News

Ki a Maatau Kaumatua aroha Kua Pahure nei, Ka Mahara matou ki a koutou ake ake — To our beloved kaumatua who have passed on, we will remember you all ake ake.“Arm in arm, we are knitted together.”Those are the words of the Te Puna Waiora Ukulele Group – a rōpū of kaumatua who have come together to spread joy; to sing, to play the ukulele and to just have fun!

It started at Tauira Tautoko Student Support Centre at the Southern Institute of Technology in 2012.

Tauira Tautoko Kaimahi Marcia Te Au-Thomson, on behalf of Nga Kete Matauranga Pounamu CEO Tracey Wright-Tawha, had a korero with the late whaea Nan Ngatai, who was interested in a bit of awhi at the centre.

Nan was intent on bringing waiata and joy with her and from the moment she arrived she would jam away on her ukulele with her friend Whaea Isabel.Whaea Wini, who was teaching raranga at both Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and Southland Institute of Technology, heard the pair playing through the (clearly very thin) walls and told Aunty Billie.

Before long a large group was beginning to form at Tauira Tautoko each week.

They now sing and play and have a great time together, and generally enjoy a cup of tea while they’re at it.

There are no rules!“We just love to sing and be together.

We’re like one big family and this is the home where we can all gather,” one member says.At one stage there were 21 members - the youngest was 57 and the oldest was 92.

Everyone had ukuleles and they were rocking the house!People are always hearing about the group from others and with no criteria to join, new members are often showing up for a sing-along.The group meet and perform at Tauira Tautoko every Wednesday around lunch time, but they also enjoy entertaining the public at rest homes and community events such as festivals and the Bluff Triathlon.

The group has even braved some wet, wintry days with rugs draped over their legs while performing on the streets in Windsor at market days.They say the ukulele is easy to play – there are tons of songs with just four notes.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a top notch singer or a seasoned ukulele player – the group holds no bias.

It’s more about the music, the comradery, the company of others and just a good catch up over the teacups.“We just all love to sing and be together.

If you want to play, then play.

If you want to sing, then sing.

It doesn’t matter, as long as you’re enjoying it,” one member explains.The group says the crowds seem to enjoy their performances and often sing or clap along.Nga Kete Matauranga Pounamu CEO Tracey Wright-Tawha says that the beloved kaumatua offer more than the joy of music.“They demonstrate love and care for fellow man, share themselves, connect people and create a place of unity.

They give generously of their time and energy and are completely selfless.

I love being in their company and always feel better for the opportunity.”Te Puna Waiora Ukulele GroupInvercargill

Interactive Volunteer Stories Map

This story was shared as part of our interactive map of volunteer stories from across Aotearoa, which we launched during #NVW2019.

This map is filled with stories from volunteers throughout Aotearoa, New Zealand.

This map celebrates the contribution of volunteers in their communities throughout Aotearoa.

It aims to inspire people to engage in volunteering, Mahi Aroha and social action and to realise the benefits of weaving their communities together through their actions.

I grew up in a market town outside of Cambridge, England, moving to New Zealand in 2005.

I went to four different primary schools, two high schools, and two different universities.

The one constant through all this time was Guiding — a regular weekly meeting where fun was to be had, stories were shared, and skills were gained.My journey as a volunteer with GirlGuiding started during my first year of NCEA, when I began helping a local Brownie group.

My goal?

To tick off enough hours to complete my community service requirements, and then depart so I could focus on my schoolwork.

After a year, I had signed up as a permanent volunteer.The reason for this change in mindset was simple: the girls.

They make you smile when you’re not feeling your best, their world is full of creativity, and anything is possible.

To be part of their journey, and to encourage them to reach their dreams is an incredible vocation.

Working as a volunteer helps to weave our local communities together.

It builds a network of relationships between our girls, parents, volunteers, and other members of the community who help out – through sponsoring events and gear, or simply by buying a packet of our well-loved biscuits.As I continued with the Brownie group, I also started helping a local Guide group in a neighbouring suburb.

Balancing these two commitments meant I learnt more about time management, confidence, and communication, as well as focusing on my first year of university.Without Guiding, I wouldn’t be who I am today.

As a volunteer, I was challenged not just in my adolescence, but as I emerged into adulthood as well.

How was I supposed to deliver a programme on body confidence if I myself had insecurities with my body image?

It enabled me to look at myself in a new way, and better support my girls in exploring their individuality and identity.

The highlight of my week are Wednesday evenings with my Rangers.

From the in-jokes to personal development, from leadership to astronomy, these girls lead the programme and I act as their facilitator on their personal journey.

