Digital technology has allowed many associations and their volunteers to maintain their activities by avoiding certain displacements, synonymous with risks in the circumstances of COVID-19.
Two thirds of volunteers in associations have thus practiced remote volunteering, "tele-volunteering" during confinement, according to a study by Recherches & Solidarités. Probably destined to last, tele-volunteering offers these citizens more flexibility, new forms of intervention and complements to the usual missions.
L'survey survey of 2,365 volunteers conducted between April and May 2020 by Recherche Recherches & Solidarités paints a picture of the volunteers who have taken up tele-volunteering during the crisis.
Références :
The report shows that 67% of the volunteers surveyed volunteered on the phone during the lockdown: 17% for the first time, 27% more than usual and 23% as usual (23%).
The period of confinement was a trigger for those under 25 and for volunteers in the social, health and international solidarity fields.
Of those who volunteered for the first time during the lockdown, 41% said they "took the initiative because it was the right time.
Tele-volunteer missions can be varied: coordinating a project, promoting the association (social networks), updating the association's website, completing administrative tasks, putting together a file or a project, training volunteers on their mission, accompanying young people in difficulty...
The digital uses developed during the confinement, revealed new uses for the functioning of the associative life:
47% of volunteers say that tele-volunteering will potentially endure, as the advantages have been shown to be numerous: According to the annual survey by Recherches et Solidarités "la France associative en mouvement". (October 2020), France has between 1.35 and 1.45 million associations for 12.5 million volunteers, of which 5.2 to 5.4 million are active every week. 24% of French people are volunteers in an association (25% in 2016). 10% of French people give their time for free each week (12.5% in 2010). The proportion of women and younger people is increasing. The proportion of volunteers is much lower among the most modest people.
- move forward on projects despite events (42%),
- finally "connect" with other volunteers (32%),
- test new tools and improve their skills (28%).
