Celebrating our International Volunteers

Published on 5 December 2019

International Volunteer Day has been celebrated on 5 December since 1985. Mandated by the UN General Assembly it offers an opportunity for organisations to promote volunteering and, among other things, recognises the contributions and achievements of volunteers at local, national and international levels.

We want to highlight the fantastic role that our international volunteers play in building resilient communities and promoting the University of Liverpool in their own countries.

Our international volunteers help to engage 232,000 graduates in 191 countries and, with 35 volunteers over 6 continents, they make it possible for us to have formal alumni networks, hold events and co-ordinate country-specific social media.

Last year alone, international volunteers helped us plan and lead 26 events in 10 countries, these included a special event celebrating the 20^th anniversary of Liverpool and Shanghai becoming twin cities, as well as events in Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and Malaysia.

Since August 2019 we’ve held 12 events in 6 countries, including a recent event in Shanghai, attended by over 70 guests, which saw the Deputy Mayor of Liverpool, Gary Millar, award certificates to our volunteers in China, thanking them for their contributions. This activity has already seen over 100 hours of international volunteer hours recorded which is a fantastic achievement in such a short space of time.

A key international volunteer, Falguni, one of our German-speaking alumni ambassadors said the following about her experience of volunteering:

“Setting up local events is a great opportunity to meet and greet fellow alumni members. Local events are a reason to connect and get to know new faces and meet old faces again. As an alumni ambassador, I try to make gatherings as interactive as possible by organising events in different cities and offering a city tour before we wine and dine.

Also the support from alumni engagement officers has been very pleasant and made organising a local event simply a ‘walk in a park’.”

 

We want to take the opportunity to say thank you to all of our international volunteers. Your invaluable contributions help to keep our alumni engaged and connected as well as continuing to showcase the University of Liverpool as a truly international and global community. We couldn’t do it without you!

 

We always welcome new volunteers and with a variety of fully supported opportunities we are sure that you can find something that suits you. For more information about how to get involved contact us via: andy.harrison@liverpool.ac.uk.