Singapore: Online volunteering on the rise

More lending a hand overseas and at home - via cyberspace
Carolyn Quek Straits Times 18 Apr 11;

FINANCIAL services management consultant Wong Yin Mei, a 38-year-old Singaporean living in Tasmania, Australia has made her presence felt in Nigeria and Afghanistan.

In 2006, she wrote a research proposal for a Nigerian non-governmental organisation, and then spent the next four years putting in about five hours a week as a manager in the Bureau for Reconstruction and Development in Afghanistan - without even visiting either country.

She did this online, after finding the work through the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Online Volunteering Service, which has been using the Internet to connect non-profit groups with volunteers from around the world.

One of the more established online volunteering platforms, it had 40 Singaporeans on its register last year, up from 15 in 2006. A spokesman said online volunteer numbers have grown elsewhere too.

At home, online volunteering has also grown. Official figures are unavailable, but bodies using online volunteers include the YMCA of Singapore, where they upkeep its Facebook page, and Marine Parade Family Service Centre, where they work as cyber youth counsellors.

Online volunteers often help in short-term tasks like logo design, but longer-term projects are also available.

Another UNV online volunteer, 30-year-old Swetha Jegannathan, an Indian expatriate living here, has dedicated herself to helping Pacodet, a non-profit developmental organisation in Uganda.

The former business analyst who is currently not working has written research proposals on food security and the environment, sought funding opportunities for Pacodet and come up with ways to increase its visibility on the Internet.

Volunteers like her form a pool of highly skilled people, which Pacodet's director Stanley Okurut is hard-pressed to find out there in Africa.

Working as a volunteer so far removed from the agency one is helping is not always smooth sailing. Volunteers have to deal with poor communications networks, said Mr Okurut by e-mail.

Mrs Jegannathan and Ms Wong say another challenge lies in the lack of face-to-face communication, which makes it hard to build rapport.

What is clear is that skills are needed, even if physical presence is not, so this form of volunteering is ideal for busy working professionals, who can ride on the round-the-clock nature of the Internet to do this work.

Ms Wong said: 'You can do it through e-mail and Skype. Developing organisations need help in presenting their work to international donors, so those with skills in writing, graphic and Web design, marketing and strategic planning can help enormously.'

And taking it global means you can direct your efforts towards the causes you believe in, she added.

Mr David Fong, the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre's director for SG Cares, its volunteering portal, said online volunteering is a powerful supplement to on-site volunteering.

However, on-site volunteering puts one in direct touch with the beneficiaries, which some volunteers say is a key part of volunteering, he added.