Bhutan has been an active participant in celebrating International Volunteer Day (IV Day) each 5th December. There was also a series of events held in the recognition of the year 2001 as the ‘International Year of Volunteers’.
In 2006, IVD was celebrated organizing IVD Forum and Event having wide range of audience. Essay Contest titled “How can you contribute to Gross National Happiness (GNH) being a volunteer?” was held prior to the IVD celebration as related activity. This Essay Contest enhanced participation of civil society at large (see media coverage).
Past IV Days have tended to be limited to Thimphu, and focused on advocacy and publicity. But IV Day 2004 was much more than this: it served as the launch of a series of activities, in Thimphu and nationwide, where we have the opportunity not only to see what can be done through volunteerism, but actually to do something! That is to say: volunteerism is not something to think about one day every year - it is a continuous spirit!
Already in 2005, the volunteerism spirit showed itself when volunteers organised in January a fund-raising walk in aid of the survivors of the tsunami (see details), and again in March when volunteers gathered to improve facilities provided to the dogs accommodated in RSPCA ground in Serbithang.
For more information about upcoming events, check out the “What’s On” page. And remember: any suggestions for activities are warmly received. Please e-mail us at vib@druknet.bt.
But now - Let’s look
back to how we celebrated IV Day and the International Year
of Volunteers in the recent past…
In reverse chronological
order:
