At national level, the Board of Governors is the governing or policymaking body. In the
chapters, the Board of Directors is the counterpart of the Board of Governors.

In general, these volunteer leaders are either elected or selected to the Board. They are
provided the necessary orientation on all facets of Red Cross work by the Volunteer
Service, thereby enhancing their effectiveness.

Most of the time, our Volunteer Service focuses its attention on coordinating our
system of recruitment, training and placement or mobilization of volunteer service
providers. During big-scale operations, mostly disaster-related, it makes sure that we
have enough volunteers to mobilize. These volunteers have already been trained before
in such areas of expertise as disaster nursing, community disaster management,
rescue and first aid, and other Red Cross skills such as basic health care.

One of our formidable teams of direct service volunteers belongs to the Specialized
Volunteer Service (SVS). They represent the professional sector yet their training in
Red Cross is well-rounded, making them capable of assisting in our various activities.