Seoul Volunteer Center presentation at the 20th IAVE World Volunteer Conference, Panama 2008
Current Situation and Issues of Volunteer Centers in Korea
Kim Hyun Oak
CEO, Seoul Metropolitan City Volunteer Center
CONTENTS
Introduction
Roles and Functions of Volunteer Center
Current Situation of Volunteer Centers
Problems and Challenges Faced by Volunteer Centers
Tasks to Be Executed
Roles & Functions of Volunteer Center
Networking center
Training center
Program center
Research center
Information center
Placement center
Convening center
NGO incubating center
Crisis or disaster management center
Article No.3(4) of Volunteering Act in Korea
shows a definition of volunteer center as:
‘Volunteer Center is an agency, corporation, organization established based on Volunteering Act and its Implementing Ordinances to carry out such activities as program development, promotion, networking, and cooperation of volunteering’.
Article No.15(4&5) of the Implementing Ordinance of the Volunteering Act
- defines the activities of local and provincial volunteer centers ‘to promote volunteering in community’.
The activities of provincial volunteer centers are:
① regular networking with agencies and organizations in provincial communities; ② education & training of volunteer managers and leaders; ③ developing and spreading volunteer programs; ④ survey and research on volunteering; ⑤ operation of volunteer information center; ⑥ cooperation, coordination and support of information and programs among local centers; ⑦ and other activities contributing to the promotion of volunteerism in provincial communities.
The activities of local volunteer centers are:
① regular networking with agencies and/or organizations in local communities; ② recruitment & education of volunteers and public relations on volunteering; ③ placement of volunteers to needy organizations; ④ developing and spreading volunteer programs , and implementation of pilot projects; ⑤ collection and provision of information on volunteering; ⑥ and other activities contributing to the promotion of volunteerism in local communities.
Various Kinds of Volunteer Centers
General Volunteer Center by MOGAHA (MOPAS)
Women Volunteer Center by MOGE
Social Welfare (Volunteer) Information Center by MOHW (MOHWFA)
Youth (Volunteering) Activities Promotion Center by GYC (MOHWFA)
Student Volunteering Information Center by MOE&HRD (MOEST)
National Level Volunteer Organizations Partially Functioning National VC
Korea Council of Volunteering (KCV)
Korea Association of Volunteer Centers (KAVC)
Volunteer21
Korea Association of Volunteer Management (KAVM)
General Volunteer Center
Supported by MoGAHA (→ MoPAS)
Total of 248 VCs across the country: 16 provincial, 232 local
Serve all populations in all areas of volunteering
Based on MOGAHA policy to establish volunteer centers since 1996; enactment ordinances since 1997; Volunteering Act in 2005
Established by various levels of governments and operated by non-profit corporations or various levels of governments
- As of 2007, 151 VCs by local gov’ts; 83 by the corporations established for the sole purpose; and 14 by the existing corporations commissioned.
Subsidy provided by provincial and local governments
Total budget \42.4 billions; \170 millions per center
Total number of paid staff; 780 persons (203 public officials; 577 non public); 3.1 persons per center
Total of 2,682,000 volunteers registered in VCs’ DB system; 11,000 per center
- Only 9.9% of the registered volunteers work 50+ hours for one year
Women Volunteer Center (WVC)
Supported by Ministry of Gender Equality (MOGE)
157 women volunteer centers (reduced from 263 in 1998)
Serve women’s volunteering for capacity development and empowerment
Based on Article No.28 of the ‘Women Development Act’ Enforcement Ordinance
Total of \150 millions from ‘Women Development Fund’
Professional staff is one per center
Established by various levels of governments and operated by local governments or non-profit corporations commissioned
Social Welfare (Volunteer) Information Center (SWIC)
Supported by Ministry of Health & Welfare (→ MOHWFA)
17 SWICs annexed to the National and 16 Provincial Council on Social Welfare, linked with 3,070 social welfare organizations and institutions designated as volunteer certification centers
Began as SWVICs in 1996 but changed to SWICs in 2000
Provide information on social welfare volunteering and manage volunteer certification DB system linked with those volunteer certification centers
Based on Article No.9 of the ‘Social Welfare Activities Act’
Total of \500 millions subsidized by MOHW
Total of 7,500 certification staff, equivalent to average 2 per center
Established by national and provincial levels of governments and operated by non-profit corporation, ‘Council on Social Welfare’
Youth Services Center (YSC)
Supported by Gov’t Youth Commission (→ MOHWFA)
17 Youth Services Centers (YSC): 1 National and 16 provincial
Began as Youth Volunteer Centers in 1996 but changed to YSCs and expanded to provide comprehensive services on youth activities including volunteering in 2005
Provide information on youth volunteering and manage volunteer certification DB system linked with those youth volunteer certification institutions
Based on Article No.65 of the ‘Youth Activities Promotion Act’ (Article No.7 of the revised Act)
Total of ￦2.5 billions subsidized from 'Youth Development Fund', which is ￦150 millions per center
5~7 professional staffs engaged
Established by national and provincial levels of gov’ts and operated by local gov’ts or non-profit corporations commissioned
