Enhancing Community Volunteer Coordination for Pandemic Response Preparedness

1. Session 6 Volunteer Coordination

2. The tool Volunteer Coordination will help response leaders: • enhance existing plans for recruiting community volunteers • identify possible volunteer roles and responsibilities that will help to protect food security during a pandemic • Share information with households about critical role they play in supporting community efforts to ease the impact of a pandemic

3. Today’s Objectives • To raise awareness about how community volunteer efforts can fill gaps if a community’s workforce is overwhelmed by the effects of a pandemic. • To develop a sample inventory of groups and businesses that might be able to offer services in preparation for and during a pandemic.

4. 3 types of volunteer support • Services offered by local organizations and private businesses • Volunteer man-power • Personal resources.

5. Step 1: Identify potential volunteer services • Gather leaders of community organizations and businesses • Conduct an inventory of • services each group currently offers to local communities • services that they might be able to offer in preparation for a pandemic and during response • additional training or resources needed to provide these services

6. Inventory of Community Services and Businesses

7. Step 2: Identify groups excluded from services • Carefully consider each identified service • Who might be excluded from accessing these services? • For each excluded group, hold focus group discussions to determine how volunteers can provide better access to the services they will offer before, during, and after a pandemic.

8. Step 3: Recruit Lead Volunteers • Call a gathering of representatives from various organizations and private businesses in the community. • Business associations Local merchants and traders • Community-based and religious organizations • School teachers • Women’s groups • Youth groups • Municipal government agencies • Humanitarian and development nongovernmental organizations • Health centers and hospitals • Ranch or farmer associations • Local media • Entertainers

9. Step 3: Recruit Lead Volunteers • From each organization, identify one lead volunteer and two backup alternates • Make sure to get contact information Make sure all volunteers are coordinated with health leaders and are up to date on safety measures re: spread of the disease

10. Step 3: Recruit lead community volunteers Identify roles and responsibilities • If training is needed, identify the person from the response team that will provide the training • Managing food inventories • Public service maintenance • Risk communication

11. Step 4: Recruit Volunteer Teams Many volunteer activities are not complicated nor do they need to involve expertise. • Create awareness about the need for volunteers at public meetings • Brainstorm with meeting attendees about how each person may be able to contribute • Stress the importance of building a unified community that collectively and individually helps each other

12. Step 4: Recruit Volunteer Teams • Establish volunteer recruitment centers • Maintain an updated contact list that includes: • Contact information- phone, home address, email address • The responsibilities or resources the volunteer can offer with no training • The responsibilities the volunteer is willing to carry out if they receive training

13. Step 4: Recruit Volunteer Teams • Stay in close contact with the lead volunteers to determine the following: • What type of help is most needed in each response area? • How many volunteers are needed? • How soon is their help needed? • Do volunteers need any specific training before they begin to help?

14. What type of volunteers are most needed ? • Retired healthcare personnel or people with medical training • People who have recovered from the influenza strain • Skilled laborers to help with the continuity of government services / construction of food storage spaces • Mental health and spiritual • People with disaster response training Remember ! Protect the health of your volunteers !!!

15. Volunteer activities to preparefor a pandemic: • Alert area leaders of households that may be at high risk to food insecurity during a pandemic • Help take an inventory of private food storage spaces • Spread awareness messages • Help households construct food storage facilities. • Transport donated supplies from other regions • Gather donations of narrow mouthed covered containers to donate to households that may not have adequate means for storing water

16. Volunteer activities once the pandemic reaches your community: • Become a barter coordinator. • Deliver fuel and water • Help area leader manage neighborhood surveillance and documentation • Connect people with health training to households with sick members • Help organize at-home school activities for children • Help distribute essential pandemic supplies • Transport dead bodies

17. Thank You