Trends in developing volunteerism in Ethiopia
BY SOLOMON DIBABA
The Ministry of Peace has recently inaugurated a total of 10,000 youth volunteers drawn from the universities across the country in the presence of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The volunteers have reportedly received 45 days of crash training on various relevant topics related to volunteerism.
Volunteerism in its cultural and traditional sense is not entirely new in Ethiopia. For centuries, Ethiopians have continued to pull their human power together to accomplish agricultural practices like weeding, harvesting and at times building traditional huts with thatched roofs for poor families in rural Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, traditional volunteerism is practiced in the form of debbo jiggi, or any other form of collective self-help practices. Volunteerism is manifested in burial and wedding ceremonies which in many cases require quite a number of free labor forces.
During the imperial regime, volunteerism was partially institutionalized in the form of literacy campaigns and support for the rural poor and persons with disabilities in the urban centers of the country. Members of the royal family were partially active in mobilizing the youth in the cities and towns across the country.
Members of the royal family and leaders of the Ethiopian Orthodox church organized a youth based organization called Haimanot Abew which was functioning under the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Sunday Schools Coordinating Department. This youth group under the church was conducting voluntary services in literacy programs and supporting the elderly by organizing voluntary services.
Later on the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) was organized to cater to the wholesome needs of the youth and to conduct voluntary services in its branches across the country. Similar youth organization was established for young women (YWCA).
Religious institutions also relied upon the voluntary services of the faithful to conduct philanthropic activities that were mostly confined to smaller communities. In the early 50s, under the auspices of the USAID, The American Point IV assistance program deployed hundreds of Americans under the Peace Corp scheme to provide teaching services in secondary schools across the country.
Voluntary services have also been practiced among boys and Girl Scout as well as Cub Scout programs in public schools in the country.
Incidentally, the Ethiopian youth played a major role in greening the capital city Addis Ababa and other regional cities while they voluntarily participated in all rounds of nationwide tree planting campaigns.
To date, although the country has continued to benefit from limited voluntary services from the youth during the summer vacation and in spite of the fact that policies and regulations have been drafted towards institutionalizing volunteerism, given the potentials of voluntary practices in the country, what has so far been accomplished is negligible.
First let me try to enumerate some basic challenges to the development of voluntarism in Ethiopia. As I have indicated earlier, the service is not fully institutionalized in the country and is also narrowly limited to the youth in schools and universities excluding youth public servants in government institutions.
Besides, over politicization of the youth in ethnic politics and exclusive social orientation of the young generation has the potential of dwarfing nationwide voluntary services in the country.
Attempts made by the previous administration in linking volunteerism with party politics has done a greater disservice to the development of voluntarism in this country. Moreover, lower level of participation of CSOs and religious organizations have barred hundreds and thousands of youth members of the association’s in the country from actively participating in voluntary services in the country.
Absence of various forums and camping centers for volunteers have inhibited the youth in the country from coming together and sharing about their challenges and areas of strength. Genuine volunteerism requires training and practice. This has so far not been the case in this country.
Now, what are the major actions and steps to be taken in promoting volunteerism in Ethiopia?
From the outset, it is very important to enact and put in practice the legal ground for volunteerism in the country. Although voluntary services are basically free, there is a marked need for establishing a system of recognition or a reward system that is not necessarily financial.
It is also very important to benchmark the essence of voluntary services in selected
countries of Africa, Europe and Asia. This can be followed by the establishment of cross cultural voluntary exchange services between similar establishments in the selected countries.
Mobilization of youth associations towards voluntary services is another possible action that can be taken to accelerate the level of the development of voluntarism in Ethiopia. I addition it is very important to organize age desegregated voluntary service right from primary level up to institutes of higher learning in the country.
Voluntary associations are to be established with necessary gender, profession and vocation mix so that services they deliver to communities could be diverse and extended. What therefore are the possible outcomes of well-organized voluntary services in Ethiopia?
Voluntarism is educative in the sense that it further expands the world outlook of the youth in Ethiopia and is very important for the promotion of democratic citizens based unity of purpose and vision. Voluntarism is based on accommodating diversity of views and ways of life among the youth.
Volunteerism should be organized as a learning forum and career development for the youth. The volunteers should be able to link their academic or vocational training knowledge with practical activities that would help them to solve upcoming problems in their real life.
Participants can benefit a lot by learning from the local knowledge and wisdom the most experienced members of the communities in which they participate, no matter for how long they are expected to stay in the communities.
Respect for the moral values and cultures of communities in which they provide their services is very important to promote unity and peace whatever the size of the communities could be. Maintaining the highest level of discipline and punctuality on daily duties is an important component in daily activities of voluntary services.
I have dealt with voluntarism in the context of the youth. However, this does not mean that older persons cannot serve as volunteers. They share their views, experiences and professional excellence to the nascent youth in Ethiopia.
Voluntarism in Ethiopia needs to be free from any kind of politics including party politics. Volunteers across the country need to be independent thinkers with more rational views. This is critically important at this period of time in which the country is at cross roads.
There should be a national code of conduct to which all volunteers abide and render their services without any level of reference to gender, ethnic and economic status of volunteers.
On the other hand, it is very useful to establish summer camps for the youth volunteers in conjunction to parks and recreational centers built in the country to the special taste of volunteers.
Voluntary services in Ethiopia need to be need based and well planned with the necessary system of monitoring and evaluation that would help to improve services. Besides, it is useful to establish a standard level of division among the volunteers for quality output and for the promotion of learning outcomes.
As I stated earlier, organizers of voluntary services at the national level need to prepare a youth friendly training package with manuals and training accessories.
Voluntarism is yet to develop in Ethiopia and there is more to be done.
The Ethiopian herald March 10/2021
