05 December 2006

Beautiful posters were made to celebrate the day which were widely distributed to spread the awareness of the relevance and importance of volunteering and the International Volunteer Day (IYD), December 5, 2006.

Enthused by their recent involvement in organizing the World Volunteer Conference which saw participants from 60 countries, IAVE Volunteers decided to “Go Local” and got involved in celebrating the International Volunteer Day with various MCD schools and private schools of Delhi and Jharkhand State to inculcate the idea of volunteering amongst the student and teachers.

Several hundred children participated in this event. Programs were held with songs, plays and “shram daan” (voluntary labor) and the children were encouraged to make drawings on different aspects of volunteering – as they know or experience it.

The MCD school children performed plays on volunteering like “Kele Ka Chilka, Polio Ki Jaankari, Per Bachao Per Lagao and Dengu. The children from Lokshala in collaboration with other private schools of Jharkhand state also performed dance and drama.

The children were encouraged to be change-makers in line with the quote from Gandhi-ji that said “Be the change you want to see”. Little volunteer contributions, add up little by little to make a world of difference is what was incited as a value. All children took the International Volunteer Pledge with enthusiasm.

This celebration of December 5, 2006, International Volunteer Day, marks the beginning of a year-long program for attaining the Millennium Development Goals amongst children, youth, seniors and civil society organizations where volunteering to achieve a poverty-free world will be the focus.

A message by our Honorable Chief Minister, Ms. Sheila Dixit, also encourages involving the younger generation in volunteering that would lead to the positive contribution in the field of social, economic and environmental change.