSCA, this
could also be jointly supported and conducted by the proposed
augmented MSAB for volunteering in the country.
Volunteering for development activities necessitate the need for
coming up with a database of supply and demand of volunteers
at the local government level. The Local Government Resource
Centers (LGRCs) of the DILG/LGA should therefore be
mandated by law to coordinate the launching of a database
of volunteer service organizations in the area through their
Volunteer and Citizenship Program (VCP), in cooperation with
the PNVSCA’s, Bayanihang Bayan Program with line agencies
and LGUs, and VSO Bahaginan through their database of
volunteers project.
c. Development of a system for rewards and incentives. Ensure
and support an enabling environment that will engender a
friendly environment that, providing paid staff a positive,
welcoming and rewarding experience for existing and potential
volunteers.
A Manual of Operations shall be devised for setting up an
internal management system for (a) policy advocacy for
volunteerism; (2) database management or mapping of priority
development programs, projects, or activities and soliciting
volunteer organizations to work on those priority programs
(see Table on this, based on FGD results at the NVM last
Dec. 5, 2014); and (3) setting a rewards system for innovative
volunteering schemes.
Overall, the aim of this Milestone is to ensure and support
different volunteering sectors to adopt / set up volunteering
sectors to adopt/set up volunteer management systems,
procedures, and practices in order to support and manage
volunteers.
69
3. Formulate skills-sharing and reflexive programs: for

empowering both the volunteer and the host organization/
institution or the beneficiaries in the community and the society
as a whole.
The concept of citizenship in the new republicanism strand begins
with the individual, who realizes his identify and derives meaning in
taking action together with the rest of the community. The concept of
pakikipagkapwa inherent in the Filipino psyche, as explained earlier,
will be the basis for a praxis in volunteerism and citizenship for
development.
PhilCV shall work towards building a strong foundation of caring
communities, both towards empowering the volunteer for self-
introspection, increasing the level of the volunteer’s skill for
fostering positive change as well as augmenting the growth and
development of the host organization/institution or beneficiaries in
the community and the society as a whole. Realizing the volunteer’s
social capital, we propose that a series of skills-share cum reflection
sessions be arranged.
The Agenda for Action18 derived from the voices of volunteers in
the Volunteering Expos recommended the provision of enabling
mechanisms and culture, including a program for the development of
facilitating tools to enhance and inculcate the spirit of volunteerism
within the local government, private organizations and within
ordinary citizens. The program spells out the need for animators or
mentors who shall be willing to share their skills, and experiences to
be able to pass on the torch, so to speak, to the next generation of a
cadre of volunteers in the community and in the country.
Post-2015 Millennium Development Goals as well as the
Philippine Development 2011-2016 priority agenda enable and
create opportunities for societies and population to participate in
development. We recognize that current challenges and issues on
climate change and urbanization are an opportunity for volunteerism,
since limited available resources will resort in sharing of skills and
other resources to hurdle such daunting challenges. Already we have
witnessed a strong volunteerism among Filipino citizens during the
recent emergency and relief operations brought about by the recent
natural calamities that struck our country.
18 Drafted by F.L. Diola. 2012.

The volunteering expos, especially the third, have expressed the

need for our country’s National Systems to be strengthened. We thus
call on volunteer service organizations and individuals, especially
from the private sector with relevant skills, to share their knowledge
and expertise especially in upgrading our database and information
management systems. This is true especially with the need to
improve the generation, analysis, harmonization, and utilization
of official statistical data, including the preparation of geophysical
data and geo-hazard maps, strengthening monitoring and evaluation
systems, so as to make accurate forecasting and planning for
development.
We also call on the private sector to share their blessings and play
a more active role in providing financial resources and for the
government to increase and demonstrate its accountability of the
national budget and national resources, mindful of meeting both
economic and social needs of the people. At the same time, we shall
collaborate with private volunteer service organizations in crafting
volunteer programs that are responsive to local community needs,
while aligning the programs to their corporate mission, and for these
organizations to ensure their positive impact on the communities and
ultimately their contribution to the society. Through a responsive
volunteer program, project or activity the volunteer can expect to
hone whatever skills and God-given talents they have, strengthen
their positive values, and derive self-fulfillment and camaraderie
with other volunteers, and help achieve a positive reputation for their
organization.
The output for this milestone is a Compilation or a Book on
Volunteers’ Pathways to Happiness in Volunteering for Development
and a Series of Volunteerism Talks (VoTalks), an ongoing activity
among volunteers.
Track II: Analysis of the Socio-economic, Cultural, Economic,
and Political Milieu of Development and Active Citizenship
1. Analyze the larger socio-economic, cultural contexts of, and
status of options for volunteers and identify where change is
needed to improve services to beneficiaries and devising flexible
volunteering services
In working towards priority development programs, projects, and
activities, it is important to have an analysis of the context in which
significant change is needed.
71
2. Ratify Volunteering for Development proposed priorities for

