The purpose of this policy is to guide volunteering in the Volunteer Medical Corps.
A VMC chapter is expected to raise, educate, empower and assign volunteers to the communities that it serves or where necessary in locations outside their community; agreed upon with relevant authorities.
A VMC volunteer is a person who carries out volunteering activities for a VMC Team/Group or Chapter, occasionally or regularly and has signed up formally as a member of the VMC through our online platform www.volunteermedicalcorps.org/register
Volunteers are willing members of this global medical outreach and humanitarian organization who provide health-based relief to communities and areas of disasters. The activities of the Volunteer Medical Corps are carried out by people motivated by free will, and not by a desire for material or financial gain, or by external social, economic, or political pressure.
VMC Chapters have been designed with systems, policies, and procedures to ensure adequate supervision, support, and encouragement for the volunteers. Platforms for volunteering include onsite, hands-on service, online volunteering, consultancy services, corporate and financial support.
Adequate information, training, monitoring, evaluation, and feedback will be provided to volunteer teams and VMC chapters to ensure they are sufficiently prepared for the various projects and initiatives around the world.
In certain circumstances, volunteers may themselves be vulnerable and VMC Chapters ensure that their needs for assistance and protection are given due attention as much as is reasonably practicable. Where risks outweigh benefits, the VMC projects should be suspended for the safety of the volunteers and the beneficiaries.
The VMC will provide her volunteers with access to accredited learning and personal development opportunities so as to help them to better undertake their agreed tasks or roles, as well as to motivate them to grow their skills and capacity and undertake future roles within the Volunteer Medical Corps.
The Volunteer Medical Corps International Office and the VMC National Chapters recognize that volunteers have a significant stake in the organization. They take formal and informal opportunities to appreciate, individually and collectively, the work of volunteers and its impact.
VMC National Chapters encourage volunteers to participate in its decision-making and in designing and improving the work in which they are involved. A volunteer has the right to become a member of the VMC National Chapter of the Volunteer Medical Corps as long as he is of Christian background and has consented to the guiding Christian principles of the Volunteer Medical Corps.
VMC National Chapters are permitted to work with governments and their regulatory bodies, the corporate sector, and other partners to promote an enabling environment for volunteering in their countries of domicile in line with guidelines from the International VMC Board of Trustees and the International/HQ Office headed by the VMC’s Senior Executive Officer.
VMC provides volunteers with guidance and rules that set out the rights and responsibilities of both the VMC National Chapter and its volunteers as contained in the policies and VMC Charter. All Volunteer Medical Corps volunteers are expected to act, at all times, in accordance with the Christian Guiding Principles of the VMC. Volunteers are expected to respect the regulations on the use of the VMC Logo, and prevent its misuse. They should make themselves available to the VMC National Chapter in case of emergency, according to their skills and abilities, as agreed with the VMC National Chapter.
In working with vulnerable people, volunteers are expected to strive for the highest standards of quality in the services that they deliver. They fulfill their duties without discrimination, responding to the needs of vulnerable people in a compassionate and respectful manner. They respect the confidentiality of those whom they assist.
They are expected to follow the procedures laid down in the VMC Charter and agree to be bound by the policies and principles that affect all VMC-related projects.
