Importance of Harnessing Strengths of Youth to Drive Volunteerism

Several themes such as volunteer support, progression, and involvement, as well as intergenerational support and advocacy for youth arose from a workshop on ‘Youth Perspectives on Meaningful Volunteering’ workshop at the International Volunteer Cooperation Organisations (IVCO) 2023 in Kuala Lumpur in October.

The workshop, hosted by SIF, catalysed a key message that resonated with several participants at both runs of the workshop, “Focus on what’s strong, not what’s wrong”. 

This idea came from Mr Willoughby Niki Lee, SIF’s lead volunteer for its digital upskilling initiative DigiLabs. He urged participants to identify the strengths of volunteers and match them with the right opportunities as the way forward for greater impact in volunteerism. 

This was a point also made earlier, in the plenary session – moderated by Ms Jean Tan, SIF's Executive Director – that the best way to engage and co-opt youth volunteers was to find out their wants, needs, and their vision of the future and allow these to drive them.

Other SIF speakers at the workshop included Mr Zaim Mohzani (2018 ASEAN Youth Fellow and co-founder, Nation Building School) and Mr Desmond Lim (Singapore International Volunteer and lecturer at Institute of Technical Education Singapore). Ms Juana Elescano, (Oxfam-Quebec) also spoke at the session, bringing to it a Peruvian perspective on the need to corral youths in spaces they ‘reside’ most in, including social media platforms which can help raise awareness for causes they are keen in and may not be limited by funding. 

Among the points made at the session were that youth volunteers need avenues to grow and progress in an organisation, even to the extent that, at some point, they run it. Mr Zaim noted that the young and the more senior volunteers in an organisation must support each other in their projects.

This workshop was one of several that almost 180 delegates from 70 organisations and 55 countries participated in the Malaysian capital over four days to better understand and boost youth volunteerism.

The conference was co-hosted by International Forum for Volunteering in Development (Forum), a global network of organisations that work with volunteers to achieve sustainable development goals, and Malaysia’s Yayasan Sukarelawan Siswa, a government organisation that promotes volunteerism.

The core theme of galvanising youth as changemakers was emphasised by several Malaysian dignitaries at the conference. They included the Crown Prince of Perlis, Malaysia, HRH Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Ibni Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail and Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang, Minister of National Unity, Malaysia.

Ms Jean Tan, also a board member of Forum, said: “We will continue to engage with global partners to harness collective wisdom and energy as we strive to create a better world.”