Who has the right to volunteer?

Abstract

Many workplaces are eager to accept student volunteers in their organizations, and they value the students’ input. However, there seems to be fewer opportunities for those aspiring volunteers whose threshold to volunteer work is far too high for one reason or another. This article discusses who has the right to participate in voluntary work. Is it really available to everyone? Who has the opportunity to participate in society and with what kind of preconditions? What kind of values and attitudes are inherent to the act of volunteering, and how can it be supported? The article is based on experiences within the Supported Volunteering project and the Timeout dialogue held at Lahti Diaconia Institute in May 2019.