The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic GamesAugust 8-24 2008
CCTV
I am from CCTV ("The Olympics is coming" show). People feel very passionate about Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games. Many people want to be Games-time volunteer. But we know that the recruitment for Games-time volunteer has already been concluded in March this year. Are there any additional opportunities for people to become part of the Games or become volunteers of the Games? And also, it is known to all that after the Sichuan earthquake, many volunteers went to the local site to try to provide services. But I believe that voluntary services can not only be based on passion, what kind of trainings can you provide to these people to make their voluntary services qualified and more rational?
Shen Qianfan
Thank you for your question. We have a 6+1 general formula for the volunteer program. For the 'six' in the formula, it includes "towards Olympics voluntary service program", the BOCOG pre-Games program volunteer program, the Games-time volunteer program, the city volunteer program, social volunteer program, and the Olympic volunteer work legacy transformation program. The 'one' in the formula means, the singing campaign, the smiling Beijing. The reason we designed this 6+1 general framework, is aiming at channeling the passion of these people who are applying for the volunteer program.
The 6 in the general framework is catered for different time allocation for different people so that they can find the most suitable way for them to become a volunteer. And also, we wish to leave a legacy after the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games by the six in the future. The voluntary service in all the areas will become a legacy.
AP
I am from AP. Question for Mr. Liu. You have about 100,000 Games-time volunteers, 400,000 city volunteers, which altogether is half a million, which is probably more than the foreign visitors you have here. How do you make sure that people do useful tasks and don't get in the way for each other. How do you make sure that there are not overkill that people not just simply standing around, and doing tasks which are not very useful? Thank you.
Liu Jian
I remembered you asked me the same question last year. And I am glad that your question has improved greatly, because last year, your approach was quite mathematical. We need altogether 400,000 city volunteers to work during the 100 days, stating from July 1 ending on the October 8. We have altogether 550 volunteer stations, spreading throughout the city. And on some special dates, for example, on August 8, some of the volunteer stations will be operating for 24 hours. City volunteer are people who will do some very hard work. For example, they will provide services including language translation, information consulting, and also some first aid or assistance.
The reason we have designed the city volunteer program, is enlightened by the fact that many people who wish to work as volunteers actually have a job. It is impossible for them to take time from their jobs and work long terms as volunteers. So according to our design, if a person can work 3 times, dedicated 4 hours every time for the voluntary services, he or she may be registered as a city volunteer.
The city volunteer program was tested first during the spring festival of 2006, and also the May Day holidays and October golden week in 2006, and also the May Day holidays and October golden week of 2007 as well as the New Year of 2008, and their work has been recognized by the general public.
The city volunteer program was tested first on the Spring Festival of 2006, and also the May Day and the Octorber, so-called golden week in 2006, and also the May Day holiday and October golden week of 2007, their work has been recognized by the general public.
The design of this program has allowed the much working population to be part of the Games. For example, some white collar people and even some media professionals can work as city volunteers as long as you can dedicate 12 hours in total for voluntary services.
It would take 150 days for a Games-time volunteer to provide voluntary services for the two Games starting from the training. A Games-time volunteer needs to devote lots of time and energy, and their training started two years ago. And some of them participated in the test sport events organized in Beijing. Some participated in the rehearsal and some already started July this year. Some will also serve the Paralympic Games after the Olympic Games. All the volunteers wish to provide premium services. I would like to invite you to work as one of the city volunteers once. I will give you a bonus of some local treat.
Beijing Youth Daily
I'm from the Beijing Youth Daily. Mr. Liu, I want to ask you question.
First, as the office chief of the Beijing Olympic Volunteer Work Coordination Group, what kind of measures have you taken to be kind and to take care of all those volunteers because they are really doing their hard work? For example, how do you take care of the accommodation, catering, transportation, and what kind of measures you would take in order to deal with the medical emergencies of those volunteers?
And secondly, compared to the Sydney and Athens Olympic Games, what are the new features of the Beijing Olympic program?
Zhang Hong
I want to answer the questions.
