YOUTH CIVIC

RECONCEPTUALIZING YOUTH
VOLUNTARISM: WHO DECIDES?
Sarah Huxley
INTRODUCTION
This is a time of great transition. The world is facing
many interconnected challenges and upheavals,
including growing inequality, climate change, complex
conflicts, and increasing resource scarcity. At
the same time, there is a world full of young women
and young men who are drivers of social change. 217
Youth 218 from all backgrounds are passionate about
improving their lives, their families’ lives, their communities
and the world around them. Volunteerism
is at the heart of how diverse groups of young men
and women seek social transformation, but much
more needs to be done in terms of conceptualizing
what youth volunteerism could be from the perspective
of young people themselves, and when it
becomes disempowering or co-opted and should
give way to other forms of civic engagement.
This thought piece explores the historical roots
of youth volunteerism and some of the emerging
trends in the past three decades before touching
217 Akil N. Awan explores the impact of demographic youth bulges
in his thought piece on negative youth engagement: involvement
in radicalism and extremism (see chapter three of the present
publication).
218 Some entities (including the United Nations World Programme
of Action for Youth) define “youth” as those between 15 and 24 years
of age. The author of the present thought piece uses a more fluid definition
that extends to young women and men in their early thirties,
recognizing that, nowadays, social markers of adulthood such as
securing employment, getting married and starting a family often
occur later in the life cycle.
upon the benefits for young people and society as
a whole. It then moves to a discussion of alternative
perspectives (especially for those living in poverty)
before proposing five guiding principles aimed at
encouraging a deeper level of analysis that is cognizant
of diverse motivations, acknowledges different
types of youth volunteerism (activism), and ensures
flexibility within an ever-changing external environment.
The piece concludes with a summary of key
challenges, opportunities and recommendations.
NORMATIVE DEFINITIONS
AND HISTORICAL ROOTS’
Normative (Western) definitions of youth
volunteerism focus on a young individual’s offer of
free work on a project or series of activities for an
organization or institution. Yet this is by no means
the only definition, and there are many variants that
focus on the giving of time and talents for charitable,
educational, military or other purposes. At the core
of volunteerism is a moral imperative to engage in
worthwhile activities primarily for the good of others—but
also for the benefit of the individual concerned
in terms of their skills development, sense
of identity and self-worth, and socialization within a
community.
It is interesting to note some of the differences
between youth and adult/senior volunteerism.
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