Lend Your Voice to This Study on Volunteering and Employment!

The team at Volunteer The Hague has been horrified to see the tragedy and injustice that are currently unfolding in Ukraine due to Russia's unprovoked attacks. We know that a lot of people in our expat community who have a strong spirit of volunteering and a passion for good works may be looking for ways to help. So here is a list of groups and individuals we've found over the last couple of days who are committed to getting aid to Ukraine. Note: We will update this list with the date that we post them as we learn about more resources. As a disclaimer, these are resources the VTH team has found online and we have done our best to ensure that they are legitimate avenues for assistance to Ukraine. However, it's always a good idea to do your own vetting before you donate any money or goods to a charitable cause, because there are always a few bad apples who wish to take advantage of crises like the one in Ukraine, and we don't want to see anyone in our community get taken advantage of. Here are the resources we have found: 11 March 2022: Orphan Feeding Foundation is an organization legally based in the Netherlands since 2011 and has supported many initiatives for children over the years in Belgium, Romania, Nepal, Kenya, and several other locations. Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they have been raising money through their networks to help Ukrainians and have been working together with both the Embassy of Ukraine here in the Netherlands and Stichting Oekrainers. To learn how you can help their efforts, you can visit their website by clicking here . Orphan Feeding Foundation is also organizing a transfer of refugees from Przemysl, Ukraine to the Netherlands by bus via Poland. They can help 54 Ukrainian mothers and their children. If you are (or know) a Ukrainian mother who needs to evacuate, please pre-register with one of their representatives, Dorota, via +31641337805. 1 March 2022: The Association of Ukrainians in The Netherlands is running a goods collection drive with multiple collection points around the country, including in Den Haag and Rotterdam. Here is a list of needed goods as well as the addresses of the collection points: Local expat Marysia Ozga is also graciously running a collection drive for good to be sent to the Poland/Ukraine border for incoming refugees. The donations are being collected at a location in Rijswijk (Veraartlaan 8, 2nd Floor) and are being taken to the border in minivans by volunteers. Goods such as pain killers, diapers, sanitary items, and blankets (among many others) are very much appreciated. For a full list of needed goods and information on how to donate, visit Marysia's Facebook post here: https://m.facebook.com/groups/2406969948/permalink/10151721522509949/ Local architecture firm Atelier PRO Architects are also running a collection drive for refugees and are using their office (Kerkhoflaan 11A, Den Haag) as a collection point. These donations will also be driven by volunteers to the Poland/Ukraine border. For more information and a list of needed goods, visit Atelier PRO's Instagram post here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cae2kxZs-fu/?utm_medium=copy_link Stichting Vluchteling (The Refugee Foundation) here in The Netherlands is running a funds collection for Ukrainian refugees. To learn more or to donate, visit there website: https://www.vluchteling.nl/ The Ukraine Crisis Media Center has a list of organizations that are helping the Ukrainian defense effort. You can learn more on their information page here .

At Volunteer The Hague, we've done our very best to keep our database of volunteer opportunities organized, up-to-date, and easily searchable! Based on a lot of feedback from our fellow internationals, we've improved the functionality of our database over the years in many ways: Over the years, we've added settings so that listings can be searched by type of organization, required skills, and even location within The Hague region. Now we're adding another way you can find your perfect volunteer opportunity: Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs! SDGs (also known as Global Goals) are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all," according to a 2017 Resolution by the United Nations. The SDGs were set up in 2015 by the UN General Assembly as part of their "Agenda 2030" initiative, with the hope that these goals can largely be achieved by participating nations by the year 2030. (You can find a complete list of SDGs below.) Given that this is a global initiative with important and laudable goals for all of us, we've added functionality to our website that organizes volunteer listings by SDG! Are the goals of Climate Action or No Poverty important to you? Then you can search listings by those SDGs to find volunteer opportunities that match what's important to you! And if you're simply browsing our listings, you can now see what SDGs a particular listing or organization is targeting. We hope this added functionality will help you more easily find opportunities and organizations that align with your personal goals and values and make your time volunteering even more meaningful. We encourage you all to give it a try! For your reference, the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals are: (1) No Poverty, (2) Zero Hunger, (3) Good Health and Well-being, (4) Quality Education, (5) Gender Equality, (6) Clean Water and Sanitation, (7) Affordable and Clean Energy, (8) Decent Work and Economic Growth, (9) Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, (10) Reduced Inequality, (11) Sustainable Cities and Communities, (12) Responsible Consumption and Production, (13) Climate Action, (14) Life Below Water, (15) Life On Land, (16) Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, (17) Partnerships for the Goals