THE ROLE OF VOLUNTEERING IN HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The article highlights the role and contribution of volunteering to the enhancement of human capital. The expediency of considering the relationship between volunteering and human capital on the basis of the theory of social cohesion and civil society, of which the volunteer movement is a component, is substantiated. The paper emphasises the high adaptive capacity of volunteering and the ability to manage change, which contributes to the formation of a system of new knowledge, development of new competencies and applied technologies that become a tool for human capital growth. The main functions of volunteering are allocated and characterised: educational, axiological, communication, mobilisation, cultural, and worldview, which are directly related to the structural components of human capital. The transformation of volunteering functions into the elemental structure of human capital is specified, which has applied value and can become a methodological basis for assessing the effectiveness of volunteer movements. The study emphasises the importance of the educational function of volunteering, which contributes to the acquisition of new knowledge with a high proportion of applied knowledge. The use of the systematic method allowed to identify a set of personal and professional characteristics of volunteers, which allows them to use their productive ability in real situations, ensuring the effectiveness and socially useful result of their activities. The analysis of the areas of volunteering activity reveals their versatility, thereby indicating the high ability of volunteering to restore human potential. It is noted that volunteering contributes to the multiplication of human capital at all levels: personal (private human capital), micro-level (corporate human capital), and macro-level (national human capital). It is emphasised that the contribution of volunteering to the strengthening and development of human capital should be considered not only through the economic prism, but also through the social prism, which is closely related to social capital. The article concludes on the prospects for further research, given that volunteering is evolving, new directions and vectors of volunteering are emerging, which will affect socio-economic processes and, accordingly, social and human capital, which should be the subject of new research.