Cultural Barriers for Volunteer Work in Jaramana

Proposal paper for a graduation project
A Case study in: Cultural barriers for volunteer work in Jaramana

Higher National Diploma in Business Management, Edexcel International , Damascus, Syria

January 29, 2013

Table of content:

1. Executive summary: 3 2. Introduction: 3 3. Definitions: 3 4. Research questions: 4 5.Objectives: 4 6.Literature review: 5 Article 1: 5 Article 2: 5 Article 3: 6 Article 4: 6 Article 5: 7 Article 6: 7 Article 7: 8 Article 8: 9 Article 9: 10 Article 10: 10 7.Research importance: 11 8.Research design: 11 9.Data analysis: 11 10.Measurement Instrument: 11 11.Budget: 11 12.Schedule: 12 13.Facilities and resources: 12 14.Project management: 12 15.Risks: 12 16.Bibliography: 13

1. Executive summary:
Through this proposal we will illustrates the ways in which the survey will be conducted.
Starting from a problem statement, we will point out the main objectives and the importance of the survey, which are concerns about Cultural barriers for volunteer work in Jaramana.
Volunteers in Jaramana, and who are thinking about volunteering will benefit from the information that will be provided through the research.
The present study will consider the literature review as a reference to identify what researchers found out regarding the volunteer work issue.
The questionnaire will be the measurement instrument.
After analyzing the Data though the SPSS program, results will be in form of texts, percentages and figures.

2. Introduction:
Volunteer work is one of the most important humanitarian works that people can participate in. Natural disasters and wars that swept the world need humanitarian organizations so that volunteers can help the affected people. For that, it requires to raise the awareness among members of the community through family raising. But today, the society we live in there is a misconception about volunteerism and volunteer work in general, due to cultural barriers that have prevailed since a long time in the community and led to that concept. These barriers lead to failure to achieve voluntary work properly and obstruct the volunteers in their work.
And we will see some of the barriersthat face volunteer work, articles about volunteerism

3. Definitions: 1. Cultural barriers: is a set of ideas and concepts prevailing in underdeveloped societies which inherited to children from their parents because of the lack of people with the sincere intention to change by working hard to raise awareness. 2. Volunteerism: It 's a non-profit work carried out by an individual or group of individuals in order to provide any assistance to any segment of society and to develop its standard of living, regardless of religious or political belonging. 3. Volunteer: A person who has a certain skill or experience, he use it to perform social duty by his choice and a voluntary, without return of any kind.

4. Research questions: 1. Does the low of capita incomes impact the departure of many away from volunteer work to earn a living? 2. Does the volunteer’s time for work or study affect on the opportunity to participate in volunteer work? 3. Does some young people 's fear of commitment and responsibility affect the volunteer work? 4. Does the society opinion that volunteer work is a waste of time affects the volunteer work itself? 5. Does the lackofawarenessinthe society affects the importance of volunteer work? 6. Does the family negative look for volunteer work affect volunteers?

5. Objectives: 1. Explain the concept of volunteerism to the community. 2. Know if the low individual income affects the departure of many from volunteer work to earn a living. 3. Know if volunteer 's time conflict with time of work or study affect the opportunity to participate in volunteer work. 4. Know if some young people 's fear of commitment and responsibility affect on the volunteer 's work. 5. Know if society 's belief that voluntary work is a waste of time affects the volunteer work itself? 6. Know if thelackofawareness in societyaffectstheimportanceofvolunteer work. 7. Know if the family negative look for volunteer work affect volunteers.

6. Literature review:
Article 1:
(Merrill, July, 2006)

There are patterns related to volunteer and affect some countries, which is: 1. The Effects of Time Pressures:
To avoid the effects left by the time pressure on the volunteer, he has to control his life cycle in volunteer work. 2. Variations in the Definition and Value of Volunteering:
There is no specific definition of volunteering, but it’s identified by three characteristics: * Volunteering is done by choice. * Without monetary reward. * For the benefit of the community. 3. Demographic Changes:
Demographic changes force to set up volunteer programs to engage young people and to instill ethics of voluntary service in them and develop their skills. 4. Importance for Pluralistic Approaches to Recruitment, Engagement, and Management:
Volunteer programs should not beforaspecificclassofsocietybecausevolunteeringisacomprehensiveactivitymakesindividualswithdiversebackgroundsworking together collaboratively on issues of common concern. 5. Role of Information Technology in Volunteering:
Including the internet, which organizes volunteer work and increases communication between volunteers.

