Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 28, 2000
On the eve of the UN's International Year of the Volunteer 2001, the Belarus Red Cross is looking at ways to strengthen its volunteer recruitment, training and involvement in activities and planning.
Three two-day workshops for the volunteers on tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS prevention took place during October and November in the pilot areas of an ECHO-funded project to strengthen the Red Cross Visiting Nurses service and provide educational, material and nutritional support to TB patients in Belarus. The three pilot areas have the highest incidence of TB in the country.
The participants included both new and experienced Red Cross volunteers, young and adults from all walks of life. "This meeting provides an excellent opportunity for volunteers to decide what they want to contribute most to feel comfortable and fulfilled with their work," says Grinkevich Larisa, acting chairperson of the Minsk city Red Cross branch.
As with all National Societies worldwide, volunteering has always been the flesh and bones of the Belarus Red Cross. The enthusiasm and compassion of volunteers makes a significant and positive contribution to the success of National Society programmes to assist people in need as well as to strengthen civil society in the broader sense.
The workshop covered the wider issues of volunteering in general, such as introduction the Federation's new policy on volunteering, and inviting participants to discuss what made them become volunteers.
"It is something inside me that makes me care about other people", "You can't look at someone suffering", "You feel that you are needed by someone else not only your family members and relatives", "You can't be indifferent". These were just some of the answers. Young people have a key role to play in Belarus Red Cross activities that deliver a service to vulnerable communities. Already, trained volunteers are assisting visiting nurses, providing support and companionship to those who need it most - lonely elderly people and bedridden patients. Volunteers also conduct first aid training in six schools in Minsk and organise international Youth Red Cross summer camps, meeting their counterparts from Germany and Ukraine and exchanging ideas.
In the years 2001-2002, the Belarus Red Cross plans to set up Red Cross youth organisations in major universities and colleges throughout the country, which it hopes will strengthen volunteer recruitment and training programmes. Young volunteers will play an important role in promoting humanitarian values, healthy lifestyles, blood donation and first aid among schoolchildren.
One of the great challenges is to actively involve youth in the designing, implementation and evaluation of the National Society projects as Red Cross members and volunteers, as workers and beneficiaries, but also as partners in decision-making and in leadership.
"The Youth Red Cross programme in Belarus is making good progress day by day," says Larisa Grinkevich. "The special creativity and idealism of youth will complement the efforts of their adult colleagues to benefit vulnerable people and their communities," she adds.
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