Financial Incentives to Volunteer
The UK government has decided to set aside 13 million pounds to encourage public servants (doctors, nurses, teachers, and police) to volunteer in the developing world. As I understand it, the program will pay into the pension funds for volunteers while they are away from their primary duties in Britain. As always, a lot depends on implementation (where they volunteer, what they will do) but it is an encouraging sign that the UK is willing to put public money behind volunteerism.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
[…] This one essay contest isn’t going to change the world, but the UK government has also recently funded two programs to encourage its citizens to volunteer in poor countries. One program provides financial incentives to British public servants with relevant skills. The other is geared towards British youth from less-advantaged backgrounds. These programs together start to look like a pretty solid effort to get the British populace engaged in the nation’s international development work. […]
March 21st, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I say eh. I don’t really believe in short-term volunteers as a real solution to development problems.