Firstly, the BOCOG has provided a basket of support and insurances for the Games-time volunteers. As you can see, the three volunteers sitting beside me are wearing the special accredited badges and wearing the same uniform. All these are provided by BOCOG. And also for the Games-time volunteers, they can have free meals and beverages in the venue sites. The standard of the catering is of the same standard of all the working stuffs and all the stuffs of BOCOG. If they are using the ID cards, the Games-time volunteers can get on the bus or any transportation means within certain areas in Beijing free of charge. BOCOG has provided medical insurance for all these Games-time volunteers.
What we have said was the basket or uniform insurance for all the volunteers. We also have venue specific policy. The venue manager needs to take into consideration the features of different positions of those volunteers. For example, if they are working indoors or outdoors, they can have a position specific insurance.
As for the features of the volunteer program of the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games, I want to approach the question on five aspects.
First, we need to respect the rules of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and design the program accordingly, and also learn from the best practices and experiences of the past editions of the Olympic Games.
Secondly, we emphasized on the principle of mass participation. We have designed a six-plus-one general framework for our volunteer program, with a large maximum possible waste for people to be part of the volunteer program.
Thirdly, we tried to put a China-touch in the program in order to keep the organizational and operational partners of this program more in line with the characteristics of the country.
Fourthly, put people first. This means that on one hand we have studied the needs of the people, the volunteers serving or the individual; secondly we tried to be kind to the volunteers. As the organizers of the volunteer program, we need to cater our work for the needs of the volunteers for them to be more comfortable. And fifthly, we want to leave a legacy after the Games for Beijing and for the country.
China Interactive
I'm from China Interactive.
During the training and the preparatory stage for this volunteer program, did you anticipate any challenging problems and what kind of measures did you take to overcome these challenges?
Shang Muzhou
I'm already 84 years old. Starting from the Spring Festival earlier this year, I feel that to certain extend, my physical strength is getting weaker, but I only believe that this is natural. I am a fan of cycling and I cycle all the time if my children allow me to.
Secondly, I want to say that I encourage this young people to do exercise regularly to keep fit.
Thirdly, I want to say that due to many factors, I was recruited as one of the volunteers for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. First of all, I feel that I have this strong motivation that I want to be part of the Game. My physical status still allows me to be a volunteer and it happens to be that the venue where I'm working for is very close to my residence. Thirdly, I received the support and encouragement from all the staffs of BOCOG including the Office Chief Liu Jian and many other officials from the Volunteer Work Coordination Group. I feel that it's kind of gift from heaven that I am still able to be part of the Game. I feel that I will be able to participate to devote myself and feel the joy of the Game. I am confident that I am a very qualified volunteer for the Game.
Xinhuanet.com
I'm from Xinhuanet.com.
I have two questions for you. Fist of all, according to the media package, I saw that altogether we have 935 Games-time volunteers who are foreigners. Are these foreigners working as social volunteers and city volunteers? What are the total population of all the foreign volunteers for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games? What is the distribution of these foreign volunteers in Beijing and in the 6 co-host cities? What kind of jobs they will be working for in these cities?
Secondly, I know that you have raised the concept of providing peaceful Beijing voluntary service. What kind of job are these services? Are they basically the responsibility of the social volunteers or actually some Games-time volunteers and city volunteers have also provided peaceful Beijing voluntary services?
Liu Jian
Starting from the application date, the Games-time volunteers have participated in the Doha Asian Games Service. For the Doha Asian Games, it required altogether 15,000 volunteers and 50 were from the foreign countries, including volunteers from Beijing as well.
The Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games have attracted a number of foreigners to work as volunteers, and some will be Games-time volunteers. For the foreigners working as city volunteers and social volunteers, they are already the foreigners residing in Beijing. I think this is understandable. As a city and social volunteer, you need to have a good understanding of the city. All the volunteers have one single aspiration to work for the Olympic Games and to make a peaceful Olympic Game.
Sun Weide
Finally, the press conference tomorrow is going to be at 2 p.m. in the 800-seat media hall. Tomorrow, our topic is about the three new metro lines, and when the new metro lines will be open to the public. We have invited some officials from the metro company to brief you about this topic. Thank you for participating.
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