Volunteer Opportunities at Empower Trust

Most people looking for volunteer opportunities in India picture something far from home — a remote village, a wildlife reserve deep in a forest. Dhanauri wetland sits less than an hour from central Delhi. The birds are real, the habitat is under pressure, and the volunteer opportunities here are as hands-on as it gets.

Empower Trust brings together local communities, birdwatchers, corporate employees, students, and anyone with a few hours to give — not for the photo, but for the work. If you've been thinking about how to volunteer in India in a way that actually connects you to a place and the people in it, this is worth a closer look.

Empower Trust will lead the volunteer efforts of local communities including youth and women, corporate employees, birdwatching community, comprising youth and senior birders who are eager to support bird and habitat conservation efforts through the Delhi Bird Photographers group and others. Volunteering efforts would cover management of eco-tourism including voluntary reduction in the number of vehicles entering the sensitive habitat through ride-sharing and organizing parking facilities, volunteering for the Enhanced Wetland Education Center activities including documentation of bird sightings, photography exhibitions, video production, photography training, etc. They will also manage volunteering efforts by locals, visitors, school children and corporate employees.

The birding community will continue to promote bird photography as a hobby for enhanced mental and physical wellbeing, especially to busy working populations in Delhi NCR. The community will also share birding knowledge to the citizenry, especially children and youth to popularize birdwatching and photography, to enable them to appreciate birds and nature. They will actively write blogs, publish photo-stories and support news articles on conservation efforts in Dhanauri wetland. The birding community will support citizen-science initiatives like eBird and annual waterbird counts, contributing data to national/state agencies. The proposed activities are:

• A minimum of 12 bird walks with embedded conservation efforts will be conducted through volunteers
• Students from at least three schools from the vicinity of the wetland be engaged through a module on birds and nature
• Celebrate key bird days including World Wetlands Day, National Bird Day, World Migratory Bird Day with house-to-house visits in the villages, children's activities, and media awareness.
• Provide weekend support at the Enhanced Wetland Education Center to implement the planned activities.
• Four general health camps to be held by medical professionals who are birding enthusiasts.
• At least 12 blog stories, video reporting and regular social media updates
• Career guidance and support job opportunities for the local youth
• At least 500 volunteers will actively engage in the project, including for wetland conservation activities like plastics clean-up, safe disposal of waste, working with authorities for control of feral dogs, removal of water hyacinth and other invasive plants, etc. "Wise Use" activity for sustainable harvesting of aquatic plants complying to Wetlands Rules, as applicable, will be followed for developing livelihood opportunities.
• Work with the communities living in the vicinity to reduce plastic usage, proper disposal of waste away from wetlands, grow organic produce, etc.
• Photography trainings to be imparted to local youth and visitors.