It’s Blog Action Day 2008 – Why not lend a Neighbourly Hand?

Where do you start in the fight against poverty? How does a single person make a dent in such a seemingly uphill battle?

We’ve all talked the talk. But now more than ever in history, the global conversation is radically shifting into action, and people are walking the walk.

Today, thousands of socially-conscious bloggers will take part in Blog Action Day 2008, and make their mark on this year’s topic: Poverty. You might ask yourself what’s the point of an estimated 10 million people spending their time online browsing blog posts? Will such an online mass movement precipitate any change?

Well, we at NABUUR are strong believers that a massive online movement can definitely mean a good thing...

Nowadays, volunteering opportunities are popping up everywhere. There are limitless chances to try and stamp out the issue of poverty: You can donate money to a cause; volunteer abroad with international development organizations; raise a ruckus with your government officials or local media, and on, and on…

The bottom line: People are moving and shaking all over the place, including on the Internet. This digital age of ours affords many new ways to get involved, and NABUUR is happy to offer the passionate activists out there a place to shake and roll to their (big) volunteering hearts’ content.

Since its inception in 2001, NABUUR has recognized the importance of a focused mass movement to provide assistance to those in need. By providing an easy way to get involved and lend a helping hand to developing communities around the globe – and all via online discussions, brainstorms and collaboration with others around the globe. Now that is global action brought to your very own living room.

Every volunteer that comes through the NABUUR gates has the ability to impact, whether they realize it at first or not. By joining an online project and picking a team and a task to work on, they are contributing their resources, knowledge, time, contacts, to a community in need of assistance. From income generation for impoverished communities, to children being educated, to job training, to health clinics being built, to raising awareness on a number of social issues, etc., NABUUR garners the energy of online volunteers to provide concrete answers to the questions brought forward by local communities.

NABUUR combines the best of the old (neighbourly help) with the best of the new (the Internet), always leaving the initiative in the hands of members of local communities, and offering these communities the tools for empowerement – Which they in turn use to sustain the change in their communities and beyond - a start to making a lasting dent in the cycle of poverty.

Poverty can be fought on the ground, in the mud, or with the 21st century approach of the power of the Internet. With inspiring results achieved by the hundreds of committed NABUUR online volunteers in communities located in Africa, Asia and Latin America, it’s an easy bet to say that a mass movement can, and does, translate a global conversation into concrete, global action.

Make a difference today, as part of Blog Action Day, to start contributing to a lasting difference in the lives of others. NABUUR may be just the right place for you to start!