Article 2:
(Handy, November 8, 2010)
This article examines the phenomenon of volunteering from a benefit—cost perspective. Both the individual making a decision to volunteer and the organization making a decision to use volunteer labor face benefits and costs of their actions, yet these costs and benefits almost always remain unarticulated, perhaps because the common perception of the do-good volunteer who contributes his or her labor for free discourages rational benefit—cost calculus. In this article, we examine, conceptually, the benefits and costs (both direct and indirect) accruing to the volunteer and the organization that uses volunteer labor. It is important for organizations making resource allocation both to understand and to delineate these benefits and costs. Using a case study of an organization and recent methods in social accounting, we present a practical model for doing so.
Article 3:
(Nagy, May, 2006)

This report seeks to inform the reader about the main topics discussed during the various sessions of the conference and to ensure a departure point for reflection on current concepts attached to volunteering.
The introduction displays an overview of the European Year of Volunteering 2011.
The context
The first chapter “Current trends and barriers in the voluntary sector”
The second chapter “Volunteering and its new dynamic interplay of form and content”
The third chapter “Spotlight on innovating action”
The fourth chapter “recommendations and an outline of the inviolable core concepts and principles of volunteering”
Conference’s objectives: 1) Raising recognition and awareness on the value of volunteering 2) Celebration of volunteer efforts 3) Empowerment of people and volunteer organizations 4) Work towards the creation of an enabling environment for volunteering, including a volunteering infrastructure 5) To provide an overview of the current trends in volunteering. 6) To facilitate a space for debate on controversies that have developed over time. 7) To identify the core concepts and inviolable values of volunteering that we adhere to and that we want to safeguard. 8) To develop a vision for the decades to come of how volunteering will continue to serve as a central cornerstone in all European countries.

Article 4:
(James, 2009)

Many people find happiness in volunteering; as a study identified volunteering as the second source of joy after dancing. People volunteer for many reasons but the main reason for all ages is “to improve society and environment” and “self-development is important for younger people more than the older adults.
Volunteering has many positive effects like better physical health and improve social skills. Also, it can bring volunteer’s families closer and sometimes you may find your partner life. Furthermore, volunteer work can improve mental health.
The happiness reason comes because some people enjoy helping others, others feel good to achieve their goals through their volunteer work and others think it will be useful for their future.

Article 5:
(Matthew Hill and Jennifer Russell, December, 2009)

Perceptions of volunteering
There are several studies have been conducted on the concepts of volunteerism, including: 1. V, 2008: Found that volunteer work affects the young people skills, their employment opportunities and career advancement. 2. Davis Smith, 1998: Found that the best age to volunteer is between18-24andvolunteerscanprovide to the community what experts can’t. 3. Ireland, Kerr, Lopes and Nelson, 2006: Found that only 15 per cent of young people agreed that their friends would laugh at people doing voluntary work, whereas 46 per cent disagreed. 4. Giving Campaign, 2002: Found that 68 per cent of young people responding agreed that it’s cool to volunteer to help other people. 5. Ellis, 2004: 5 groups defined the characteristics of volunteering: helping people out, being a good citizen, a good way to get new skills and experience. 6. Prince’s Trust, 2004: Found that young people between 18-25thinkvolunteerism is a place to build relationships and self-realization.
Barriers to involvement 1. Time: “The opportunity cost young people to give up time for volunteering when they could be working and earning money”. 2. Lack of confidence: “ fear of rejection or feeling there nothing to contribute with”. 3. How to involve: “many young people don’t know how to get involved and take action on the issues they care about”. 4. Accessing to information: “general lack of information on volunteering or the information that is available is confusing and overwhelming”. 5. Lack of knowledge: About the potential benefits of volunteering. 6. Lack of recognition for volunteering: Between volunteering and employment.

