Fiji opens national volunteer center

Fiji’s first volunteer center opened this month. National Volunteer Center, coordinated by the Fiji Council of Social Services (FCOSS) will provide unemployed people who share a passion for volunteerism with opportunities to make a difference in their community.

The center will also help the volunteers secure employment by acquiring skills, generating income, and showcasing their arts and talents.

In a letter of support, IAVE president Kang-Hyun Lee said, “My heartfelt congratulations on the launch of your new National Volunteer Center! Not only do I see it as a flagship for this year’s International Volunteer Day but above all, as a momentum in Fiji’s volunteer movement. National volunteer centers are a crucial part of the non-profit infrastructure, especially in regard to the international collaboration of volunteer organizations and for the promotion and advancement of the volunteer effort worldwide.

“With great hope and best wishes, I see you set off on your noble mission and key objectives. I am confident that you will establish a brilliantly functioning national volunteer center which serves the local, regional and lastly the global community through indispensable volunteer effort.”
 
The center is supported by a three-year US$220,000 grant from Vodafone ATH Fiji Foundation for 2010-2012. A cheque for $80,000 for NVC activity and implementation in 2010 was handed to FCOSS on December 12 last year.

The major objective of the center is to uplift the lives of youths by providing an opportunity to make a world of difference, to promote and encourage corporate volunteering, to provide peer mentoring, counseling, coaching and supportive communication, building quality relations and bringing about partner solidarity, promoting self-investment and social entrepreneurship, to link with global volunteer partners to promote volunteerism, localize global volunteer concepts for effective local participation and consolidate the volunteer efforts in Fiji for impact imposition.

The National Volunteer Center will work by bringing together unemployed people and mentors with programs which promote and encourage them to the end result of being able to secure employment.