by Raymond Brandes, UNV Programme Specialist

08 March 2013

Pnohm Penh, Cambodia: Gender-based violence (GBV) is one of the major issues facing Cambodian society where violence specifically against women is widely prevalent. Working with volunteers to tackle GBV at the community level will have a huge impact.

A manual has been developed for local Cambodian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to better equip them to support and work with volunteers who are trying to end violence against women and girls (EVAW/G).

This manual Ending Violence Against Women – A Guide to Working with Volunteers, written by specialists in the field, was coordinated by Clara Magariño Manero, UNV Project Officer with UN Women in Cambodia, with the support of Raymond Brandes, UNV Programme Specialist with Partners for Prevention (P4P), a UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV regional joint programme for gender-based violence prevention in Asia and the Pacific.  Its five main sections include the following:
- Volunteering and ending violence against women and girls: provides an overview of what volunteering means and the benefits of working with volunteers to EVAW/G in Cambodia.
- Planning for volunteer involvement: works through ways organizations can prepare for involving volunteers in their EVAW/G work. It highlights keys questions to ask about why they want to work with volunteers, encourages them to think about what volunteer opportunities there are in their organization and the policy and procedures they should consider having in place before they start recruiting volunteers.
- Recruiting volunteers to help EVAW/G: provides guidance on advertising opportunities for people to volunteer with their organization, the process of screening volunteers, and how to involve communities in the selection of volunteers.
- Working with volunteers: explains the steps and practical aspects of working with volunteers from their initial orientation and training, to ongoing support and supervision, and, importantly, how to keep them motivated and involved.
- Monitoring and evaluating your volunteer programme: outlines ways for NGOs to monitor and evaluate the impact of their volunteer programme to EVAW/G, and for volunteers to help them.

A number of other useful resources available for consultation are listed on the topics of volunteer programme development and management.

The manual Ending Violence Against Women – A Guide to Working with Volunteers is the result of a study undertaken in 2010 by Partners for Prevention (P4P) to examine the impact of working with community volunteers to address GBV. The study’s findings are published in a report called Making a Difference — An Assessment of Volunteer Interventions Addressing Gender-based Violence in Cambodia.

The report made a number of key recommendations that formed part of the initiative called: Strengthening Community Based Mechanisms to End Violence Against Women and Girls undertaken in Cambodia by UN Women, P4P, UNV and the United Nations Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign. This initiative was aimed at addressing some of the root causes of violence against women by developing the capacity of local NGOs working with volunteers, and the volunteers themselves.