Our Work

Short Term Placements

VAZ places volunteer experts in assignments ranging from 1 week to 3 months taking the form of volunteers covering for people on maternity leave, study leave or short sick leave. This also covers periodic activities such as audits, or program impact evaluation in the case of NGOs. The calibre of volunteer to second is determined by the skills requirement and the scope of the assignment. Mentorship assignment fall under this category. The category also covers peak placements in institutions with short peak season demand for their services or products requiring temporary increase in staff complement.

Medium Term Placements

Assignment ranging from 3 months to 12 months qualify under medium term placements. This suits students on industrial attachments requiring a full year of work related learning in the relevant field. This also cover those on long study leave where the company is still obliged to pay the absent employee his/her full benefits. In such cases where there is a business case to the placement, arrangements are made for the receiving organisation to pay a fraction of their normal costs for the function. A portion of such payment is deducted at source and payable to VAZ.

Ad Hoc Assignments

Organisations in need of once off services that ordinarily would not have a fulltime employee covering or whose occurrence is not predictable are covered here. This might cover such issues as end of project evaluation for NGOs or covering events like funerals, weddings and parties. Clean up exercise come under this category.

Routine Assignments

Here short but routine assignments are covered. These include such assignment as control of zebra crossing involving students especially primary school kids where this has to be done every morning at 7 and at the end of day.

Emergence & Relief Services

Emergence services such as attending to an accident scene, fire and any other occurrences are covered under this category. Relief work in times of floods or droughts also come under this category. Treatment of special ailments and legal representation on outstanding cases equally come under this category. Manning of intersections when traffic lights are off and there is traffic jam is also covered here.

Domestic Repair and Maintenance Works

VAZ members also attends to domestic repair and maintenance work involving plumbing, electrical and others. The services are be offered free for senior citizens, the widows, disabled and child headed households. Those economically active and able bodied are be required to donate to VAZ a fraction of the commercial rate (50) for the work done payable to VAZ which retains 20% of it and give the rest to the volunteering member. Payment in kind is also be acceptable for beneficiaries with no cash to donate.

Exchange Programs

VAZ runs exchange programs with likeminded institutions globally. This entails sending VAZ members on short term and medium-term volunteer services to partner organisations in the rest of the world. The overseas volunteer hosted by VAZ is deployed alongside local volunteers in any of the above categories to reflect their expertise and period of stay.

Consumers of our Volunteer Work

The demand side of our services include the following;

Charity Organisations

There are several registered and unregistered charitable organisations involved in various socials programs like community health, orphans, HIV/Aids, education and the elderly among others. Most of these rely on donor funding and could benefit from locally available volunteer services ranging from specialist services, general cleaning and resource mobilisation. If they can enjoy local volunteer services, it frees their meagre resources to areas that really need cash hence increase the viability and impact of such noble community interventions.

Government

Government has so much on its plate in terms of social service delivery and infrastructure development against the backdrop of dwindling fiscal revenues exacerbated by perennial corruption. There are moments where failure by government in certain interventions have far reaching consequences to the communities. In cases like emergency relief, disaster mitigation and social service delivery there may be need for volunteer specialist services.

Local Authorities

Local authorities are struggling to provide basic services as per their service charters. Unfortunately, their failure usually impacts our communities negatively. For instance, failure to collect refuse at times exposes our communities to such diseases as typhoid. During periods of typhoid outbreaks, the VAZ can assist in clearing garbage. Local authorities especially in urban centres have toll orders managing traffic especially during peak periods and when traffic lights are down. The Police who are supposed to help seem only interested in extorting motorists of their hard-earned cash as opposed to servicing the citizens. VAZ has teams ready to assist with traffic control for instances, this also includes controlling traffic where school children cross especially in the morning and at the end of the day.

Hospitals

Our hospitals have become sorry sites due to diminishing funding. The floors are in a deplorable state whilst the grounds can become forests. Due to growing poverty, we have cases of the majority of the sick who can be in hospital for periods running into weeks and months without anyone visiting them. The case of the poor and vulnerable in need of specialist services they cannot afford falls under this category. They will be identified and where there is a matching volunteer for the need, VAZ arranges the treatment to be done. VAZ has organised hospital visitation programs that seek to offer emotional support to those patients with no one to support them.

