Are you looking for experience and willing to give your time and energy for free? Or do you you have knowledge and experience you want to share?
Are you a project leader on the look out for willing workers or someone to help build your capacity?
If so, you have come to the right place!
In this section, we hope to answer your questions about volunteering. We also post volunteer opportunities that exist within our SD Network and links to useful sites for those who wish to volunteer internationally, as well as information about training, travel and jobs. Share with us your volunteer experiences (good and bad!) in the blogging space below. Would-be volunteers, you can tell us your interests, and maybe SDIA can help you find a project that needs you. Projects, share with us your volunteer opportunities and get our support for placements.
For more information on volunteering and SD write to getinvolved@susiladharma.org.
SDIA-SYA getInvolved! Initiative
Our ethos is that volunteering should be a great and enriching experience for both volunteers and the projects that host them, and we are here to help out.
getInvolved! (Subud Volunteer Resources) has evolved from the Volunteers without Tears initiative. It is a joint SDIA-SYA venture to support SD projects through sharing volunteers’ skills and knowledge, and to give youth of all ages an opportunity to be part of meaningful and positive change through social, health, environmental and educational projects.
Accountable to SDIA and reporting to SYA, the team (which includes youngsters of all ages from their 20s to their 60s!) getInvolved! is responsable for helping Subud members find out about volunteering opportunities, helping to match suitable volunteers with specific projects, helping projects to prepare to receive volunteers, facilitating training and information sessions, and getting feedback once the placement is over, so that we can learn from the experience. You can read the recommendations for action drawn up at the birth of this initiative here.
Getting started
Project leaders:
- Have you received volunteers (Subud or non-Subud) at your project? Share your past experiences with volunteers by filling in this questionnaire. DOWNLOAD: English | French | Spanish
- If you have specific tasks that volunteers could usefully carry out or a staffing need that you think a volunteer could fill, download and complete the volunteer job description forms and return them to us at getinvolved@susiladharma.org and we will post the job descriptions below. DOWNLOAD English | French |Spanish
- We can also help you develop a Volunteer Manual, which will help your project or organisation to better orient future volunteers – essential for a successful volunteering experience! Download the guidelines to create a Volunteer Manual: English | French | Spanish
- When you take on a volunteer, it is important for things to be clear between you from the start. So here’s a sample volunteer agreement that you can adapt and use when you take on a volunteer: English | French | Spanish
Volunteers:
- Fill in the Volunteer Information Form and send it to getinvolved@susiladharma.org. We will try to find an SD project which needs someone like you.
- Otherwise you can apply to one of the jobs posted in our volunteer opportunities section.
- For returned volunteers: Have you volunteered with a Susila Dharma project? If so, you can help us improve our services by sharing your experiences. Please fill in this questionnaire: English | French | Spanish.
Return it to us at getinvolved@susiladharma.org
Volunteer Reports
To inspire you, we have posted stories from people who have volunteered at SD projects.
Read about Alexandra Woodward learning to have courage in India, about Polly Skerrat dancing with young offenders in Bradford, UK, or Myroslava Mykytyn doing stuff with microscopes in Paraguay.
Check out the “Volunteer Experiences” category to read these stories and more!