Student Volunteer Information Center (SVIC)
Supported by MoE&HRD (→ Ministry of Education, Science & Technology: MoEST)
181 SVICs in 198 universities and colleges, which are members of the Korean University Council for Social Service
Total of ￦800 millions subsidized from MoE&HRD
Based on guidelines of MOE&HRD
National Level Volunteer Organizations (Partially Functioning National Volunteer Center)
Korea Council of Volunteering (KCV)
Korea Association of Volunteer Centers (KAVC)
Volunteer21
Korea Association of Volunteer Management (KAVM)
Korea Council of Volunteering (KCV)
A Corporation. Highest umbrella organization in volunteering stipulated in the 'Volunteering Act'
Membership composed of the representatives of NPOs whose main activities are on volunteering, and VIPs for promotion of volunteerism: Total of 103 national level NPOs & VIPs
Launched as Korea Council of Volunteer Organizations (KCVO) with membership of 33 NPOs in 1994 and reborn as KCV in 2003 when the KAVC joined it
Article No.17 defines the activities of KCV as:
① cooperation among member organizations and program support; ② national campaign and international exchange for promoting volunteering; ③ policy development, and survey and research on volunteering; ④ policy recommendation on volunteering; ⑤ linking and supporting of information on volunteering; ⑥ and other activities commissioned by the national and local governments related to promoting volunteering
implies that KCV functions as the national volunteer center by law
Having difficulties in functioning as the national volunteer center because of poor revenue: no stipulation for KCV to be provided with gov’t subsidy. KCV is only able to get grant money only through gov’t aid proposals calling for program expenses, not for ordinary expenditures based on 'NPO Support Act'.
Korea Association of Volunteer Centers (KAVC)
A Corporation. Membership composed of 120 of 248 MoPAS supported VCs; Gov’t run centers still not joined.
Similar to USA's National Volunteer Center Network
Launched in 2000 and incorporated in 2001, IYV
Revenue composed of membership fees, grants through gov’t aid proposals, and gains from insurance business dealing with accident insurance on volunteering
Article No. 4 of the KAVC Statute defines the activities of KAVC as:
① information exchange and cooperation among volunteer centers; ② policy development on volunteering; ③ survey and research on volunteering; ④ campaign and public relations on volunteering; ⑤ international cooperation and exchange; ⑥ upgrade of the quality of volunteers and volunteer center personnel; ⑦ and other activities to promote volunteering and to earn revenue for operating expenses.
Volunteer21
A corporation. Membership composed of individuals and NPOs
Established in 1996 by Dr. Lee Kang Hyun and his colleagues.
Actually functioning as a national volunteer center in that:
۰ almost all of the VC managers across the country, were trained by Volunteer 21
۰ it implemented a 3 year term survey on giving and volunteering in Korea three times during its 10 years history.
۰ it did research on Volunteer Center Management Manual, Standardization of Training Course Curriculum for Volunteer Managers, etc.
۰ it did model program development and campaigning such as voluntainment, hands on, voluntour, etc.
۰ it played a role of IAVE Korea Chapter.
Korea Association of Volunteer Management (KAVM)
An NGO. Membership composed of 150 individuals of volunteer managers, leaders, gov’t officials, professors, etc.
Established in 2004 by Dr. Lee Kang Hyun and several field professionals who recognized that volunteer management was a very important element in promoting volunteerism
Aiming at improving the quality and professionalism of volunteer managers and leaders; information exchange; and field oriented policy development and recommendation
Hold volunteer management forums, give consulting services, do research on standardization of volunteer management, etc.
Problems and Issues Faced by VCs
The duplication of services of those various volunteer centers by governments, and no coordinating and linking system
Indefinite Unclear Classification of Roles of Provincial and Local Centers
Too Much Government Initiative and Control
Short History and Lack of Competence of VC Staff
The Absence of a Formal National Volunteer Organization
Challenges Related to the Definition of Volunteering and the Recording System of Volunteering
a. The duplication of services of those various volunteer centers by gov’ts, and no coordinating and linking system
- Activities of SWIC, WVC, YSC are limited in specific areas such as welfare or for specific population such as women or youth, but, overlap with those of General Volunteer Center.
- In case of information services or program development, more centers could produce more benefits.
- In case of recording and certification of volunteering, serious waste in national expenditures and citizen clients' energy.
۰ Those various VCs supported by various kinds and levels of gov’ts develop and operate their own DB system to record and certify their clients' volunteering time, but it would not be shared among the DB systems.
۰ Therefore if necessary, one volunteer's volunteering record has to be reported respectively to both social welfare volunteer certification center and general volunteer center.
b. Unclear Classification of Roles of Provincial and Local Centers
- Volunteering Act classifies the roles of provincial VCs and local VCs by defining the activities of each level center.
