Civic engagement and social capital in ship preservation work in Norway. - The scope, impact and demographics of formal volunteering and publicly funded engagements
Introduction
Volunteering as a civic engagement as resident involvement , is socially valued and publicly recognized. In Norway the voluntary sector in Norway consists of 115 000 non profit NGOs. As the interaction between private and public network develops, social capital is created with collective and economic benefits.In this project the primary objective was to study the scope of formal voluntary work on preservation of historic ships in Norway.
The current focus on the civic engagement-related volunteerism in Norway leads to a rise in complementary private initiatives and public funding specifically with the regard to the preservation of historic vessels.
Despite both the historical importance of volunteering in this field, the social capital gained and substantial funding from the Directorate for Cultural Heritage no study has mapped the impact and the outcome of the effort for the past 20 years.
This project aims to map volunteers in this program, the breadth of their effort and their motivation.
Materials and Methods
Volunteers in this project are primarily men over 50 years who spend significant amounts of leisure time in all the municipalities along the coast, fjords and lakes of Norway. Empirical data was gained from 90 vessels, all funded by the Directorate of Heritage in 2009. In order to capture the social meaning and the voluntary activities by civic engagement in the field we used both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Preliminary results
An overall of 10.000 members are registered within NGOS supporting the preservation of historic vessels. The majority of organizations are locally based, have no employees and very limited financial means.
Volunteering by preserving historic vessels correlates positively with male gender and age and shows that the individual volunteer has a robust relationship with region and the specific vessel. An important reason for commitment and effort was the social aspect, the feeling of unity and companionship, the reminiscence sharing of memories as well as the relationship to the specific vessel. The strong sociopolitical aspect of the volunteers efforts was reflected in an aggregate of approximately 5,5 million Euros in unpaid work.
Conclusion
Volunteering in this context is an important component of social capital in elderly men in Norway. The dynamics and the strong collective aspect of this group are mitigated only by increasing age, poor health, and insufficient financial resources (funding).
Volunteering as a civic engagement as resident involvement , is socially valued and publicly recognized. In Norway the voluntary sector in Norway consists of 115 000 non profit NGOs. As the interaction between private and public network develops, social capital is created with collective and economic benefits.In this project the primary objective was to study the scope of formal voluntary work on preservation of historic ships in Norway.
The current focus on the civic engagement-related volunteerism in Norway leads to a rise in complementary private initiatives and public funding specifically with the regard to the preservation of historic vessels.
Despite both the historical importance of volunteering in this field, the social capital gained and substantial funding from the Directorate for Cultural Heritage no study has mapped the impact and the outcome of the effort for the past 20 years.
This project aims to map volunteers in this program, the breadth of their effort and their motivation.
Materials and Methods
Volunteers in this project are primarily men over 50 years who spend significant amounts of leisure time in all the municipalities along the coast, fjords and lakes of Norway. Empirical data was gained from 90 vessels, all funded by the Directorate of Heritage in 2009. In order to capture the social meaning and the voluntary activities by civic engagement in the field we used both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Preliminary results
An overall of 10.000 members are registered within NGOS supporting the preservation of historic vessels. The majority of organizations are locally based, have no employees and very limited financial means.
Volunteering by preserving historic vessels correlates positively with male gender and age and shows that the individual volunteer has a robust relationship with region and the specific vessel. An important reason for commitment and effort was the social aspect, the feeling of unity and companionship, the reminiscence sharing of memories as well as the relationship to the specific vessel. The strong sociopolitical aspect of the volunteers efforts was reflected in an aggregate of approximately 5,5 million Euros in unpaid work.
Conclusion
Volunteering in this context is an important component of social capital in elderly men in Norway. The dynamics and the strong collective aspect of this group are mitigated only by increasing age, poor health, and insufficient financial resources (funding).
Publisert i Nordic Journal of Social Research, 2013
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