Article 6:
(Locke, 2005)

Everyone can volunteer of all ages in many different groups, in churches, schools, hospitals. Volunteers are involved in variety of activities and work on special events; they are needed every time and everywhere.
There are many groups you can volunteer in, but you should find groups that respect your skills and needs, to have confidence and know the organization you are participating in.
You will not be rewarded with money but you’ll get experiences, learn to be responsible, build your résumé and you’ll feel satisfied to help your community.

Article 7:
(McClintock, 2004)
Motivating reasons to volunteer
People volunteer because: 1. Their religious beliefs. 2. For their willingness to help or because of an event affected them. 3. To help them find work. 4. Gain skills help them progress in their work. 5. Women volunteer in general to discover their strengths. As for men, they volunteer because their friends have volunteered.
Barriers face volunteers
Volunteers and non-volunteers of the elderly, young people, employees and higher income earners do not have enough time to commit to year-round. Instead, they provide financial assistance.
With doing a survey to know the reasons for not volunteering or not providing more volunteering and the optional reasons were: * They felt they had already made their contribution with respect to volunteering. * They did not have extra time. * They were unwilling to make a year-round commitment. * They gave money instead of time. * They had health problems or were physically unable. * No one personally asked them. * They did not know how to become involved. * They had no interest.
The most barriers stop people from volunteering were: * Gave money instead of time. * Did not have extra time. * Unwilling to make a year-round commitment.

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Article 8:
(Lautenschlager, 1991)
Promoting volunteerism covers activities that: 1- contribute to increased public awareness of the contribution of volunteers. 2- Help motivate people to make a commitment to volunteer work.
Promotion activities for volunteer organizations will likely involve some combination of the following: 1. In form the community about outstanding volunteer efforts. 2. Recognize and thank volunteers. 3. Increase public awareness of the role of volunteers in your organization. 4. Recruit new volunteers. 5. Strengthen community support for the volunteer-based programs or services. 6. Foster closer relations with local media.
Potential target audiences for the promotion of volunteerism include the following categories: 1. Community institutions: most important: * Churches, religious groups. * Schools, colleges, universities. * Community centers. 2. The community at large. 3. Media people. 4. Government representatives. 5. The volunteers and the membership.
There are many possible ways to communicate the message or promote the volunteer-based activities to accomplish the objective: * Speaking engagements. * News conferences. * Media interviews or appearances. * Person-to-person communication.
And the media is the best way to perform this work through: * Newspapers. * Magazines. * Radio. * Television. * The internet.

Article 9:
(Komp, April 4, 2011)
Volunteering in later life attracts attention because its benefits older volunteers, voluntary associations, and society. Unfortunately, researchers and practitioners struggle with the complexity of predicting who volunteers. The authors ask whether a rough identification of older volunteers solely based on age is possible. The authors answer this question by means of structural equation modeling, analyzing international survey data. The findings show that the direct effect of age on the time older people spend volunteering is negligible. Moreover, the age patterns in volunteering created by retirement and declining health are weak. Those findings make age an unsuitable indicator for volunteering in later life. The authors recommend that voluntary organizations and policy makers use personal characteristics, such as health status, when defining their target groups for programs that encourage volunteering. In addition, researchers should not use an age group when referring to the third age, meaning the active and productive part of old age.

Article 10:
(Lima, October 2012)
This study examines whether religion’s effect on volunteering spills over to nonreligious individuals through personal ties between religious and nonreligious individuals. We use three different analytic strategies that focus on national, local, and personal network level contexts to identify the network spillover effect of religion on volunteering. We find that if nonreligious people have close friends with religious affiliations, they are more likely to volunteer for religious and nonreligious causes. However, this network spillover effect cannot be inferred from the relationship between volunteering and national or local level religious context—a common approach in the literature. In fact, we find that the average level of local religious participation is negatively associated with volunteering among the nonreligious in the United States. This novel finding suggests that to fully understand religion’s civic role in the wider community, we need to consider how religion might influence the civic life of people outside religious communities, not just those within them. Our findings also suggest that in spite of methodological advances, studies that purport to test mechanisms at one level of analysis by using data at a larger level of aggregation run a high risk of committing an ecological fallacy.