Prisons

Our prisons are a sorry sight and many convicts find themselves there for crimes they never committed because of the corruption in the justice delivery system. The psychological trauma can have far reaching effects if not mitigated. There is scope for volunteer services in emotional and spiritual support for convicts who, in most cases, suffer rejection from their loved ones. In keeping with the post incarceration rehabilitation philosophy, there are programs for capacity building running in the prisons that may also benefit from volunteer services.

Schools

Our schools, especially the public ones, have taken a knock from the years of underinvestment in the education sector. These schools could also benefit from volunteer services in the following areas; career guidance coaching, coaching in specific sports, scripture union activities, security in car parks especially during public events, manning pedestrians’ crossings where schools are located in busy traffic areas, infrastructure rehabilitation and maintenance work among others.  Schools for children with special need are often neglected and could also benefit from volunteer services.

Universities and Colleges

Universities, like any other public institutions, have not been spared from years of underinvestment. VAZ has partnered universities and colleges in helping students with industrial attachment opportunities. VAZ members are available to help with any other specialist services that universities and colleges can benefit from in discharging their mandates. Various departments are also recipients of students on attachment from other institutions offering disciplines they do not offer. For instance, Bindura university kitchen, can absorb and benefit from students from Chinhoyi University of Technology’s Tourism and Hospitality School.

Industry

Most industries are running below capacity because of the prohibitive minimum wage structure and unionism. The ones that remain absorbing students on industrial attachment are very few and take a limited number for fear of the cost and not so much not having capacity to mentor the students. These when identified will indicate their maximum capacity in the absence of constraints and are supplied with members of the VAZ in need of attachment on a voluntary basis. If there are token arrangement for bus fare and lunch these are arranged with the respective students but communicated to the centre. Where the budget permit, VAZ seeks to assist its student members with bus fares especially those from disadvantaged families where even movement is a huge constraint.

Churches

Churches play a pivotal role in our societies as a haven for the poor and the downtrodden, widows, orphans and disabled. Most churches run orphanages and other social and humanitarian organisations. They could benefit from volunteer services from the membership of VAZ in many ways. They too are a source of voluntary support from its membership as they are taught the virtue of good neighbourliness. Close liaison with church pastors helps with vetting of members as well as provide both recipients and givers of voluntary services.

Events Management Organisations

Events management companies who run such occasions as weddings, parties and funerals often find themselves in need of security, ushering, catering, sound and cleaning services during these functions yet they cannot afford to keep these skills on their overheads given the intermittent nature of their business. These could benefit a great deal from VAZ as they can access our volunteers and donate to VAZ a portion (say 50%) of what they could have spent if they had accessed the services commercially. This would mean their service become more affordable for the benefit of all.

On Human Capital Development

Promoting and providing employees with meaningful volunteer opportunities helps to attract top talent; engage, develop, and retain employees; boost public image; and improve the bottom line. The program aids the process of developing human capital by ensuring that those who would otherwise not graduate for lack of work related learning will graduate. By continuously engaging qualified and skilled resources it reduces the overall cost of retraining which can be huge drain to the national resources. The mentorship that goes on with volunteerism also enhances productivity of the human resources.

On the Economy

The effect of deploying idle resources is to grow the overall GDP of the country which in turn enhances the capacity of the economy to create more jobs hence its ability to absorb more idle resources. If this multiplier is not disturbed the ripple positive effects are tremendous.

In the Communities

Our communities become better places to live in as the effect of volunteer work is felt in all the spheres of living. Communities become cleaner, and safer and more sustainable. Engaging idle resources tends to reduce rates of crime and social ills that are associated with idleness and also enhances a spirit of nationalism and patriotism. The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme argues that ‘volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer’.

On Social Culture

Volunteerism kills the culture of entitlement and impunity which has tended to destroy African societies and breed greed and laziness. It also helps restore the spirit of Ubuntu and brother being there for brother, the spirit of the Good Samaritan, society coming in aid of one another. The exchange programs will also enhance cultural diversity and help develop a global citizen and a spirit of tolerance in diversity.