The act of volunteering is found in all cultures, languages, and religions. Every year, hundreds of millions of people volunteer their time and skills to help make the world a better place. When they volunteer, they help to improve the lives of others and gain a greater sense of belonging to their communities.

International Volunteer Day (IVD), on December 5th, was designated by the United Nations as an international observance day to celebrate the power and potential of volunteerism. It is an opportunity for volunteers, and volunteer organizations, to raise awareness of, and gain recognition for, the contribution they make to their communities.

Omar Niode Foundation has a vision to become an organization that plays a role in increasing the quality of learning tools as well as the quantity of competent and qualified Indonesian human resources in agriculture, food, and culinary arts.

We depend on volunteers to make our programs and activities interesting and meaningful. Hence the International Volunteer Day is a way appreciate those who have worked with us in the past 3 years, since the Foundation was formed.

In this blog post we would like to feature some organizations that work with volunteers in agriculture, food and culinary activities.

The internet era has created an online volunteering, a new means to share your skills, knowledge and ideas - from a computer anywhere in the world. The UN Volunteers (UNV) Online Volunteering Service connects volunteers with organizations working for sustainable human development.

The service offers a database of online volunteering opportunities submitted by development organizations worldwide. Interested individuals identify opportunities that match their interests, expertise and skills, and submit their applications directly to the organizations, which select the volunteers they would like to engage in their activities.

Online volunteers can choose from a number of development topics, including food and agriculture.

Every day, almost 900 million people suffer from hunger. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) believes that it is through the collective efforts of individuals, community groups, companies and policy makers that we will end global hunger. Therefore, fundraising, advocacy and activity ideas support the valuable work of the World Food Program in ending hunger.

Celebrities such as singer Christina Aguilera, actress Drew Barrymore, football player Kaka, and fashion model Lauren Bush use their high profile status to put the spotlight on the plight of hunger and what WFP is doing to alleviate it.

In Indonesia WFP has supported more than 20 million food-insecure Indonesians, primarily in the aftermath of natural disasters and economic shocks. WFP works in four Indonesian provinces: Aceh, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Nusa Tenggara Barat and Papua.

The Family Empowerment and Welfare Movement, popular in Indonesia as PKK is a national program mostly carried out voluntarily by mothers. Ten Principles of PKK programs cover

the understanding and the application of Pancasila, the nation’s philosophy; mutual corporation; food; clothing; housing and household management; education and skills; health; cooperatives; environmental preservation, and healthy planning.

In terms of food as the third program, the PKK encourages the use home yard for beneficial activities such as planting vegetables, potatoes, fruits and spices. Small poultry and fish farms can also be initiated to supplement the family income and local food diversification The local agricultural bureau  often provide technical guidance to the communities.

To commemorate the International Chef's Day on October 20, 2012, Unilever Foods Solutions, Professional and Young Chef Community, along with several other entities held Chef for Community Event. Al-Iman Free School in the courtyard of the Imanuddin Mosque in Bintaro welcomed Chef Vindex Tengker and Chef Darren Lauder, culinary professionals who volunteered their time for the community.

The chefs held cooking demo, informing audience about healthy balanced meals. Interactive discussions followed with hope that children become familiar with Chef as a profession from an early age and eventually shape the future of Indonesian culinary industry.

To celebrate International Volunteers Day, organizations conduct a number of activities including a march or rally, a clean up, a competition (drawings, photographs, stories), a volunteer fair, a conference on Volunteer Action Counts, fundraising for a local volunteer organization and workshops about volunteer activities.

This year, UNV launched an online campaign - Volunteer Action Counts - as a global volunteer action platform through which to count volunteer activities  worldwide. From the website,, volunteers and volunteer organizations can upload their stories, pictures and videos, and interact with others online about volunteering.

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Images:  Volunteer Action Counts, Unilever, Monchichi, Omar Niode Foundation