BY LEULSEGED WORKU
The young people are the greatest potential of any country and; the bright future of nations is highly intertwined with its well-educated, disciplined and productive citizens. Therefore, nurturing the young people from an early age with the right qualities- education, strong moral and social values, a sense of patriotism and attachment among others, is indispensable to bring about positive change within the society; and to lay a strong foundation for the future of the country.
In this regard, engaging young people in various community based services and inculcating the concept of volunteerism is one mechanism. The concept of voluntarism is a universal issue that plays a significant role to address social and economic challenges of any country and it is clearly stipulated in the United Nations Resolution.
The concept of Volunteerism is firmly rooted in the United Nations’ Resolution 67/138 (2012); and recognizes that volunteerism is an important component of any strategy aimed at to minimize social and economic challenges in areas such as poverty reduction, facilitate healthcare, education, youth empowerment, advance sustainable development, curb climate change and in disaster risk reduction, to promote social integration and social welfare, in humanitarian action, peace building as well as, to overcoming social exclusion and discrimination.
Using this concept as a ground, Ethiopian youth are seen engaging in various voluntarism services in a number of areas including in fighting and reducing the level of poverty, bringing about sustainable development, peace building and other activities. In fact, volunteerism is not a new experience for Ethiopians; but it is an act they have been exercising the act for centuries and perform it in their day-to-day activities in all manners of ways.
These days also, Ethiopians are serving their respective communities and undertaking various community-based activities, Especially, whenever the Ethiopian rainy season (Kirmet) comes, it is common to see young Ethiopian people joining hands to support the needy, including in meal sharing, planting seedlings, donating blood and other productive activities.
Seeing its multidimensional contribution, the government is also actively engaged in such activities and is providing the necessary support to those volunteers taking part in the services. Volunteers have been renovating and furnishing the houses of the vulnerable or disadvantaged segment of the society, offering house-to-house care support, donating blood and planting seedlings and contributing share in the country’s green legacy initiative.
As a result, in the past four or more years through the activities carried out by millions of volunteers, remarkable achievements have been registered and it was possible to address the challenges of millions of vulnerable segments of the society including disabled and elderly peoples. As documents indicate in the last Ethiopian Kiremt season, over 19 million youths participated in various voluntary services, and have benefitted 48 million people.
As a continuation of this act, currently millions of Ethiopian young people are taking part in various activities. Recently, the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs launched this year’s rainy season National Voluntary Service Program under the theme “Virtue for Ethiopia`s Height.”
Launching the program, Women and Social Affairs Minister Ergoge Tesfaye (PhD) said that in this year’s Summer Youth Volunteer Service Program, more than 20 million youths drawn from all states and the two city administrations will participate in the National Voluntary Service Program in thirteen different areas and the program is expected to benefit more than 50 million members of society, she added.
According to her, the youths will perform voluntary services focusing on activities such as green legacy, offering tutorial services for students, blood donation, renovation of houses for elderly and needy people, traffic and road safety activities, in healthcare, and environment protection and conservation duties, city beautification and cleaning works, community-development services, peace, and security related issues among others.
In her message to the youth, the Chairperson of the Standing Committee for Health, Social Development, Culture, and Sports Affairs, Worksemu Mamo, advised the youths to spend their precious time, knowledge, and energy in productive activities to nurture peace and work for the good of the community; distancing themselves from any form of unhelpful acts.
Youth Sector State Minister with the Women and Social Affairs Ministry, Muna Ahmed, on her part, said that voluntarism is one of the manifestations of youth participation. And the program has a primary goal of strengthening the culture of kindness; and carrying out large-scale movements thereby to make the service provision more organized, uniformed countrywide.
She also added that several effective activities are being carried out in coordination with the relevant stakeholders and partners to ensure the wide-ranging participation and benefit of the young people. Muna further noted that, as part of its activities to augment the participation of youths and benefit them, the Ministry, together with stakeholders, has prepared the National Youth Voluntary Service draft policy; and the National Youth Citizenship Service draft proclamation,
As it was learnt from Ministry’s social page, the program is carried out for the second time and at the program young people expected to be over 20 million will be engaged in a number of areas. It is recalled that, Amhara State Youth and Sports Bureau has recently announced that more than 5.2 million young people will participate in voluntary services in this Ethiopian rainy season.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 27 JUNE 2023
