YouChange Volunteer Station Network, a social resource coordination platform mainly in poverty-stricken areas, conducts research on local needs before it introduces mature charity projects and identifies volunteer services and positions needed by local communities. It has a professional management system, organizes volunteers to provide diverse services in poor areas, and provides such services as human resources support, development of charity logistics channel, and information sharing platform. Each volunteer station has long-term, project and short-term volunteers. As a service center run by volunteers, the volunteer station supports the government in making poverty reduction plans and mobilizing social organizations.
YouChange Volunteer Station Network has three levels—provincial/municipal, county and township. Provincial/municipal central volunteer stations are responsible for building systems, developing projects, and providing guidance and assessment; county stations are responsible for relationship coordination and project supervision; and township stations are responsible for specific project implementation as implementing parties. Volunteer stations at three levels have clear relationship and division of labor, providing institutional support to the success of poverty reduction projects.
How a YouChange Poverty Alleviation Volunteer Station is Established:
I. Build a Volunteer Station and Team
1. Reach consensus on building a station through different channels.
Potential local resources: government, NGOs and the business community;
YouChange provides an open application channel, mature support in building a station, and a project implementation team.
2. Build a volunteer station and develop a three-year plan.
Hard and soft infrastructure (station head, institutions and working network);
Local communities recommend a qualified station head who will lead the making of a three-year volunteer plan for poverty alleviation.
3. Build a volunteer team by such standards as open recruitment and volunteer registration.
Backed by YouChange project officials, the station head is responsible for volunteer recruitment and training, clarify job responsibilities, and set up institutions according to the station management manual (including Eagle Plan volunteers as human resources reserves of designated businesses in poverty alleviation).
YouChange or the station head assisted by YouChange provides general and job trainings.
4. Conduct research and pilot programs.
Volunteers conduct baseline/basic and special/thematic research, multi-dimensional poverty measurement, collect local development and basic data, set up classified local information database, identify local needs, comb local resources and seek the right fields to start poverty reduction.
II. Introduce Mature Social Poverty Alleviation Projects
1. Dispatch of volunteers to implement poverty reduction projects.
In light of local needs, volunteers help promote poverty reduction projects such as the Evergreen Volunteer Teaching and the Dream Center, sum up local experience, and seek matching funds.
2. Capacity building
The expert group from YouChange provides support to volunteer stations in leadership building, team building and professional building.
3. Monitoring and assessment
Volunteer evaluation and certification will be conducted according to YouChange’s standards and certification system.
III. Continue with Poverty Alleviation Projects, Gradually Transfer Them to Local Communities and Assist Them in Building an Independent Development Mechanism.
1. Community learning center
We promote the building of hard and soft infrastructure of community learning centers and organize community volunteers to participate in their management.
2. Community capacity building
We support poverty-stricken community residents in assessing ongoing projects and activities, putting forward suggestions for improvement, and carrying out pilot improvement programs.
3. Project promotion
Volunteer stations are responsible for knowledge management (records and cases keeping etc.), publicity of volunteering spirit, distribute publicity materials, and coordinate media coverage.
YouChange provides other channels for further publicity and recommend them to bid for poverty stricken charity project awards.
YouChange Volunteer Station Network aims to cover all 22 provinces, autonomous regions and municipality in central and western China by 2015, mobilize no less than 10,000 volunteers to work for poverty reduction and development and provide related services, and ultimately cover all 832 national poverty-stricken counties and areas.