Have a keen sense of social justice? CAB is looking for champions of the people across Aotearoa

Sponsored post written in conjunction with the Citizens Advice Bureau

Each June, National Volunteer Week, celebrates the thousands of volunteers working in organisations and communities up and down Aotearoa New Zealand.

Around 20 per cent of New Zealanders give up some of their time to help one of the many organisations doing good around New Zealand each year. When you add in the number of people who volunteer directly in their community or by helping people that they know, then nearly half of all New Zealanders give up their time for good.

This year the theme of National Volunteer Week is He wā pīataata – Time to shine, so we’ve teamed up with the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) to shine a light on what they do and how volunteering with them can make a difference in your community and in your life.

Helping New Zealanders for half a century 

You’ve probably heard of the Citizen’s Advice Bureau - after all, they’ve been helping New Zealanders for more than 50 years. But do you know what they do?

In New Zealand, the Citizen’s Advice Bureau was started in 1970, by a group of lawyers, social workers and social activists who wanted to make advice and justice more accessible to everyone. Their message was that everyone should be empowered with information and knowledge that would help them understand their rights and how to use that information to get a better outcome.

Today’s volunteers are people from a wide range of backgrounds. Some of them are new to the organisation and some of them have been donating their time and skills for more than 20 years. There are tertiary students working alongside their studies to get real-world experience, recent migrants giving back to the community that made them feel welcome and help others in similar situations, and retirees who want to continue contributing to society. Many volunteers speak several languages helping them to help others in multiple languages.

CAB volunteers support people with a wide range of issues from tenancy to employment, to local neighbourhood disputes. At the CAB anyone and everyone is able to talk through these issues with a volunteer and leave the CAB feeling supported to take the next step to resolve their issue.

Many of the 80 branches across the country and their volunteers also offer additional services such as Justice of the Peace sessions, legal clinics or outreach to local prisons.

Volunteering is good for the community AND it’s good for you!

So now you know what the CAB does, what are the benefits of volunteering with an organisation like them?

Being a volunteer has obvious benefits for the organisation getting your time, but did you know that volunteering can do you good too?

A 2020 study of 70,000 people in the UK in the Journal of Happiness Studies (yep that’s a real publication!) found that survey respondents who had volunteered in the past year reported feeling more satisfied with life and generally healthier. People who volunteered regularly reported even greater levels of well-being than those who volunteered only every so often. Another study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that for older people volunteering could improve their mental health and their feeling of connection to the local community.

CAB’s volunteers report similar feelings.

Like Santu from Auckland who says: “Having personally experienced the journey into living and working in New Zealand I have an interest in ensuring New Zealand continues to be seen as a fair place to live and work. CAB is a place which gives us the perfect opportunity to share our knowledge and experience with people in our community.

“It is rewarding for me to be a part of the community where I can help and treat people the same way I was treated when I approached CAB upon my first arrival in New Zealand many years ago. Another aspect I love about CAB is the unity in diversity. We meet people from different nationalities, various walks of life whereby interacting with each other we can enrich our knowledge.”

Or Peggy who volunteers because she wants to “ learn from our community and contribute to our community” and Josephine who has been volunteering in Whangārei for more than a decade but says she is still “always learning new things” and finds it rewarding to help people.

For jobseekers, volunteering also can be a way into a paid job in the for-purpose sector or a way of boosting skills and work experience. Read more about that benefit of volunteering here.

Ready to join the CAB team?

CAB volunteers usually commit to working at least one shift of two to three hours each week and are provided with ongoing support and learning. They answer a range of questions, in-person, over the phone or online helping people to find the information they need, understand their options and get support for their next steps.

You’ll need to be a confident communicator and able to reach out to people from a wide range of backgrounds with respect. Some computer skills are also needed so you can search the CAB database and find information to help.

There are over 2,000 volunteers across 80 CAB branches around the motu.

If you’d like to volunteer with your local CAB, head over to their website to find out more.