n April 14th, millions of people and thousands of organisations from over 110 countries will unite to volunteer and do good. They have been doing this since 2017 on a day called Good Deeds Day. So, what is Good Deeds Day? According to the website, it’s an event where ‘every year they support global change makers who desire living in a better world take impactful action by providing tools, inspiration, and a global network’ because they ‘believe that every person has the power to create positive change in their community and our world’. The movement, was initiated by Shari Arison a philanthropist and businesswoman, who said ‘ I believe that if people who think good, speak good, and do good, the circle of goodness will grow in the world.’ They believe that ‘doing good is for every day, yet gathering together for one day inspires a whole world of good.’
Since 2014 the organisers of the movement ,have been collaborating with leading volunteer organizations as part of a grand-scale campaign to spread more good, and over 5,000 people took part in that year. Since then the team, their partners, and their good have grown to reach millions with over 3.9 million volunteers from over 108 countries taking part in 2019 and they continue to organise events, inspire communities, share resources, and inspiration.
I managed to speak to Davis Damson, who is the National Coordinator for Good Deeds Day, and he told me how they’re planning to celebrate the day in Malawi this year and how long they’ve been taking part in Good Deeds Day.
According to Davis who is also a team leader for Community Initiative for Social Empowerment (CISE) from Mchinji, they are working collaboratively with other NGOs to organize an event on April 13 2024 in the Eastern Region as part of Good Deeds Day celebration. In other places the day was celebrated in advance with a group at Chancellor College going to cheer patients at Zomba District Hospital with goody bags last weekend while other N.G.O’s are also collaborating to hold events across all regions. In the Northern Region, Citizen Impact is leading the celebrations, and in the South, Domwe Active Youth Organization is leading the celebrations.
When I asked Davis how different people and N.G.O.’s are taking part this year, he explained that while they have different days to celebrate Good Deeds Day, many people will come together to do clean-up exercises, distribution of food items to needy people, and patients in hospitals. According to Davis, Good Deeds Day has been celebrated in Malawi since 2017. The first organisations to participate were about 17, which were led by Chief Chingalire (formerly known as Ben Michael) and in 2020, the number grew up to 50 NGOs, and now over 80 NGOs are collaborating to celebrate this year. The movement has been growing in Malawi with over 9,000 people and organisations expected to participate in Good Deeds Day.
My last question to Davis was do we really need a day for doing good? Davis enthusiastically said yes because Good Deeds Day is not just about doing good for one day but ‘about celebrating what people have been doing throughout the year and encouraging others to do good each and every single day. This growing movement reminds people to do good for others, but also the Earth.’