It helps me feel close to my Grandmother, who was an avid member of GirlGuiding, and I want to build the same positive relationships with my girls and community that I was provided with as a girl.Bryony SmithGirl Guiding New Zealand

Interactive Volunteer Stories Map

This story was shared as part of our interactive map of volunteer stories from across Aotearoa, which we launched during #NVW2019.

This map is filled with stories from volunteers throughout Aotearoa, New Zealand.

This map celebrates the contribution of volunteers in their communities throughout Aotearoa.

It aims to inspire people to engage in volunteering, Mahi Aroha and social action and to realise the benefits of weaving their communities together through their actions.

The power and politics of volunteering.

Volunteering is a powerful activity that can influence people’s lives, change attitudes, and even achieve political reform.

This power comes with many opportunities as well as immense responsibility.

In this blog post, I share some ways we might think about the power of volunteering, its relationship with politics, and how we can ensure we are being ethical and effective volunteers.Volunteering has a powerful role to play in filling service provision gaps that arise for a multitude of reasons:Some things cannot wait for government policies or “official action”.

It becomes up to each and every one of us to take up that challenge in the meantime.

Therein lies the social power of volunteering – the ability to take action when no one is quite ready or able to.

Many of us are volunteers because we are impatient – impatient to wait for others to act or for policies to change; instead, choosing to help now.

In the United Kingdom, I am involved with a charity attempting to promote greater educational equity across Oxfordshire.

In an ideal world, the government would invest far more resources into state schools, promote greater equality of opportunity across the population, and introduce a comprehensive strategy around achieving educational equity.

In our non-ideal world, where our leaders are unable or unwilling to act, volunteers have a role to play in helping those who struggle.

The act of volunteering in this context is powerful not only because we often have the privilege of making a significant impact on students who have been failed by the system, but because it sends a powerful message to others about the importance of educational equity.Volunteering is a powerful language:The social and political power of volunteering also comes from the fact that volunteering is a language that can send a powerful message to leaders, policy-makers, and others in the community.

When we act through our own volition and without expecting payment, we send a vastly different message than when we do something because we are obligated and paid to.New Zealand abounds with countless examples of the power of volunteering being harnessed to advance social justice: environmental action and protests against climate change, the campaign for marriage equality which saw thousands take to the streets in support, Te Puea marae hosting dozens of homeless families and helping them into housing, and numerous other examples.

What is clear about each of these campaigns is that had the actions not been carried out voluntarily – by volunteers – the impact and the message would have been very different.

The political change that arose as a result of those actions happened precisely because they were undertaken in a voluntary capacity; because people chose to freely contribute their time, energy, and skills (in vast displays of strength and number) to make a statement of justice rather than doing so because they had to; and because they drew on the language of volunteering.The language of volunteering is an inevitable statement that when we do something for free, it is because we value and care deeply about that ‘something’.

If those social campaigns were merely undertaken by people who were paid to march in the streets, it would not have had anywhere near the same magnitude of social impact.

This is what makes activism different from lobbying.

The activist is driven by passion and altruism, while the lobbyist is driven primarily by money or other pecuniary considerations.Volunteering is never a politically or morally neutral act:While the social and political power of volunteering means it can be harnessed for great things, we should also be attuned to the ways it can be used in ways contrary to our goal of improving welfare and achieving social justice.Volunteering is often a complicated balance between filling an urgent service- provision gap now and ensuring that we do not dis-incentivise political institutions from dealing with more structural issues.

A practical step I advocate is thatorganisations doing ground-level volunteering (that is, volunteering based on grassroots service provision) should always be accompanied by strategic political activism that deals with wider socio-political factors.The case of homelessness is an excellent example.

While there are many organisations doing fantastic work helping the homeless on our streets, it is vital that they simultaneously advocate for more substantive, longer-term, upstream solutions.The rights and welfare of the homeless should not depend on charitable contingencies or the coincidental goodwill of volunteers; it should be guaranteed by the state as a matter of justice.

In this context, volunteering has a very important role to play, but it must be accompanied by strong political activism and structural reform in order to be ethical and effective.We often join volunteering causes because we feel a strong emotional connection.

While this may be understandable, we must always be cautious about the way these intuitions and emotive forces have been shaped.

For example, many people feel a stronger connection to causes closer to home, involving their compatriots.

While community ties are of course important, we must also not forget that these intuitions about helping our compatriots have been shaped in a particular socio-political context.

This socio-political context may have unjustifiably influenced us to think about “our own” at the expense of those who are not seen as “us”.When we volunteer, we must reflect not only on our actions but on our inactions.