7. Research importance: * Clarify the wrong ideas about volunteering. * limited researches about the volunteerism and its barriers. * Helps young peopleto find job opportunities. * Helps the society to guide young people to join the volunteer work. 8. Research design: * Population: Society in Syria. * Sample: The volunteers and non-volunteer people, in addition to the parents of the volunteers in Jaramana. 9. Data analysis: * Data will collected from the volunteers in many organizations; like Syrian Arab Red Crescent and Syrian Scout, also from the non-volunteered people and the parents of the volunteered people. * The SPSS program will be used for the data entry and analysis.

10. Measurement Instrument:
The questionnaire will be our measurement instrument, there will be one type of questionnaires for the volunteers and non-volunteer people, in addition to the parents of the volunteers.

11. Budget:

Total estimated budget | 7400 S.P | Calling people3 minutes call for each person3 min x 6 S.P = 18 S.P50 people x 18 S.P | 900 S.P | Printing | 4500 S.P | Food/Drinks | 2000 S.P |

12. Schedule:

Tasks | Days | Problem Statement | 20 days | Literature review | 30 days | IntroductionResearch objectiveResearch importanceDefinitions | 3 day | Executive summaryResearch designData analysisMeasurement instrumentBudgetFacility & recourseProject managementRiskBibliography | 3 days |

13. Facilities and resources:
In this research we will need: * Laptop * Mobile phones * Money * Internet * SPSS program

14. Project management:
Time:It will take me about two months starting from the date of approval on it.
Responsibilities: All tasks will be my responsibility.

15. Risks: 1. Electricity and internet goes off: The solution is to go to a relative or a friend’s house. 2. An apologize from one of the people: The solution is to find another one. 3. Security situations in my area: I can’t do anything.

Risks | Severity (5) | Probability (5) | Percentage | | Security situations | 5 | 4 | 15/25 | Major risk | Electricity and internet goes off | 4 | 5 | 20/25 | Major risk | People’s apologize | 1 | 3 | 3/25 | Minor risk | 16. Bibliography:

Merrill, M. V. (July, 2006). Global Trends and the Challenges for Volunteering. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF VOLUNTEER ADMINISTRATION .
Handy, F. (November 8, 2010). Volunteering and Volunteers. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA: Research on Social Work Practice.
Nagy, A. M. (May, 2006). The Future Of Volunteering. Tallinn, Estonia: The European Volunteer Centre.
James, S. F. (2009). Volunteering for Happiness and Health. Australia: The Australian Health Promotion Association.
Matthew Hill and Jennifer Russell, w. G. (December, 2009). Young people, volunteering and youth projects. United Kingdom: Institute for Volunteering Research.
Locke, F. (2005). Be a Volunteer! Toronto, Canada: Imagine Canada’s Knowledge Development Centre.
McClintock, N. (2004). Understanding Canadian Volunteers. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Centre for Philanthropy.
Lautenschlager, J. (1991). PROMOTING VOLUNTEERISM. Canada: Voluntary Action Directorate.

Komp, K. (April 4, 2011). Age, Retirement, and Health as Factors in Volunteering in later life. Canada: Nonprofit and voluntary sector quarterly.
Lima, C. (October 2012). Religion and Volunteering in Context. Madison, Wisconsin: American Sociological Review.

Bibliography: Merrill, M. V. (July, 2006). Global Trends and the Challenges for Volunteering. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF VOLUNTEER ADMINISTRATION . Handy, F. (November 8, 2010). Volunteering and Volunteers. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA: Research on Social Work Practice. Nagy, A. M. (May, 2006). The Future Of Volunteering. Tallinn, Estonia: The European Volunteer Centre. James, S. F. (2009). Volunteering for Happiness and Health. Australia: The Australian Health Promotion Association. Matthew Hill and Jennifer Russell, w. G. (December, 2009). Young people, volunteering and youth projects. United Kingdom: Institute for Volunteering Research. Locke, F. (2005). Be a Volunteer! Toronto, Canada: Imagine Canada’s Knowledge Development Centre. McClintock, N. (2004). Understanding Canadian Volunteers. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Centre for Philanthropy. Lautenschlager, J. (1991). PROMOTING VOLUNTEERISM. Canada: Voluntary Action Directorate. Komp, K. (April 4, 2011). Age, Retirement, and Health as Factors in Volunteering in later life. Canada: Nonprofit and voluntary sector quarterly. Lima, C. (October 2012). Religion and Volunteering in Context. Madison, Wisconsin: American Sociological Review.