Keen on voluntary work? Get licence, ‘passport’

Muscat, Oct 15 - In response to calls for regulating voluntary work, the Omani Network for Volunteers (ONV) will issue ‘volunteering licence’ and ‘volunteering passport’ for youth interested in developing their skills in the field. Accredited by the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), the areas of focus of the two permits are: voluntary work, first-aid and operating voluntary projects. Faisal al Dughaishi, the network’s spokesman, said ONV has conducted a study on the right practices of voluntary work and has come to the conclusion that many of the practices are performed randomly. Hence, it has launched the volunteering licence and passport which will be issued to volunteers on completion of a programme comprising three workshops. After the programme, he/she needs to clear an online test. “Licences would then be issued accordingly,” said al Dughaishi. The programme, which targets all types of people — youth and the aged, Omanis or expatriates, aims at spreading awareness of a systematic voluntary practice. It looks at improving the participants’ abilities in different fields of voluntary work using proper methodology. Participants learn best practices of running their own projects. “The turnout is huge. We are now expanding our workshops to outside of Muscat. This week, we are training people in Wadi al Maawil and next week we are moving to Ibri,” said Al Dughaishi. The network focuses on practical training more than theoretical lectures for a reasonable fee. It has so far trained 11,000 volunteers across the country and issued hundreds of licences and 800 volunteering passports. ONV is a voluntary network run by 40 young Omanis and affiliated to the Omani Society for Human Resources, which is supervised by the MoSD. Established in 2010, it specialises in training individuals in systematic voluntary work. Zainab al Nassri