Nyaya is a 100% volunteer-run organization and the only members receiving compensation are employees who work full-time in Achham.
This page provides information for Nyaya members on approaching, recruiting and managing volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering with Nyaya, please visit http://www.nyayahealth.org and click on the various options under the "Join Us" tab.
Overall Approach
There are five main types of volunteers:
- Clinical Associates. Short-term volunteers in Nepal who have some technical background. The main role of these individuals, whether they have economic, medical, or engineering skills, is to act as consultants who assist deploying new technologies, training staff, and evaluating existing programs. Their role is described on ClinicalAssociateAgenda.
- Fundraising Volunteers. Long-term volunteers outside Nepal who work with Nyaya on fundraising.
- Achham-based Program Directors. Long-term volunteers inside Nepal. Their role is described below.
- Technical Consultants. Short-term volunteers with some technical background who provide specific advice, research, or writing.
- Directors. Long-term leadership, i.e., in a position described on http://nyayahealth.pbwiki.com/Management_INGO
Volunteer Recruitment
The most important strategy for recruiting volunteers is through word-of-mouth. It is more likely that we will find the right people through our own personal networks than through general recruitment postings. Additionally, we recruit volunteers through several means; login information at http://wiki.nyayahealth.org/OnlinePresence
- idealist.org
- craigslist.org -- typically the free, volunteer listings. if we are in need of a skilled volunteer immediately, the best option is to get a paid $25 advertisement as that will lead to a large number of applicants.
- http://sebsonline.org/
Responding to volunteer solicitations
This should be templated. Most applicants will not respond to the templated response email, and this serves as a good strategy to weed out uncommitted applicants. This is very important, since enthusiastic but flakey volunteers can be damaging to the organization. The general strategy, particular for young, unskilled volunteers, is to get them excited about some aspect of non-time-sensitive fundraising. If they succeed at that, great; if they fail or flake out, there was no harm done.
General Skilled Applicant Template
If you are a Nyaya member and have received a request from a friend or colleague for more information AND they have advanced medical or technical skills, here is the template of an email that you can send. If they do not have any advanced skills, please send them the fundraising email instead.
Thank you for your interest in Nyaya Health!
Please peruse the following sites:
website: http://www.nyayahealth.org
wiki: http://wiki.nyayahealth.org
blog: http://blog.nyayahealth.org
You will get a decent idea of how we function and think, and the state of our current operations. .
Most volunteers will volunteer from their home countries or universities, outside Nepal. Please apply through this link:
http://www.nyayahealth.org/volunteer/
If you are interested in working in Nepal, then apply formally through our website by clicking the link at the bottom of this page:
http://www.nyayahealth.org/volunteer_nepal/
After you submit your application, let's talk on the phone shortly about the work. We are excited to work with you!
Fundraising Only Template
For most volunteers (e.g., first year med students and undergrads), you should just request that they partake of fundraising. As such, the above email should be modified as follows:
... You will get a decent idea of how we function and think, and our current state of operations.
Currently, we only have openings for new volunteers in fundraising. This is a critical part of what we do and there are many avenues for innovation in raising funds for global health and social justice. These openings, as with most of our volunteer-based positions, are based outside of Nepal - most often in the applicant's home country or at their university. Please apply through this link:
http://www.nyayahealth.org/volunteer/
Once the initial screening is performed and you have decided that the person might be a good fit, it is important that you refer the potential volunteer to whoever is managing the particular program that the volunteer is interested in. The role of the volunteers director is to screen out the applicants and then get the applicant to the right person, who can then decide whether that person is fit for working with Nyaya. For example, upon successful screening, a medical doctor should be sent to the current program director on site. Once the fit is matched, the volunteers director is in charge of making sure that a contract is worked out for the volunteer and electronically signed (see SharedNyaya\Clinic\Personnel\Volunteers Contracts) between the volunteer and the manager of the particular program under which the volunteer falls. For most volunteers the most important criteria are that they are committed/interested in Nepal long-term and that they have a feasible schedule that allows them to follow through on commitments.
Discussing Nyaya with applicants
After receiving the application and deciding to set up an interview, you should send them the following information:
Thank you for your application to Nyaya Health. We look forward to talking with you on <Insert date,time, mode of phone from their application>.
