Volunteer rate still lags far behind proportions in Canada and the UK

More than 1 million Hong Kong people contributed over 87 million hours in volunteer work last year, a survey released Wednesday shows.

"It is encouraging that the volunteer rate has increased tremendously over the last few years," said Joseph Chan Cho-wai, professor of the Centre for Civil Society and Governance at the University of Hong Kong.

He believes there is room for improvement. Hong Kong still lagged behind other developed countries in terms of both the rate of volunteerism and hours worked, he noted. In the UK and Canada, the volunteer rate has already reached 59 and 46 percent respectively.

The survey by the Centre for Civil Society and Governance, the University of Hong Kong, found that about 18.6 percent of over 1,500 respondents had participated in organized volunteering in 2009.

On average, each volunteer contributed about 87 hours over the past year. The total volunteer hours have more than tripled over the past nine years.

The center estimated that the total economic value created by volunteering in 2009 reached HK$5.5 billion, equivalent to 0.34 percent of GDP in 2009 or 41,500 full-time jobs.

"Volunteers have been misunderstood as idling round, or less educated. Well, it is not true," said Tang Kwai-nang, chairman of the Task Force on Study Project on Volunteering towards Community Building in Hong Kong, Agency for Volunteer Service (AVS).

Nearly 42 percent were college graduates or above. About one half of volunteers were managers or professionals. Over a quarter earned a monthly personal income of HK$15,000 or above. Only one in ten was unemployed or retired. "What's more interesting is that volunteers who are employed participate in volunteering more often than those who are unemployed," he added.

Tang believes the healthy and steady growth of volunteering shows that "Hong Kong people have now progressively realized the value of volunteer service, both its economic and social contributions to society".

He called for a "volunteer culture" in Hong Kong. Volunteering is now regarded as a means for self-fulfillment through participation in meaningful activities, he added.

On the other hand, the survey noted that more than half the NGOs surveyed had not provided accident insurance for their volunteers.

Tang stressed that personal accident insurance is a protection not only for volunteers, but also for their organizations.

Although volunteer services have been considered as low-risk activities, AVS has been working on increasing the community's awareness of the importance of volunteer insurance over the past two years.

China Daily

(HK Edition 05/06/2010 page1)