title: Volunteer Service and Service Learning: Opportunities, Partnerships, and United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
abstract: This article explores approaches to service involvement and provides direction to nurse leaders and others who wish to begin or further develop global (local and international) service or service learning projects.
  
  
  
  We review types of service involvement, analyze service-related data from a recent survey of nearly 500 chapters of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), make recommendations to guide collaborative partnerships and to model engagement in global and local service and service learning.
  
  
  
  This article offers a literature review and describes results of a survey conducted by the STTI International Service Learning Task Force. Results describe the types of service currently conducted by STTI nursing members and chapters, including disaster response, service learning, and service-related responses relative to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The needs of chapter members for information about international service are explored and recommendations for promoting global service and sustainability goals for STTI chapters are examined.
  
  
  
  Before engaging in service, volunteers should consider the types of service engagement, as well as the design of projects to include collaboration, bidirectionality, sustainability, equitable partnerships, and inclusion of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
  
  
  
  STTI supports the learning, knowledge, and professional development of nurses worldwide. International service and collaboration are key to the advancement of the nursing profession. Culturally relevant approaches to international service and service learning are essential to our global organization, as it aims to impact the health status of people globally.
authors.affiliation: Alpha Epsilon, Associate Professor, University of Alabama, Capstone College of Nursing, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA. sfgeorge@ua.edu.
authors.forename: Safiya George
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Dalmida
authors.affiliation: Gamma Mu, Associate Professor Clemson University, School of Nursing, University Center of Greenville, Greenville, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Roxanne
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amerson
authors.affiliation: Alpha Epsilon, Associate Clinical Professor of Nursing & Associate Professor of Global Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.affiliation: Tau Lambda, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McWhinney-Dehaney
authors.affiliation: Alpha Epsilon, Former Chief Nursing Officer, Jamaican Ministry of Health Jamaica, West Indies.
authors.forename: Mabel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Magowe
authors.affiliation: Theta Chapter-at-Large, Epsilon Beta, and Upsilon Lambda, Director of Global Health and Academic Partnerships, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Division of Global Health Equity and Center for Nursing Excellence, Professor, MGH Institute of Health Professions School of Nursing, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Patrice K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Nicholas
authors.affiliation: Theta Kappa and Alpha Tau, Retired, Southcoast Hospitals Group, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pehrson
authors.affiliation: Theta Kappa and Delta Upsilon, Professor Emeritus, Community Nursing, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jeanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leffers
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D064700:Nurses, International / Q000193:education*; D014480:United Nations; D014838:Volunteers
keywords: Global health; disaster response; ethics; service