Voluntary help

The voluntary help is a line of business not remunerated and chosen voluntarily which is exerted in general within a Association, of a trade union or a public structure. That or that which is devoted to the voluntary help is called voluntary . The etymology of the word comes from Latin benevolus who means " good volonté".

In national accounting, the voluntary help belongs to the Services noncommercial. The added-value of those being entered primarily starting from the costs of personnel, which are by nature unimportant in the voluntary activities, its weight in GDP is underestimated (with the difference of that of the noncommercial services exerted by the communities and based on the same criterion).

General information

Voluntary help and voluntariate

The voluntary help with the difference in voluntariate is framed by no law, the statute of voluntary is very abstract and is characterized by the no payment in some form that it is.

In the United States

The United States is the first country of the world for the voluntary help: 93 million Americans. The missions of voluntary are varied: to ensure the promotion of the cultural institution in the city, to deal with the counters, to guide the visitors in the museums, etc

In France

According to the Economic and Social Council in an opinion dated February 24th, 1993 “is voluntary any person who commits herself freely taking a nonpaid action in direction of others, apart from her professional and family time”.

Moreover according to the CPCA, (standing conference of associative coordinations http://cpca.asso.fr) the very great majority of voluntary takes place in community life (10 million out of 12 million in France) knowing that the voluntary help could not merge with simple adhesion.

According to a study of INSEE carried out in 2002, the voluntary help accounted for 1,307 billion hours, that is to say 817.000 full-time equivalents. 77,7% are the voluntary regular ones.

The spheres of activity are the following:

culture and leisures (28,1%): tourism, organizations religious, artistic, musical, outdoor centres, scouting, committees festivals, drives out, fishing…
sport (20,4%)
social action, medical and humane (17%): medical research, charity associations, assistance to residence…
defense of the rights (14,6%): trade unions, defense of the consumers, councils of joint ownership…
religion (8,3%)
education (6,1%): associations of former students, parents of pupils, helps with the duties…
others (2,9%): political parties, development of the inheritance…
environment (2,6%): defenders of the animals, natural environment…

A recent evolution of the voluntary help is the development of the voluntary help of competences . The voluntary one comes to carry out a mission in bond with its professional competences.

In France, three structures help associations and the voluntary ones to meet: France Voluntary help, Space Voluntary help and Footbridges & Compétences which is more specifically dedicated to the voluntary help of competences

In Switzerland

In French-speaking Switzerland, a platform makes it possible to find a place of Voluntary help in the whole world including in France.

Religion

The voluntary help is encouraged by many religions. Moreover, Caritas Internationalis and the Islamic Secours are religious organizations specialized in the voluntary help.

See too

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