Please again review the materials on:
website: http://www.nyayahealth.org
wiki: http://wiki.nyayahealth.org
blog: http://blog.nyayahealth.org
We look forward to speaking with you!
If they are applying to go to Achham, also send them this:
Prior to our phone call, please carefully review the following site pertaining to traveling, living, and working in Achham:
http://wiki.nyayahealth.org/NepalTripPlanning
http://wiki.nyayahealth.org/WorkingInAchham
If they are applying as a clinical associate, also send them:
Please review the following page, which provides an overview for the role of clinical associate:
http://wiki.nyayahealth.org/ClinicalAssociateAgenda
We look forward to talking with you!
Managing Volunteer Applications
We need to avoid informal volunteer relationships, even among friends. We should of course recruit friends to provide targeted advice and assistance, but for the most part any serious work should be performed by a volunteer who has gone through the application process. This typically involves filling out forms that are created as portals within our website. These forms are created in google docs and then placed on our website. The current forms are:
- Country Director (email: personnel@)
- Within-Accham (Program Directors; email: personnel@)
- Outside Achham (Technical Consultants, Directors, and Fundraising Volunteers; email: volunteers@)
For each of these, the applicant is asked to email their resume to the appropriate address and to provide some times to talk with the volunteers director. After speaking with/reviewing any applications, please add your thoughts and impressions on the notes section of the spreadsheet. Please be mindful that other team members may review your notes in deciding on an applicant, and even for weak applicants your notes should be honest and critical but never condescending or disparaging.
See WebsiteNotes about how to integrate gdocs forms into our website.
New Volunteers Check-List
All volunteers
1) ensure that all volunteer applicants, even those that do not ultimately work with us, are added to the donor listserve http://wiki.nyayahealth.org/DonorManagement
2) talk on the phone at least once prior to them starting the work and encourage phone calls over lengthy emails (as in collaboration)
3) all volunteers must agree to a contract specific to the work they are involved in: SharedNyaya\Clinic\Personnel\Volunteers Contracts. The only exception to this are the technical consultants.
4) invite new members to foldershare, wiki via http://wiki.nyayahealth.org/Newmember initially as READERS.
Selected volunteers
1) once the volunteer has reached the critical threshold of involvement (they are going to Nepal or they have taken a director position), they should be invited to the team list and to google apps. This is described here: http://wiki.nyayahealth.org/GoogleApps
2) same with evernote.
Nepal-based Volunteers
1) We need to be clear with the current Achham leadership what is currently needed. We maintain a "Nepal Itineraries" under nyaya team notes in evernote.
2) Overseen by the volunteers director with input from the program directors in Achham, each volunteer must develop a clear, point-by-point task list, including new programs, technologies, or protocols they will implement and/or be responsible for in Nepal. This is done in the "nyaya team notes" notebook in evernote.
3) The volunteers director and the volunteer will formalize a contract for the volunteer, which will be then emailed for approval to the current Program Director at the clinic. Contract templates are here: SharedNyaya\Clinic\Personnel\Volunteers Contracts
4) Ensure that volunteers are clear about expenses, that they pay them, and that they record them, as outlined here:
http://wiki.nyayahealth.org/NepalTripPlanning#Expenses
They must fill out the form here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/a/nyayahealth.org/ccc?key=pUsMuEfj87yFRWALY4xiTIg&hl=en
Resoure-Redistribution Outside-Nepal Volunteers
1) They should have clearly defined tasks, objectives, and timelines for their work
2) They should be managed by one of the directors under one of the programs listed on Management_INGO
3) Volunteers not meeting objectives and timelines should be quickly informed and released
Strategies in Volunteers Management
Foster Efficiency, and Reliability
- provide volunteers with concrete tasks with a definitive deadline and milestones.
- encourage voice talking through of items. This is important since we do not have an office and are largely virtual. The human connection is important. It is also much more efficient to talk through something in voice than to have lengthy text chats or email dialogues; see our notes on efficient communication here
- if a volunteer is underperforming, be up front with them about it. do not try to fix their poor work and act as if it is their own; if they are underperforming and making it so that you have to do the work, just let them know and then find someone else to do it.
