While volunteers contribute significantly to the economic development of the country, their economic contributions are not captured in the national accounting system as it does not involve significant monetary transactions. This exclusion limits the visibility and credence of volunteer work in the country. The objective of the measurement of volunteer work is to generate systematic and comparable data on the economic contributions of volunteers. This is necessary to inform investments to be made on volunteering programmes and increase the accountability of the Volunteer Involving Organizations through proper tracking of resources spent on such initiatives. It was noted that there are few challenges in measuring the economic value of volunteers which include defining the range of diverse forms of volunteerism and capturing the size, scope & scale of different kinds of volunteerism through quantitative measures, these could be overcome as there are frameworks and manuals to guide the process. The measurement could be done through regular supplements to labour bureau surveys or other household surveys.

Volunteering is one of the most visible expressions of social cohesion.  It has tremendous potential to transform society by promoting solidarity, inclusion and building social capital. It is now well recognized that volunteering is an important resource for tackling many of the social, economic, and environmental problems. Millions of Indians take part in voluntary activities and in addition to generating huge economic value, volunteering makes enormous social contributions. However, there is a general lack of solid and reliable information on the scope, scale, distribution, and impact of volunteering. Despite its enormous contribution, volunteering remains marginalized in policy research and public debates. Globally, frameworks and approaches have been developed to measure the economic impact of volunteering. However, monetizing volunteering alone is not enough. Unless, the social value of volunteering activities is captured in the form of societal gains, or benefits for the society is captured. Measuring the social impact of volunteering is critical to make a case for volunteering which generates positive outcomes for communities. Intrinsic value and social impact of volunteering therefore must be measured.

A very high number of youth volunteers participate in volunteering activities in the country and contribute to nation building. While NSS volunteers get certificates on successful completion of 2 years of volunteering, it does not necessarily become part of university assessment system. Some universities do consider NSS certificate and give credit points for admission for higher studies but as such this is not a norm or practice. In fact, as compared to many other countries like Japan, China, UK, Indonesia, Malaysia among others, India does not have robust accreditation practices to promote volunteering in the country. Hence there is a need to develop an accreditation system that could encourage students and others to become active volunteers and contribute significantly to the national development. Students should earn “credit hours” for voluntary work, an incentive that builds volunteering into the university assessment system and promotes community work as an integral part of higher education.  “Credit hours” or “time credits” for volunteering should also be recognized for giving preference in employment as volunteers learn many life-skills during their volunteering assignment which make them better employees.

Volunteering in India is often one-off activity, ad-hoc and fragmented thus full potentials of volunteers are not achieved. The volunteers also do not get much opportunities to learn in the course of volunteering assignments. Volunteering should be made a two ways process wherein volunteers contribute for larger social good and in return they go through a learning experience and develop certain skills which make them employable.  Volunteer Involving Organizations should provide their enrolled volunteers the opportunity to go through a volunteering journey over 1-2 years wherein they identify one or multiple challenges being faced by the community and involve themselves in the problem-solving exercise. At the beginning of the volunteering journey volunteers should take up specific assignments as per their interest on issues such as health, education, nutrition, child protection, child marriage, domestic violence, gender discrimination, environment, disaster preparedness etc. They should develop work plan to complete the assignment with various milestones. The process should allow them to think, plan, and adapt flexibly. In the process they should be able to acquire critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, communication skills, organizing skills and leadership qualities among others. These skills and qualities will enhance employability of volunteers.