We present a case study of “Khagol Mandal,” a voluntary organization primarily based in Mumbai, India. In the 20 years since its inception, Khagol Mandal has given more than 1000 public outreach programmes. The volunteers strive to go beyond amateur level by means of various study tours, astronomical experiments and workshops. These activities have inspired a number of students to take professional astronomy careers. With a volunteer force, probably largest in India or even south Asia, Khagol Mandal is well poised to take advantage of the archival data of large telescopes. With a little guidance from senior researchers, organizations like Khagol Mandal can provide a solution to the ever-increasing need for manpower for ancillary science from these large-scale facilities.

The goal of this work is to present an analysis of the observational projects developed by the Teaching and Popularization Section of the Liga Ibero-Americana de Astronomía (LIADA). The Section is based in Brazil and counts on the support of 16 volunteer coordinators from most Latin-American countries. The observational projects are described on the home page of LIADA and aim to attract the attention of the general public, teachers and students to encourage their active participation in observational astronomy. The strategy is to circulate support material and open a discussion forum about each of the astronomical phenomena to enhance their consideration by and visibility to the public. Participants' reports are posted on the Internet forum and the web page of LIADA. We have analyzed the records of these activities and present an evaluation of the difficulties with written reports, the need of a dynamic maintenance of the home page, the establishment of a useful communications network and the visibility of the activities of LIADA.