Abstract
Chapter 2 discussed the characteristics and distribution of the volunteer population and solidarity activities in Mexico, based on an analysis of the National Survey on Solidarity and Volunteer Action (ENSAV, Spanish acronym). According to the findings of ENSAV, activities carried out by people through institutions and groups to help third parties represent 44% of the volunteer population. This implies that almost half of the population carrying out volunteering activities chooses to do so through organized groups. In addition, the ENSAV report also shows that 24% of all those participating in such an activity belong to some organized group. The percentage seems low, but corresponds with the results of other studies (Layton 2006).
Two aspects of the data that stand out call for attention (a) a significant percentage of the population carrying out volunteer or solidarity-type actions prefer to do so through organizations or institutions and (b) a fourth of the population performing these actions belongs to an organized group. Although the analysis of both aspects is relevant, we find that information about what goes on in a Mexican society is practically unavailable. In order to find out more about these aspects, the following three chapters analyze in depth what happens specifically with regard to people who belong to volunteer groups and actively participate in non-profit organizations (NPO) as a way to help others.
As a complement to the ENSAV, 15 case studies carried out in NPOs, with a total of 66 in-depth interviews, are analyzed in this chapter; the activities of volunteers are also explored in detail here. It might be mentioned that the ENSAV made it possible to develop a clear understanding of the nature of help for third parties and its different modalities in the national context. Simultaneously, the case studies will allow us to delve more deeply into an understanding of volunteers in Mexico, as well as the concerns and reasons they have for getting involved in activities to help third parties. Thus, we will have information about the behavior of the population over 18 years of age in Mexico with regard to acts of solidarity, and also the characteristics and paths followed by actors who, in a voluntary and organized fashion, perform actions to help others.
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- 1.
The results have already been analyzed in Chap. 2.
- 2.
The research design established that both a quantitative and a qualitative analysis would be performed. However, the questions included in the ENSAV were designed by the person responsible for the area and the general coordinator for the project. The design, content, and the way of carrying out these case studies were defined by the author of this text as the person responsible for the qualitative area. They were also amply discussed with other members of the group and with the general coordinator, where an interest for improving the reliability and validity of this analysis prevailed.
- 3.
Chapter 5 details the characteristics and particularities of the organizations about which information was gathered.
- 4.
See Appendix IV, Interview Guidelines.
- 5.
Although the amount they received was not considered in some cases when explicitly indicated by those interviewed, as the amount was far below what they would have received if they worked for private enterprise.
- 6.
I say that it is not common, since in Mexico we have thousands of people with some kind of disability and, consequently, thousands of families who have helped people in this condition, yet there are not thousands of associations dedicated to this as a result.
- 7.
The consistency she shows in why she engages in these kinds of activities should be noted, insofar as they are basically the same reasons that can attributed to the work she did as an adolescent when she taught workers’ children to read and write.
- 8.
We hope that new investigations on this subject will be generated in the near future and that this volunteer prototype is used to either reinforce these findings or criticize what is indicated here.
- 9.
In order to carry out the analysis with the NVivo program, we were assisted by José Sánchez and Soledad de León, both of whom are experts on this program, and whose valuable findings helped to explore new analytical territory in this field. The conceptual map that they designed makes it possible for the reader to understand how the relationships in what was expressed in the interviews were established.
- 10.
Between 65 and 50 similar responses.
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Guadalupe Serna, M. (2010). How to Become a Volunteer?. In: Butcher, J. (eds) Mexican Solidarity. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1078-3_3
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