3Es of Volunteering- Nirmaan Way

What are the 3Es of volunteering? Enrolment, Engagement and Empowerment. Many of you may have heard it from me before. But, how to enroll the volunteers? Specially student volunteers? How to engage and empower them?

Am delighted to share the practical way Nirmaan does it. Nirmaan is an NGO working in 12 of the 17 diverse UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) such as education, livelihoods and healthcare. Readers may browse Nirmaan's website for more details.

In this picture story, we highlight the way Nirmaan promotes volunteering by both students as well as Corporate professionals. Nirmaan traces its roots to ten students of BITS Pilani as MyIndia NGO, to teach the under-privileged children of neighbouring villages. The founding students upon graduation, took up respective corporate careers. One of them Mayur Patnala, gave up his corporate job and set up Nirmaan in 2005. Seventeen years down the line, the student chapters of Nirmaan continue to thrive in BITS Pilani campuses. We share below what the student chapters do every year. Pictures courtesy Nirmaan Volunteers.

Ignite: The annual social festival of bliss and heartfulness at BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus. Saikumar the outgoing President of Nirmaan Student Chapter says, "Every year around 350 to 400 kids from 15 to 20 different orphanages are invited and housed on our campus. The event comprises a variety of workshops, competitions, events and activities for children of various ages. The volunteers become so tethered to the children that they cry when they bid goodbye, yet they are glad in their hearts because the youngsters will return the following year."

Daan Utsav: An event which brings givers and takers together on a common platform. It is a festival of giving money, time, resources and skills. Mohan VP of student chapter added, "Working on such projects all year, we know how to best allocate funding. We create channels for interested donors/ CSRs and philanthropic partners to contribute."

Manthan: An NGO conference for NGOs to connect and discourse. It creates a common forum for NGOs/NPOs to get together and exchange ideas, as well as draw corporate attention to their work.

Project Parishkar: An year long event for the kids of non-teaching staff residing in the campus. It entails frequent tutoring sessions by our volunteers to assist the children with their academics. These sessions also include some fun activities; the volunteers and children form strong bonds with one another.

School Adoption Program: An initiative to assist neighbouring government schools with tuitions, cultural festivities, Annual Outdoor Campaigning/ Field trip, repair/renovation of restrooms, play areas etc. This initiative impacts the lives of over 200 school children across three neighbouring villages.

 

Saakaar: A branch of the Livelihood opportunities initiatives that focuses on creating employment opportunities for rural women residing in neighbouring villages. Saikumar added, "We taught various skills to women in Pothaipally village like candle making, chocolate manufacturing and doormat stitching. They were also provided with market facilities. Stalls were put up in a few schools, gated communities, and at our campus fests to sell the items manufactured by the women."

Udaan: It provides quality education and extra curricular activities to the children in the communities around the campus. It sensitises the students to the needs of the under-served communities. For primary school pupils,  arithmetic lessons, simple scientific techniques, and outdoor games were conducted. Science experiments from their textbooks, as well as Aptitude and Reasoning classes for Merit and Scholarship tests were conducted for high school students.

The above pictures and activities have aptly answered the second E- how to Engage the volunteers? Nirmaan as we can see, has developed the systems and processes to do it effectively, based on which, students from BITS do their Practice School-2 (a semester long industry work experience) as Interns. It is a recognition of a strong working environment of learning and knowledge sharing.

Let us now look at the first E- Enrollment of volunteers.

How does Nirmaan Enroll its Volunteers? 

Nirmaan follows a four step process.

1. Call for volunteering giving details of programs and activities to be conducted by the volunteers 
2. Application including an essay why the student wants to volunteer
3. Interview by HR Team of student Chapter
4. Induction of selected volunteers

How does Nirmaan Empower the Volunteers?

The student volunteers work for three years while pursuing their degree program. The empowerment happens as follows:

1. The students derive an inner satisfaction of doing something for the society
2. Field work exposes them to real life outside the classrooms. They develop empathy and feel empowered to do more.
3. In the first year of volunteering, they are part of a team.
4. In the second year they are selected to lead a team as Team Lead.
5. In the third year, they become part of the Exec Committee. They plan and conduct various activities and events. They then prepare and present the Annual Report of their activities.
6. A formal Swearing-in ceremony is held in the campus to welcome the new volunteers and thank the outgoing team. Attended by the Campus Director, it empowers all the volunteers.

Hope the readers got a feel of how the 3Es of volunteering work through the above example of Nirmaan. The empowerment goes beyond the student life. Anirudh Mishra, a volunteer with Nirmaan decided to work in social sector after graduating from BITS Pilani. He went on to set up ApniClass which provides content for school students in Hindi. It is another example of the power of volunteering in shaping lives and careers!

Senior bureaucrats from the Government of Telangana addressed the event online. Ghumakkad also had an opportunity to speak to the volunteers at the above event. It was very encouraging to see the energy and enthusiasm of the volunteers at BITS Hyderabad campus. Nirmaan felicitated Dr G Sundar, Director BITS and me amongst others at the event. Few more pictures courtesy Nirmaan Volunteers.

Special thanks to Nirmaan for giving me the opportunity. Congratulations to the outgoing team of Nirmaan Volunteers for doing an excellent job and all the best to the incoming team.

Readers may browse two of our earlier stories on the power of volunteering:

Volunteering to Tame the Second Wave of Corona

Winning the Hearts of People

We close with a quotation by Swami Vivekananda, "They alone live, who live for others".

 Thanks for browsing.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Hyderabad/ 26th October 2022

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