We must make sacrifices about what we devote our limited time and resources to, but we must always be critically reflective about our reasons for committing to a particular cause, and whether we ought to broaden our volunteering horizons beyond just helping those we see as being like “us”.

Volunteering is not just about what we do, but also what we don’t do.Because volunteering is inherently political, it may compel us to ask very difficult questions of ourselves.

Is working with this particular charity the most effective and equitable way I can contribute my limited time and resources?

Is my volunteer work dealing with upstream, structural factors or am I merely part of the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff?

Why am I really volunteering for this charity, and am I doing it for the right reasons?

Can I do more good elsewhere?

Is my volunteering work helping to achieve social justice?Volunteering is not just good or beneficial or fun or rewarding: it is also powerful.

As volunteers, I have no doubt that you are committed, passionate, wonderful, and caring people; but do not forget: You are also powerful.

With that power comes an immense ability and responsibility to care, reform, and critically reflect.Volunteering is usually most ethical and effective when grassroots compassion is accompanied by vocal political activism and the pursuit of wider structural reform.

• Johann Go. Volunteering New Zealand's Programme Advisor - Strategy.

Further reading and resources on volunteering:

• Research on Volunteering
• Volunteering Best Practice Toolkit
• Certificate in Managing Volunteers

Micro-volunteering is bite-sized, on-demand, no commitment actions that benefit a worthy cause. Micro-volunteering is quick and convenient – a micro-volunteering opportunity might take less than two minutes to complete and in some cases can be done from the comfort of your couch in your pyjamas.

Microvolunteering allows more people to give back to their community and complements, rather than replaces, traditional forms of volunteering.

A key benefit of microvolunteering is that it provides a space for those who wouldn’t otherwise consider volunteering, or be able to.

Predictions from the Institute of Volunteer Research’s (UK) are that the need for microvolunteering will only increase with time.In the last few years a phone app has provided invaluable assistance to people around the world.

Be My Eyes links blind and vision-impaired people to sighted volunteers in an on-demand app service.

The way the app works is by enabling live video on the sight-impaired person’s phone and beaming what they can’t see to a volunteer to describe; whether it be identifying the expiration date on food packaging, describing a picture or finding a lost earring.

Katie Bruce, VNZ’s Chief Executive is just one of these sighted assistants and last week supported someone to apply make up for their wedding anniversary date.

Katie says that "being able to be there for someone exactly when they need it is a real privilege.

A conversation that might only be a couple of minutes can be a real highlight of my day".

She has tapped into a new and flourishing form of volunteerism, one that could have only been born in the fast-paced busy world of today: Microvolunteering.

Celebrating Microvolunteering April 15, every year

April 15 marks Microvolunteering Day when volunteering is recast as an activity that needs not be constrained by stereotypical views of volunteering being a time and commitment intensive activity.This is an internationally celebrated day that takes place on 15^th April every year.

Organised by Help from Home, it is a unique opportunity to demonstrate the power and potential of the microvolunteering concept.Celebrating Micro-volunteering day is a chance to recognise new and different ways to involve volunteers within organisations.

Last year we released a collation of Virtual Volunteering resources during lockdown.

We have also found this great resource about creating micro-volunteering action plan: How To Develop a Microvolunteering Action: A guide for Charities and NonProfits.Celebrating it as a community is an opportunity to inspire individuals to engage in microvoluntering tasks and to inspire organisations that involve volunteers to embrace the idea and find ways to offer opportunities for individuals to connect or contribute to their cause.Microvolunteering Day is also a unique opportunity for microvolunteering platforms, volunteer involved organisations and individuals to join together in a synchronised effort to demonstrate the empowering potential of the microvolunteering concept.

What makes Microvolunteering unique?

Micro-volunteering tends to take place online (more than 80%, a 2016 study by Help From Home, a business that pairs people with micro-volunteering tasks, found) and the volunteers are often spread across a wide geographical area.

Microvolunteering has three specific features:

1. typically there is no application or training process
2. the volunteer-tasks take generally no more than 30 minutes to complete and
3. there is no expectation of an ongoing commitment between organisation and volunteer.

Microvolunteering may also be called ‘byte-sized volunteering’, ‘speed volunteering’ and ‘micro-actions’.Want to do some Microvolunteering right now?

Why not check out Toko – New Zealand’s people powered petition platform.

Start your own campaign or support a campaign.Or if you have a couple of minutes to spare you could promote the upcoming National Volunteer Week 16-22 June 2019 to your networks by sharing our downloadable resources.Michelle KitneyVolunteering New Zealand

Saving New Zealand's Birds.

This video documents Barry, a volunteer who dedicates his time to conservation efforts in his local community.

Barry's message is heartfelt, highlighting that everyone has something to offer through volunteering.

