Abstract
Both local and foreign volunteers have been involved in community development activities in Ghana. However, there is a dearth of research on the perceived and real impacts of volunteers in delivering services, reasons for volunteering, the potential of volunteering to supplement the human and financial resources of local governments in Ghana, and the conditions required for more successful outcomes. This qualitative study examined volunteering activities across 15 communities of the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (KEEA) Municipality in Ghana’s Central Region. It found that volunteering empowered the people, triggered self-help initiatives and improved local people’s knowledge on health and environmental issues. However, there are challenges in finding political and social space for volunteers within the current local government system. The study recommends efforts to address that issue.
Highlights
Introduction – the emerging phenomenon of volunteerism Volunteering has become a platform that provides people with new sets of skills and experiences while they contribute to finding solutions to society’s problems (Morrow-Howell et al 2009; Butcher 2010; Handy and Mook 2011)
At the time there were about 50 Ghanaians and 100 foreign nationals aged between 21 years and 42 years volunteering throughout KEEA
Impacts of volunteering Our interviews revealed that contributions of this nature by the volunteers triggered a spirit of initiative and empowerment throughout all the communities, again supporting the findings of other research (Devereux 2008; Kambutu and Nganga 2008; Wu 2011; McCauley et al 2021)
Summary
Introduction – the emerging phenomenon of volunteerism Volunteering has become a platform that provides people with new sets of skills and experiences while they contribute to finding solutions to society’s problems (Morrow-Howell et al 2009; Butcher 2010; Handy and Mook 2011). In Africa, the phenomenon of international voluntary service has been growing in the last three decades (Graham et al 2012), with young volunteers, mainly from developed countries, providing various forms of support and local development service to communities in host countries. Increased attention to volunteering activities in African countries has been attributed to their potential and/or actual contributions to the development of host countries (Graham et al 2012; Otoo and Amuquandoh 2014a). Studies on volunteerism in Africa are still limited, but show that it can contribute to community mobilisation, knowledge sharing, and services such as the provision of housing, health, education, water and sanitation (Bargeman et al 2016). The underlying assumption is that volunteering and ‘doing good’ will at least lead to a positive transformation in the local or host community (Bussell and Forbes 2002; Haddad 2007; Unstead-Joss 2008; Butcher and Smith 2010; McCauley et al 2021)
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