development
Based on the Focus Group Discussion among volunteers last
December 2014, Table 2 above shows the priority areas of concern
for the volunteer organizations. However, based on the Concept
Paper (Diola 2013) for the establishment of the Volunteer and
Citizenship Program (VCP) of the Department of Interior and
Local Government, MDG, Table 3 shows the participation of
different sectors in the attainment of the MDGs (based on number of
respondents in the PNVSCA’s study on the State of Volunteerism in
the Philippines who indicated their volunteering activities that may
be classified under the specific MDGs).
Table 3. Sector Participation in the Attainment of the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs).
Sector MDG1 MDG2 MDG3 MDG4 MDG5 MDG6 MDG7 MDG8
Academe 2 4 3 3 1 1 4 2
NGO 14 7 9 5 6 5 14 8
Government 20 8 17 8 6 7 22 19
Source: First Report of the State of Volunteerism in the Philippines (2011), cited by Diola 2012
One would note that both the NGOs and the government
organization respondents have the tendency to share a similar interest
for volunteering towards attaining MDG 1 (poverty eradication)
and MDG 7 (environmental sustainability), while the academe tend
to volunteer more towards achieving MDG 2 (universal primary
education) as well as MDG 7 (environmental sustainability). Only a
few of the respondents work towards MDG 5 (maternal heath) and
MDG 6 (HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases) and even MDG 3
(child mortality). There is thus a need for volunteers to work more
towards other MDG targets.
In choosing which priority development programs, projects, and
activities to implement, PhilCV will need to emphasize efficiency
and performance more than longevity of presence or service in the
voluntary sector.
3. Forge and expand strategic partnerships

This milestone includes networking activities and establishing
volunteer-to-volunteer support.
The activities include plans for (a) information exchange;
(b) volunteer development; (c) capacity building; and (d) experience
exchange.
To expand the network among volunteers, mobilize and recruit
volunteers; diversify and promote volunteerism. Forging strategic
partnerships is crucial to set the tone for working together for peace
and harmony among peoples, communities, culture. Opening up
spaces to partner with the business sector will provide funding
opportunities and establish other financial flows aside from
government.
The Agenda for Action mentions the need for building networks of
volunteerism. Within this Milestone therefore, we wish to coordinate,
redefine and improve the relationships and partnerships and build
networks of practice within the voluntary and civil society sector
especially with that of the local government towards increased
collaboration or “ties that bind”. The private sector will also be
tapped and mobilized, especially private organizations with a long
track record of CSRs and volunteer service programs.
Conscious effort should be expended to connect with volunteer
groups working for persons with disabilities, in line with the
Philippine Development Plan’s call for inclusive development.
By working together towards the Agenda for Action and the values
expressed herein, we anticipate that the end result of all these is a
convergence of shared values or ties that bind our people, a growing
sense of nationhood glued together by oneness of mind and heart.
What we can expect to see is a nation that cares for those who have
less in life.
The Manual of Operations should also include a Section for
Provisions on Mobilizing Volunteers for Development.
4. Train and capacitate volunteers and volunteer managers for
effecting change
Volunteering for development needs some theory or a paradigm of
change in order to analyze their role in bringing about an impact of
73
their development work effectively at different levels, i.e., on the

individual volunteer, on the organization they work for, and on the
community and society at large. To bring about effective change,
the focus of change would ultimately have to be on empowering
communities at the local level. Volunteer work in this sense would
either be on (a) protection of citizens’ rights to development; (2)
promotion of their rights; or (3) meeting their needs for development.
Hence, towards this end, one of the challenges in volunteering
for development would be in bridging communities to access
government and other resources. Some of the options or forms of
development work for volunteers would be:
a. Voluntary delivery of services
b. Volunteers involving the public in community activities
c. Volunteers supporting activities organized by the community
5. Involve volunteers in development program management and
decision-making
Once gains or initial steps in volunteering for development are
achieved, to assure retention of programs, recognize volunteers
and facilitate volunteer ownership of decisions, it is important
to facilitate the entry of volunteers into the process of local
development management and decision-making. In the case of the
Philippines, the establishment of Volunteer and Citizenship Desks
(VCDs) has already been mandated. PhilCV can help activate or
move this establishment forward by engaging local councils and
offering a plan of work on volunteering for development.
It will be fun to check out with volunteer partner organizations
different models of volunteering for development that have had
records of success. This can be done through story-telling sessions
or in watching videos of volunteering work together with local
government officers for everyone’s appreciation.
6. Volunteer for vulnerable sectors of society and advocate for
social inclusion
As mentioned above, there are relatively few volunteers working on
people with disabilities, which is an area that volunteers may have
to consider. Newer models of recognizing the potential of volunteers
from the PWDs or other marginalized sectors are a significant
contribution towards the realization of social inclusion, a paradigm
adhered to by the current Philippine administration.
References:
Barber, B. (1984.) Strong Democracy.: Participatory Politics for a New
Age. Berkley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press.
Castillo, G. T. (2009). Corporate Citizenship with a Difference. Manila:
Philippine Business for Social Progress.
Cariño, L.T. (2002). Between the State and the Market, The Nonprofit
Sector and Civil Society in the Philippines. Center for Leadership,
Citizenship, and Democracy, National College of Public Administration
and Governance, University of the Philippines. Ford Foundation.
Civil Society Research Institute (CSRI). (2011). Civil Society
Organizations in the Philippines: A Mapping and Strategic Assessment.
Civil Society Resource Institute.
Dalisay, G.A. (2003). “Extending the Self: Volunteering as
Pakikipagkapwa”.Quezon City: Center for Leadership, Citizenship, and
Democracy (CLCD), National College of Public Administration and
Governance, University of the Philippines.
75
Denhardt, Janet V. and Robert B. Denhardt. (2007). The new public

