National and International Volunteerism

Can Enhance the Delivery of Public Services

I’d like to share, first of all, three experiences. First, last week, on Wednesday, one of the Kenyans

was involved in an accident. He was very injured. It was 10pm.So he was rushed to one of the public

hospitals. And there’s no bed. So for next eighteen hours, he was inside an ambulance and could not

be admitted anywhere. Eighteen hours, actually almost twenty-four hours. On a first day last week,

he passed it on. What kind of public service that is. Is it a vision? Then in February this year, one of

the girls was coming from school. She was attacked by seven men. And her age was thirteen years

old. She was ripped and left outside overnight. Because her parents were poor, they could do nothing.

This took their intervention to report to authorities. This took these authorities one month to raise an

awareness all of our county, to seek justice for this girl. Surprisingly, in the mediate facility of the

home of this girl, there’re educational officials, there’s the local administration, there’s the police.

They took the intervention on the local frontier to printing this on book. On the hand side, Kenya has

developed a politic on frontiers and is developing the legal framework on frontiers. We think the

UNV, the local frontier involving organizations and the politicians surprisingly for the suffer of this

to legal frameworks. So I’ll give my presentation on this context.

My presentation is on two ways. This geodetic intervention of public service on them, practical

intervention on the over the public service frontier involving organizations and the governments in

perspective of the devolving countries. Governments have obligations to their citizens that emanate

from their countries’ constitutions, national, regional and international instruments including treats,

and agreements. Some of these obligations can neither be given nor taken away by the states, e.g.

human rights. Thus the efficient and effective delivery of these obligations through services in the

public sector shall remain paramount to every state. Depending from country to country the

performance of the public sector range from those that are insensitive and corrupt to those managed

efficiently and transparently.

Currently most developing countries are in the era of modernizing and efficiently developing their

public sectors in service delivery. However Human and financial recourses, commitments and

political support are usually inadequate in such circumstances. Such gaps can easily be bridged by the

involvement of National and international Volunteers agencies. The role of Volunteer involving

societies, international and National volunteer agencies are therefore critical in enhancing the

delivery of services in the public sector. The local frontier who took it upon themselves to report on

this girl who had been ripped by seven rapists until she got the justice she wanted. They should act as

catalysts and also provide loud platforms to put strategic checks and balances that ensure

Governments are accountable to their citizen through acceptable service delivery standards in the

public sector. I think being in an ambulance for eighteen hours, there’re not acceptable services, leave

alone in my country but also in other countries. These Organizations should also strive to create an

enabling environment, by working in partnerships with their Governments to ensure that policies

strategies and legal frame works are available that enhance the delivery of public services.

This is strategic if you’re working in the environment that is neighboring, it’s still appropriate,

because when developing legal frame works, actually we use the frontier of the organizations, the

cooperate organizations, and politicians, and the personalities who have the greater say both in

governments and in frontier organizations. Once the above is achieved then they ought to put their

efforts with their volunteer programs to directly contribute to these programs that enhance the

delivery of public services. Such programs should be democratic, people oriented, participatory, and

inclusive and anchored to their countries strategic plans guided by such international plans like the

SDGs.

Strategically national and international volunteerism agencies should put their resources to programs

that promote and enhance the delivery of public services by:

1.Ensuring that Governments integrate and mainstream volunteerism in the entire private/public

sector.

2.Ensuring that Governments are inculcating the culture of volunteerism in service delivery at the

family unit and the education sector.

3.Promoting the participation of volunteers in the delivery of public services.

4.Monitoring the quality of service delivery in the public sector and reporting.

5.Ensuring that government`s short, mid and long term plans adequately provide for Volunteerism

and service delivery.

6.Ensure that the short term income and expenditure plans/ statements (annual Budgets) provide for

programs and strategies that promote Volunteerism in their countries targeting the delivery of public

services.

7.That volunteer organization is continuously engaging in evidence based studies and research in the

delivery of public services.

8.Ensure that Policies strategies and legal frameworks developed focuses on the efficient and

effective delivery of public services.