- keep emails to bullet points and tasks lists; any time you find yourself writing lengthy emails (i.e., with dialogue and ideas), you should instead post on wiki or talk on phone (see collaboration )
- where appropriate, encourage blog posting and team list emailing of successes and progress.
- check in every two weeks on the status of each project that they are on task with a project consistent with Nyaya Health mission
- don't let the email inbox drive your priorities
- stay enthusiastic and positive while always having a critical eye towards progress and effectiveness
Foster Creativity and Autonomy
- never be condescending or sarcastic in e-communication to volunteers; if you need to talk sternly to someone for missing deadlines etc., do so over the phone
- always use plural pronouns e.g., "we" rather than "i" when talking about successes
- refrain from taking credit or bolstering yourself at the expense of others
- do not engage in lengthy heated debates over email
- restrain from micromanaging members; allow them to disagree or do something u might not
- allow members to be "experts" (particularly those who have developed experience in a particular subject) and give them space to be that expert
Continuously Identify "Discretizable" Tasks to Delegate
A primary challenge of a young organization is to spread the responsibility-- and ownership-- of the work of the organization out amongst volunteers. This is the only manner in which our organization will thrive and not depend upon the work of any one volunteer or leaders. As the leaders of the organization go about their work, it is critical to identify work that can be discretized and delegated. In delegation, as noted above, it is important to transition not only the workload but also the management and ownership and responsibility and creative thinking over to the volunteer. The central challenge to delegating tasks is that, while we need to foster independence and creativity, particularly new volunteers can express interest and talent and then not follow-through on the details. Meeting this challenge, requires 1) some amount of oversight; 2) establishing a culture of efficiency and task-lists and thoroughness, as above. Further, we should be constantly reflecting on how organizationally we can improve follow-through; when a volunteer "fails" us, the first thing that we should reflect upon is how we as Nyaya failed that volunteer, failed to optimize their talents and interests, rather than the other way around.
Overview of Volunteer Collaborative Technologies
Different types of volunteer types should have access to our collaborative technologies to differing extents. These technologies are detailed on
collaboration. Specifics as to when these technologies should be accessed by the volunteers are provided in the individual volunteer descriptions. Briefly, regarding access:
windows live sync: all new volunteers should be provided access as "readers". "senior editor" priviledge can be then requested by the volunteer once s/he decides s/he needs it. main risk here is that files can get overwritten or corrupted.
wiki: all new volunteers should be invited to the wiki as writers. directors should be set as administrators. risk is minimal owing to versioning and user-access controls.
google apps ID: restricted to directors and members in Achham. others can log in to google apps documents via the guest user and password
team list: anyone who has a google apps ID.
evernote: restricted to anyone working in Achham and the directors; others as needed case-by-case. the main risk to providing access to others is that evernote currently does not allow multiple users.
nyaya health server: case-by-case. risk is significant owing to the presence of the website and data on the server.
Note that it would hopefully be the case that Fundraising, Technical Consultants, and Clinical Associates would join on as full members eventually. But at that time, each would preferably take an official position as a Director. So, for example a technical consultant may become so involved as to become the director of medical planning, or a fundraising volunteer may want to take on director of fundraising. But outside of that, the three non-leadership volunteer types should have restricted access to our collaborative technologies.
Achham-based Program Directors
Although our model is to employ local Nepalis and focus on building capacity at a local level, there is still a clear need for a strong "outsiders" (whether non-Nepali expatriate, Nepali-American, or non-local Nepali citizen) who help to ensure certain aspects of our technical and social justice vision get implemented. As such, we aim to have 2-3 outsider, vision-leading long-term volunteers on site at all times. Long-term ideally would indicate two years on-site, but current realities dictate that one year is typically more feasible. This is in addition to the rotating short-term board members and clinical consultants.