This video was produced by Amelia Blamey, VNZ Community Engagement Advisor.

Our natural environmental is an integral part of New Zealand’s identity.

Informing how we look at the world and interact with others.

We are blessed with pristine beaches, lush bush and snow capped mountains.

The preservation of these natural wonders is no small feet and is in no way ensured.

It is the result of thousands of hardworking New Zealanders tirelessly working to ensure its protection.

Our ongoing fight is a necessity to protect our heritage, culture and identity; all of which is intrinsically linked to our natural environment.

The purpose of my video was to provide insight into dedication and the hard work of our volunteers, especially those who operate behind the scenes.

I hope that it highlights the fact that everyone has something to offer to the world and that every has a responsibility to preserve what is good in it. This video was launched during Conservation Week I Te Wiki Tiaki Ao Turoa as our way to acknowledge the incredible effort of conservation volunteers.Amelia Blamey, VNZ Community Engagement Advisor

Amelia is studying towards a Bachelor of Commerce, with majors in Finance and Marketing, and minor in Film.

She hopes to use her passion for storytelling to raise awareness and encourage activism in her community.VNZ Resources:

• Conservation and volunteering research
• Finding volunteer roles
• State of Volunteering Report

Volunteering for People with Disabilities

Public discourse overwhelmingly frames people with disabilities as receiving help, rather than providing it.

This is a problem for several reasons:

• It is incorrect.
• A study conducted by Carrie L.
• Shandra in the United States indicated that people with disabilities are just as likely as people without disabilities to report informal volunteering.
• This is voluntary work outside of a formal organization—for example, helping an elderly neighbor with cooking.
• A copy of Shandra’s paper “Disability and social participation: The case of formal and informal participation” can currently be found on the Volunteering New Zealand website.
• It influences volunteering organisations to overlook the potential for people with disabilities to volunteer in a way that is compatible with their disabilities.
• It discourages people with disabilities from seeing themselves as people who can help others.
• This in turn discourages people with disabilities from contacting organisations about opportunities to volunteer.

People with disabilities are significantly underrepresented as volunteers with organisations.

Shandra identifies ableism as being the most important barrier to people with disabilities participating in formal volunteering.

On the one hand, organisations often choose applicants without disabilities, rather than applicants with disabilities, to fill certain roles, without fully considering whether the disabilities in question would have affected the applicants’ abilities to perform the roles.

On the other hand, organisations often do not know how to recruit for volunteers in a way that reaches people with disabilities.This is unfortunate, because volunteering is positively correlated with happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, psychological well-being, and self-reported health.

Liat Kulik conducted a study of 160 people in Israel with physical disabilities, including some who did not volunteer, and some who did volunteer.

The participants who volunteered reported significantly higher self-esteem than the participants who did not volunteer.

In particular, Kulik noted that participants from lower socio-economic backgrounds especially reported higher self-esteem than their non-volunteering counterparts.

A lot to gain by volunteering

Volunteering also helps people to meet other people—this increases their opportunities to make friends, find employment, and engage with their communities.

Most of the participants in Kulik’s study agreed that Volunteering was an effective way to make new friends.

People with disabilities, like people without disabilities, stand to gain a lot by being able to volunteer.

In many cases, a person with a disability can perform a volunteer role in the same capacity as a person without a disability.

In other cases, a person with a disability can perform a volunteer role in a modified capacity that is appropriate to his or her individual condition.Of course, it is a positive thing that there are many services and organisations built around providing help to people with disabilities.

Disabilities can affect people’s quality of life, and people with disabilities often do need and want help.

However, it is important that society see people with disabilities as people who can both receive help, and provide help, like people without disabilities.

A person who is willing and able to perform a volunteer role with an organization must not be held back just because they have disability.

We must find imaginative ways of enabling people with disabilities to volunteer in ways that are appropriate to their individual conditions.

Author: Lucas Davies Lucas is writing a series of blogs posts and articles for Volunteering New Zealand, with a focus on research articles. Article References:

Carrie L.

Shandra Disability and Social Participation: The Case of Formal and Informal Participation (Social Science Research 68 (2017) 195-213) published online 2 March 2017, retrieved 4 April 2018.

Liat Kulik. Through Adversity Comes Strength: Volunteering and Self-Esteem Among People with Physical Disabilities (Voluntas DOI: 10.1007/s11266-017-9914-5), retrieved 29 April 2018.Volunteering New Zealand Research and Resources:

• Competencies for Managers of Volunteers
• Research on disabilities and volunteering
• LeadMe - free online self-assessment tool to assist you to create better outcomes for your organisation's volunteers