Assessing the Motivation, Contribution and Challenges of Volunteers in improving the condition of their Neighborhood: The Case of Jimma City Volunteers

Abstract

The study discribes the motivating factors, contributions and challenges of community volunteers in improving their neighborhood. Qualitative, descriptive and single instrumental case study design was usedto drown necessary information for this study.Volunteers who were members of voluntary associa tions, had been considered as a unit of analysis. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select the research participants. Accordingly, the study engaged 38 research participants constituting 20 volu nteers, 8 community members (3 elders and 5 government officers) and 10 vulnerable groups.The rese archer utilized in-depth interview, key informant interview and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) to coll ect the data. And the instruments used for data collection were semi-structured interview guides; inclu ding in-depth interview guide, Key informants interview guide and FGD guide. Two FGDs were cond ucted; one FGD with volunteers (5 male and 7 female) and the other one with vulnerable groups (older person without support, Poor families, person with disability, orphan and vulnerable youth (4 male & 6female). The finding of the study was organized and presented in correspondence with the research q uestions using themes extracted from the findings. Accordingly, passion to help the community, to hav e psychological satisfaction, spirituality influence, and to have work experience in search of job were i dentified as the major motivating factors to engage in volunteerism. Improving living condition, comm unity capacity building, linking vulnerable groups to social services and building social capital were a mong thecontribution of volunteers towards community development. Furthermore, lacks of coordinat ed support, finance, obtaining permission from family, lack of policy and standardized service provisio n anddiscontinuity of work by government sectors were identified as challenges for volunteers. The res earch concluded that, regardless of the challenges volunteers were facing while delivering voluntary se rvices; the service they are providing have great contribution in improving the situation of their neighb orhood. The study findings, that is knowledge and understanding of the motivating factors for voluntar y work, the contribution of volunteers in community development, and the challenges associated with voluntary work are assumed to contribute in formulating policy and guideline for voluntary work. It is recommended that having policy and standard is crucial to make use of volunteerism as one tool in co mmunity development. Therefore, the concerned professionals and government and nongovernment institutions working on voluntary work, main focus should be geared toward the formulation of a national policy and standard for volunteerism.