These "vision leaders" are unpaid (or perhaps paid by some university stipend but in any case not paid by Nyaya Health) and who feel passionate about advancing social justice and healthcare equity, and they are willing to work 12+ hour days in a remote and impoverished environment. They are critical to moving our program forward. They ensure that staff have all the tools and protocols and supplies they need and that the poorest patients are not turned away and are in fact actively engaged. The issue is that we can build infrastructure by hiring people and paying for supplies and collaborating with the government, but to develop innovative strategies that ensure that the poorest or lowest castes or otherwise marginalized patients get care, and that that care is of the highest quality, we really do rely on Nyaya's volunteer base of vision-leaders. Recruitment for these individuals is ongoing, with the role-definition and applicant portal available at: http://www.nyayahealth.org/associate_pd/ Their roles change over time; currently, they are formally titled program directors and associate program directors.
The single most important characteristics of these volunteers are:
1) They have a passion for social justice and health equity in rural Nepal
2) They have made a strong commitment to the organization from outside Nepal prior to deployment
3) They are willing to make at least a one-year commitment in Nepal.
4) They are flexible of mind, they fully understand the risks involved, they are mentally ready for the isolation of life in Achham, and they are team players who are willing to follow task lists and communicate regular stories and updates and photos to the US team.
Additional qualities that are desirable:
1) They have experience in resource-poor settings
2) They are fluent in Nepali or at least another Sanskrit-based language which would facilitate learning the language.
3) They have professional degrees relevant to health, development, or engineering.
Note that, although a non-Nepali-speaking non-professional volunteer is typically far less competitive an applicant, we can consider such individuals if they meet the other criteria, particularly if they are available to commit to two+ years of service. Provided, as we do with all our volunteers, that we have a defined set of tasks, roles, and responsibilities, such volunteers can be invaluable in maintaining an institutional memory and following through with our long-term mission. What we need to avoid organizationally are ill-defined roles for volunteers, regardless of whether or not those volunteers have language or professional skills.
Clinical Associate
Clinical Associates are short-term volunteers in Nepal who have some technical background. The main role of these individuals, whether they have economic, medical, or engineering skills, is to act as consultants who assist deploying new technologies, training staff, and evaluating existing programs.
The role of short-term physicians such is to serve as clinical consultant, in which s/he:
1. deploys new technologies or new applications of existing technologies, such as ultrasound;
2. assesses the clinical skills and operations of the Nyaya clinical team and provides feedback to program improvement;
3. reviews clinical databases and makes improvements to data collection and reporting practices;
4. develops training materials and administers them to staff and health workers.
Note that although short-term physicians will have extensive exposure to patients, they will primarily play an attending physician-type role, advising and training our Nepali staff rather than directly treating patients themselves.
Further details are provided on ClinicalAssociateAgenda.
Fundraising Volunteers
Most Nyaya Health volunteers will work with us from their home countries, particularly in the realm of fundraising. We operate on a model whereby the funds and technical support continue to grow for the Nepal-based team without overly depending upon support from single large donors. We seek to create a social network of people who are helping to build clinical services in Achham, to lobby the government to improve services, and to provide critical financing when the government’s funds fall short. Fundraising volunteers are fundamentally aiming to be part of a global movement to redistribute resources to address the vicious cycle of ill health and poverty.
Further details are provided on PersonalFundraising
Technical Consultants
These are short-term volunteers with some technical background who provide specific advice, research, or writing. Only volunteers with significant expertise and writining/analytic abilities would be offered this position. This is particularly appropriate for getting people involved who are expert in topics relevant to Nyaya but who do not have the time to be involved in a leadership position.
Further details: NEED TO CREATE GUIDELINES
Directors
Directors provide long-term leadership overseeing major operational details. These long-term volunteers continue to drive Nyaya Health forward by providing creative insight and by managing the day-to-day tasks. These volunteers have to be diligent, creative, and dedicated long-term to the organization and to rural health and development in Nepal. It is critical prior to accepting a volunteer for one of these positions that s/he understands fully the amount of time and commitment required, and that they have the capacity and time to follow-through.
Further details are provided on Management_INGO
Contracts
All volunteers are expected to agree to contracts with the organization. For efficiency, these contracts are electronic through google apps and come into effect by emailed agreement between the Nyaya representative and the volunteer. The volunteer and the Nyaya representative will together collaboratively edit the document until reaching a satisfactory conclusion. Current contracts:
http://docs.google.com/a/nyayahealth.org/Doc?id=df8rgpnb_17gmr6fzgt
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