Early in January I was fortunate enough to have lazy time by the sea, gazing out over a family beach and reading at leisure the daily newspapers. I had been musing the importance of unrecognised volunteers to the beach ecology when I came across a provoking article on volunteering.
The core of the argument was that as a way of helping communities, volunteering is inefficient, often harmful in its effects. It undercuts paid work and lets governments off the hook. Charitable organisations help perpetuate the conditions they were founded to eradicate. The conclusion was that the time spent in volunteering would better be devoted upstream to persuade governments and corporations to change policies or programs for the better.
My first response to this argument was one of qualified agreement. It is necessary to hold governments responsible for the common good of society, and particularly for the welfare of the poorest and most vulnerable. It is wrong for governments to shift to community organisations the cost of supporting the mentally ill, people seeking asylum and the unemployed. It is also essential to propose and advocate to the government policies that accept its responsibility and discharges it effectively.
In fact many charitable bodies have policy and media sections that carry out this role. But governments usually resist accepting their own responsibilities and often try to muzzle charitable agencies that criticise their policies. Corporates are also reluctant to criticise governments on issues marginal to them, particularly when they stand to lose money by change.
In these circumstances working upstream effectively is not easy, particularly for the vulnerable. It will be arduous, conflictual, and must deal with the economic mechanisms that divert wealth from the needs of the community to the already wealthy. And it needs to be based in grass roots experience.
The article is also right to adduce instances of counterproductive volunteering. But most of these can be addressed by reforming the programs. It may be daft for volunteers to help schools better serve children by running fairs that sell sugar-rich sweets and drinks. But there is no need to cut out the fairs — simply cut out the sugar.
My time at the beach left me with an altogether deeper appreciation of the place of volunteers. Walking along the beach very early each morning I used to meet Jack, who lived some distance away. He walks up and down the beach gathering plastic, glass and paper into