Chile

UNDP Chile is working with ProHumana / PlazaNueva, a Chilean NGO, to establish the nation's first Online Volunteering programme. A National UN Volunteer worked with Pro-Humana in 2001 and 2002 to design, set up and build capacity to manage this new Spanish-language online volunteering service. The NUNV has received support from staff at UNV's E-Volunteering unit, who manage and maintain UNV's own Online Volunteering service.

There are 17 Chilean organisations that have posted assignments to this Chilean online volunteering portal as of April 2002. The NUNV reports, "The most difficult stage was making people understand the difference between being a volunteer in person and being one online. This also involves training for those who carry out on line volunteering as well as for the organisations that request it." The NUNV has been working with staff at UN Volunteers to further refine the program and better prepare NGOs using the service to involve online volunteers.

Plaza Nueva hopes to greatly expand its online volunteering program in the coming months, including creating a campaign to encourage businesses to allow their employees to volunteer online within the working hours.