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Description
Project C.U.R.E. is a nonprofit organization that delivers donated medical supplies and services to developing nations across the world. Currently, the Phoenix location has three full time employees, so a majority of the manual work is completed by episodic and long-term volunteers as well as semesterly interns. Volunteers are the backbone of the organization's daily productivity. Productivity among the Project C.U.R.E. warehouses varies greatly by location and is not directly related to the size of the warehouse. Productivity if hereby defined as as a warehouse's capability to meet the organization's goal of one container per week. Productivity can be increased or decreased based on the number of volunteers, funding, and catalogued inventory. Across all warehouses there is generally an overflow of donated equipment and consumable products, and therefore this is not usually a factor in productivity. In order to better understand why the Phoenix warehouse is the second most productive despite being the smallest, we researched how the motivations of volunteers. A survey was conducted to assess the motives of Project C.U.R.E.'s volunteers by quantifying their responses according to the Volunteerism Functional Inventory (VFI). The survey also produced information regarding volunteer demographics (ie. including gender, age, and occupation), as well as statistics about how often they volunteer at Project C.U.R.E. and their overall satisfaction with the organization. The data was then analyzed to determine the most relevant VFI characteristic. Upon analyzing the data, it was observed that the majority of participants were male (58.95%) and were between the ages of 18 and 25 (82.11%). The results also showed that Project C.U.R.E. utilizes a large number of episodic volunteers from Arizona State University (due to its close proximity to the Phoenix warehouse) was supported in that the data showed 72.63% of participants were undergraduate students and that 48.42% had just volunteered for their first time. After combining survey questions that corresponded to the same characteristic of volunteerism as outlined by Clary et al. (values, social, career, understanding, protective, and enhancement) the average of the responses was taken and used to determine the most relevant motives for our volunteer population. Based on the data, values (average score of 5.0) and understanding (average score of 5.0) were the two most relevant characteristics and protective (average score of 1.0) was the least relevant to volunteers. Additionally, 41.1% of survey respondents reported food would incentivize them to return to Project C.U.R.E. Additionally, 35.6% of survey respondents reported receiving Project C.U.R.E. merchandise would incentivize them to return in the future. Moving forward, it is recommended that the Project CURE Phoenix location begin providing their volunteers with merchandise and other forms of recognition based on the number of hours they committed to the organization.
ContributorsPrimiano, Sarah (Co-author) / Maglajac, Benjamin (Co-author) / Wang, Lili (Thesis director) / Kizer, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / School for the Science of Health Care Delivery (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Short-term medical volunteer work via a nongovernmental organization is a popular tool for students in the health care field to gain experience, while further providing communities that normally lack health care options the opportunity to receive free care. One such organization, VIDA Volunteer Travel, has been successful in implementing this model in Central America. However, organizations of this form have not been evaluated for effectiveness or improvement. This exploratory study examines the effectiveness of VIDA based on six qualifying characteristics that make up a successful NGO. The researcher conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 21 individuals, including VIDA staff members in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, health professionals working for VIDA, local community leaders, and volunteers participating in VIDA's programs. Summaries and quotes of these interviews were uploaded and analysed using Atlas.ti to identify common words and themes from the interviews. Informants frequently identified the organization as sustainable, both from a fiscal and ecological standpoint. The organization also successfully managed volunteers, although post-trip follow-up was lacking. Adherence to the mission statement and distribution of supplies allowed for improved organization and successful structure of the organization. Education and health promotion was also emphasized, although implementation of this education into the communities was lacking. Collaboration with the community and volunteers allowed for stringent, successful treatment to be given to patients, and ethical guidelines set up by the organization allowed for self-governance and improvement of the NGO. This study suggests future research opportunities for the organization, to evaluate its own impact and opportunities for improvement. Furthermore, suggestions are addressed that allow the organization to improve upon its well-implemented infrastructure, and allow for future organizations to use VIDA as a model for improvement.
ContributorsPearson, Presley Kyle (Author) / Yoshioka, Carlton (Thesis director) / Wang, Lili (Committee member) / Larsen, Dale (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Research has examined the many motivations of international volunteers (voluntourists), but there is limited research about how volunteers are reached, as well as differing perceptions between travelers who have and have not traveled before. This study examines the preferences and perspectives of college-age, western backpackers. The general terms "backpacker" and "traveler" are used throughout the paper for simplicity, but it is important to note that these backpackers are specifically from the college-age, western demographic. First, the study addresses which recruitment avenues are the most successful, as well as which avenues could be utilized to increase the number of foreign, short-term volunteers. In addition, this study examines the differences between backpacker perceptions - specifically the differences in potential volunteering motivations and concerns. Data was collected through an anonymous online survey distributed to self-identified travelers between the ages of 18 and 25 in the United States and travel destinations in Vietnam and India. According to traveler responses, personal recommendations and hotels/hostels are important resources when making travel plans. Despite the importance of both resources, personal recommendations drew more travelers to volunteer than hostels/hotels (none of the travelers surveyed learned about their last volunteer opportunity through a hostel), revealing a potential avenue of recruitment. A small number of organizations have reported successfully utilizing the hostel-partnership model, which implies that successful partnerships are possible. Further, potential motivations to volunteer were similar between those who have and those who have not volunteered, however, potential concerns between the two groups differed. Those who had volunteered before reported to be considerably more concerned about adherence to cultural norms, as well as communication barriers, while those who had not volunteered were much more concerned about safety. These findings lead to several theoretical implications for nonprofits with respect to utilizing hostels for volunteer recruitment, as well as addressing concerns of those who have volunteered before differently from those who have not.
ContributorsWorkman, Hunter (Co-author) / Pfeiffer, Nicholaus (Co-author) / Wang, Lili (Thesis director) / Salamone, Damien (Committee member) / Louis, Arulraj (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
It is essential for nonprofit organizations to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of their programs on their target communities to demonstrate their value and progress to current and prospective stakeholders. Unfortunately, due to finite resources, projects developed and conducted by small international non-governmental organizations (INGO's) are unable to conduct regular evaluations. In this study, I will be conducting an evaluation of a community school project completed by an INGO in order to gauge the project's impact in the community. The evaluation includes a review of previously published literature on the subject, as well as survey data that was gathered to gauge the project's impact. The results of this study found not only that the community school students were beating both the district and national average in examination scores, but also that 100% of students in attendance planned on completing some form of higher education. Furthermore, a majority of the enrolled students would not have had access to alternate forms of education without the community school. For these reasons, the project appears to be meeting all of its current objectives. The evaluation produced several strong recommendations for the school's future improvement such as continuous benchmarking and self-evaluation, increased focus on shifting towards self-sustainability, and an overall improvement of its current facilities.
ContributorsCantu, Marissa Alexis (Author) / Wang, Lili (Thesis director) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12