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Jun
12
Bahá’ís top survey of Welsh volunteers
Filed Under Baha'i community, People, Social action | Leave a Comment
The first major study of the contribution religious organisations make to life in Wales has revealed that the Bahá’í community leads the way in the percentage of members volunteering and working with young people.
The research conducted by Gweini, the Council of the Christian Voluntary Sector in Wales, found that, in proportion to congregation size, the Bahá’í faith supplied the highest number of volunteers, three times the overall average. According to the study, some 42,000 unpaid volunteers in Wales do 80,000 hours of community work a week. Around 41,000 of the volunteers are from Christian churches while, from the non-Christian faiths, the Muslim community provides the largest number, at a little under 900, in keeping with its stature as the largest minority faith in Wales.
However, more detailed analysis showed that, in proportion to their congregation sizes, the Bahá’í and Jewish faiths supply the highest percentage of volunteers, at three times and twice the overall average, respectively. Many of these volunteers work with children and young people. The highest reported proportion, at 61.95% of its volunteers, is seen in the Bahá’í community.
On average, the total number of hours worked by volunteers in projects and activities organised by their congregations is estimated at 79,000 per week, of which a little more than 77,000 are accounted for by the Christian denominations. Among the non-Christian faiths, the Bahá’í community stood out as volunteering a particularly high average number of hours per person.
Read the full report here
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Wales, voluntary service, Gweini