service. New York: M.E. Sharpe.
Diola, M. F. L. (2013). The Future We Want: An Agenda for Volunteering
in the Philippines. Prepared forVSO Bahaginan, July 2013.
International Labor Organization (ILO).(2011). Manual on
the measurement of volunteer work. Geneva: International Labor
Organization. p. 13
Mayer, P. (2003). “The Wider Economic Value of Social Capital and
Volunteering in South Australia”
Montogomery, J. (1966). “A royal invitation: Variations on three classic
themes”. In Montgomery and William Siffin (Eds.). Approaches to
development: Politics, administration and change (p.259). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Ocampo, D. L. (2010). Ten Million Hours for Development. iV Corner,
Communities No.3.
Riggs. F. W. (1970). “The context of development administration”.
In Riggs, F. (Ed.). Frontiers of Development Administration (p. 75).
Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.
Salamon, L, M., Sokolowski, S. W. & List, R. (2003). Global civil
society: An overview. Baltimore, MD, USA: The Johns Hopkins
University.
Sapru, R.K. (1994). Development administration. New Delhi: Sterling.
Stone, D.C. (1965). Government machinery necessary for development.
In M. Kriesberg (Ed.).Public administration in developing countries.
Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1965, p. 53.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.(1999). A Guidebook for Working
with Volunteers.
UgnayanngPahinungod.http://pahinungod.upm.edu.ph/netscape/index2.
html
“The Volunteer” Centennial Issue. (1998).
Yu-Jose, L. N.(2011).Civil Society Organizations in the Philippines, A
Mapping and Strategic Assessment. Quezon City: Civil Society Resource
In
Government Documents:
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.http://www.chanrobles.com/
legal4agrarianlaw.htm
Corporation Code of the Philippines.http://www.gov.ph/1980/05/01/
batas-pambansa-bilang-68/
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).(2001). A
Study on People’s Participation in the Local Development Councils.
In collaboration with the Urban Resources and the Evelio B. Javier
Foundation Inc (EBJFI).
Home Guaranty CorportionAct .http://www.hgc.gov.ph/hgccharter.html
Local Government Agency/DILG.(2005). Good Citizenship Handbook.
Local Government Code of 1991.www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/
ra1991/ra_7160_1991.html
Philippine Constitution (1987).http://www.lawphil.net/consti/cons1987.
html
Philippine Development Plan, 2011-2016
Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA)
Agency Profile. http://www.pnvsca.gov.ph/aboutus/aboutus_agency_
profile.php
Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA).
(2012). First Country Report on the State of Philippine Volunteerism.
Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010.
Republic Act No. 9418
http://www.scribd.com/doc/65576869/Republic-Act-No-9418-Volunteer-
Act-of-2007
Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992.http://www.chanrobles.
com/republicactno7279.htm
National Service Training Program Act of 2001.http://www.uprotc.org/
articles/ra-9163.html
Virola, R. (2010). “Volunteerism in the Philippines: Dead or Alive?On
Measuring the Economic Contribution of Volunteer Work”. See 11th
77
NCS paper (www.nscb.gov.ph) http://www.nscb.gov.ph/headlines/

StatsSpeak/2010/121310_rav_cmr_volunteerism.asp
Participants in PhilCV focused group discussions:
Alliance of Filipino Families for Mental Health, Inc.