- Immediate recruitment, education, and placement of volunteers are allotted to local centers, while education of volunteer managers and leaders, cooperation, coordination, and support among local centers, survey and research to provincial centers.
- Regular networking with NPOs is the activity for both, but in different regional coverage and at different levels of organizations.
- But the classification doesn't work that well because ① the provincial region includes local regions and ② there are special demands for local or provincial centers that can not be met, and ③ there are differences in competency of each volunteer center.
- Therefore there are no big differences between provincial and local centers in activities related to program development, placement of volunteers to NPOs, education of volunteers, leaders, and managers, causing complications among them.
- In fact, Seoul City VC directly recruits and trains volunteers, and places them to large scale events like 'Hi Seoul Festival' while Gangnam-gu local VC implements education and training programs for volunteer managers and leaders working in their communities.
- The related Article of the Volunteering Act needs to be amended.
c. Too Much Government Initiative and Control
- Except a few private VCs established and operated by NGOs, almost all the VCs in Korea were established by the provincial and local gov’ts under the national gov’t initiatives, operated by the provincial and local gov’ts themselves or commissioned corporation, and provided with financial and administrative support.
- Four types of operation bodies of volunteer centers: ① a division of local government office; ② an annex but independent office of local government; ③ a corporation established for the sole purpose of volunteer activities; ④ an existing corporation commissioned to operation.
- In the first type of center, gov’t employees do the job; in the second, gov’t employees or non-gov’t employees; in the third and fourth, non-gov’t employees. In any type and in any position, personnel working in VCs are directly and indirectly under the control of the gov’t since the budget comes from there.
- Due to the lack of a unified system in establishment body, operation body, financing, program management, identities and images of VCs are not formed well.
- In many localities, local gov’ts often do too much intervention on VC not only in program management but also in personnel management, leading to frustration regarding autonomy of vcs.
d. Short History and Lack of Competence of VC Staff
- Due to a short history compared to other NPOs, VCs could not form a confident relationship with NPOs in the community yet. VC staff's professionalism is not competent enough to give consulting to NPOs on community problems and issues. Thus a lot of VCs could not function as a 'hub' to build a network among NPOs and to coordinate their activities.
e. The Absence of a Formal National Volunteer Organization
- No formal national volunteer center in Korea to support and manage in general those various VCs supported by various kinds and levels of gov’ts, resulting in difficulties to standardize and systematize the volunteer management. The above mentioned problems and difficulties such as the duplication of services of VCs by governments, a lack of unity in government support system, and a lack of professional competence of VC staff also result from the absence of a formal national volunteer organization.
- Although KCV is the highest umbrella volunteer organization in Korea stipulated in the 'Volunteering Act', it has difficulty functioning as a national volunteer center since it can not secure stable revenue.
f. Challenges Related to the Definition of Volunteering and the Recording System of Volunteering
Recently due to social changes, VCs are facing challenges, related to the definition of volunteering and the recording system of volunteering time, which could undermine the substance of volunteerism:
'unpaid'; 'free choice'; and 'beneficial to public’.
- specific examples: Whether VCs should send volunteers to private nursing homes or profit oriented hospitals? or whether VCs should count hours when employees volunteered during their office hours instead of their own free time?
- Another hot issue: ‘ Mileage System’, which recognizes the right of volunteers to claim the volunteer services within a limit of their accumulated volunteer time. Can this kind of volunteer activity motivated by the sense of such entitlement be called true volunteering?
Tasks to Improve Efficiency of VCs
Now Korea has tasks to improve quality of volunteering.
- 'National Five Year Plan for Promoting Volunteerism' was made by the partnership of Government and Civil Society in 2007 based on the 'Volunteering Act' and 2008 is the first year for the plan to be implemented.
- It proposed 5 large policy areas, 13 middle policy tasks, and 35 detailed policy tasks.
- 'To foster and support local volunteer centers' is one of the 10 detailed tasks to improve efficiency of infrastructure to support volunteering.
Tasks to Improve Efficiency of VCs
Contents of the task proposed in the Plan:
To do research on models of VCs (a provincial VC model and a local VC model, a synthesized model of similar VC)
To conduct surveys on local VCs (by Ministries)
To reshuffle local government operated VCs to NGO operated VCs, securing autonomy, professionalism, and political neutrality of local volunteer centers
To provide VCs with program expenses and operating expenses through national expenditures, solving budget inequality among localities and to promote nation-wide volunteering program
Tasks to Improve Efficiency of VCs
Contents of the task proposed in the Plan:
To give regular education and training to local volunteer center staff
To give local VCs the role of secretariat to build a network of NPOs in communities
To do annual regular evaluation on operation and programs of local VCs and based on the result, give consulting for competency improvement
- To give excellent VCs incentives such as prizes, etc
In addition to the above task, a national volunteer center is proposed to be established by 2010.
If the above mentioned tasks are executed one by one, volunteering in Korea will be much upgraded.
