6/4/2021 6:08:44 PM
USERN needs a clear design for the benefits of its members
Universal Scientific Education and Research Network, aka USERN, was established in 2015 to practice and spread science beyond the countries’ borders. USERN is a global volunteering platform where students and scientists cooperate to fulfill their united dream. This is the great fuel that made USERN able to fulfill some of its dreams but it’s not enough while the USERN family is growing, a lot of members are joining and a lot of new dreams are created too.
Frankly, we are living in a corporeal world that people do not do anything unless they receive a benefit from it. These benefits are not always financial, emotional spiritual or even educational benefits can serve as the spark that ignites the fuel in the USERN engine!
This is totally an important notion that can not only help in increasing the quality of what our current members are doing for our organization but also attracting them to continue being a part of this family. In order to obtain this goal, creating a committee exclusively for evaluating and establishing some ways to motivate our members won't be a bad idea. Members attraction is hard but anchoring them to the organization is much harder. Recognizing our members’ incentives for joining USERN can be the key to the continuation of their collaborative work. When a person joins a voluntary organization, he/she has some rights and duties related to her/his association, we should clarify our members’ rights and duties in order to create a healthy workplace instead of a toxic one. A volunteer in USERN sacrifices her/his time, efforts, and sometimes even money, while at the same time waited for receiving benefits too.
Hopefully, USERN can provide a variety of benefits for its various members based on their occupying positions from learning new skills, and taking world-changing decisions, to being informed about scientific events, making new friends and connections, and experiencing that kind of calmness that is produced when a person feels beneficial towards her/his self, community, and the world. There are many other benefits that this context is not enough for their expression.
Consequently, more emphasis should be put towards designing an efficient strategy that vividly highlights the rights, duties, and benefits of the different members of this great organization.
By: Zahra Kolahchi
USERN’s Manager of Prize Affairs
Photo by: Mohamad Jafar Hakimi
References:
1. Bailey AY. More Than Good Intentions: Building a Network of Collaboratives. Education and Urban Society. 1986;19(1):7-23. doi:10.1177/0013124586019001002
2. Chinman MJ, Wandersman A. The Benefits and Costs of Volunteering in Community Organizations: Review and Practical Implications. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. 1999;28(1):46-64. doi:10.1177/0899764099281004