Associate Missionaries of the Assumption Philippines, Inc.
Ayala Foundation, Inc.
Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation, Inc.
CFC ANCOP-Tekton Foundation, Inc.
College Community Health Development and Management
Department of Interior and Local Government -Local Government Academy
Department of Social Welfare and Development
ERDA Foundation, Inc.
Far Eastern University
France Volontaires
Fundación Santiago, Inc.
GawadKalinga
Girl Scouts of the Philippines
Globe Telecom
Green Cross-Jesus Co Ay Tian Foundation, Inc.
GT-Metro Foundation, Inc.
Hands on Manila, Inc.
iHome Greater Metro Manila, Inc.
International Association for Volunteer Effort Philippines
iVolunteer Philippines
Japan International Cooperation Agency
Kapamagogopa, Inc.
La Proteccion De La Infancia, Inc.
Lawrence Fund for Volunteer Efforts and Recognition
Lopez Group Foundation, Inc.
Loveyourself, Inc.
Lyceum of the Philippines
Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company
Mga Gawa
Mondelez Philippines, Inc.
NetSuite, Inc.
Operation Smile Philippines Foundation, Inc.
Philam Foundation, Inc.
Philippine Red Cross
Philippine Women’s University
Presidential Management Staff
Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Phils., Inc.
SimbahangLingkodng Bayan
STI Foundation, Inc.
Tao of Human Caravan Advocates
Team Energy Foundation, Inc.
Trinity University of Asia
Unilab Foundation, Inc.
United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Volunteers
United States Peace Corps
University of the East
World Vision Development Foundation, Inc.

Roadmap On Volunteering For Development in The Philippines

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A Roadmap on

Chapter 2. A Quick Overview of Volunteers in the Philippines............................... 17

Chapter 3. Enabling Environment for Philippine Volunteerism.............................. 31

Chapter 4. Mobilizing and Managing Volunteers for Development:

Chapter 5. Responding to Development Challenges: The Role

Chapter 6. A Roadmap on Volunteering for Development in the Philippines........ 63

1. Formulation of a Volunteer Sector Plan that will flesh out the

for development across all sectors of society as well as respond to

development can and should be part and parcel of a country’s pursuit

The New Public Service Paradigm: Citizenship at the Core

Denhardt and Denhardt (2007) propose an alternative to an earlier

and the government and (2) alternative approaches to management and

(b) It is unpaid. Volunteer work by definition is work without pay or

(iv) Symbolic gifts, or other similar expressions of gratitude for volunteer

(c) It is non-compulsory. Volunteer activity must involve a significant

(ii) Adding filter questions about compulsory service to a survey on

(d) It embraces both “direct” volunteering, i.e., volunteer activities

(f) It includes volunteering done without compulsion in all types of

the UN Framework recognizes the expressions of volunteerism as

Volunteerism and Active Citizenship

Public service and active citizenship

3 Taken from Local Government Agency/DILG (2005), Good Citizenship Handbook.

Mutual responsibility and citizenship

The Philippine Development Plan (2011-2016), Social

Celebration of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10) in the

Implications for Volunteering

A major achievement during the ten-year period is the marked

or underprivileged communities, strengthening of community

Opportunities for volunteerism are aplenty in Aquino’s PDP.

5. Accelerating infrastructure development

Actionable items for Volunteering

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Guidebook to Volunteering

Related to DRRM are volunteer activities regarding the environment,

Volunteerism’s contribution to development has been recognized. A

In this paper, civil society organizations, including NGOs are considered

armed conflicts and disaster response and management, according to

A quick look at volunteers as part of the workforce

University. Close to half of the NGOs surveyed in the participating

Global situation of the civil society workforce

Fig. 1. Civil society organization vs. volunteer labour, 35 countries*

Source: John Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project

Philippine volunteers in the workforce

In the Philippines, volunteerism has had a long, rich, diverse,

Philippine Volunteers’ Defining Attributes and Characteristics

to participate in the development processes of the country (Yu-Jose, in

Principles Adhered to by Filipino Volunteers and How they

* Responses from Volunteer-Participants at the National Volunteering Month, December

On the other hand, self-descriptions on the characteristics of a Filipino

• A good leader is a good • Dedicated

Inherent in every Filipino are profound cultural characteristics and

This concern for “kapwa” is what motivates a volunteer to share his

Volunteerism in the Philippine context is imbibed while still young,

communities. The PNVSCA takes the lead in advocating and recognizing

The Volunteer Act Of 2007

RA 9418 committed government to provide a conducive and

The most recent milestone is the inclusion of volunteerism in the

Other Government initiatives

in their personnel. An orientation program for the mobilization of

issued in 2005, which provided for the revitalization of the Volunteer

Non-government volunteer organizations (NGOs/CSOs,

sector, a continuing nationwide housing program that will make

B. Volunteer Programs and Initiatives by Other Volunteer

1. International Association for Volunteer Effort Philippines

mobilizes all sectors of Philippine society to serve others through

2. Volunteer Organizations Information Coordination and

Pambansang Samahan sa Sikolohiyang Pilipino (PSSP) volunteering

The most recent milestone is the inclusion of volunteerism in the