The importance of volunteering

Volunteering is an important and humane activity, which is best seen in everyday challenges and unexpected circumstances, where it is ordinary people who quickly and selflessly help others and make the community a better place to live. In most cases, volunteers are individuals who, independently or within a group, contribute to the well-being and improvement of the quality of life of individuals and the community, in the inclusion of people in social events and in the development of a more humane and equal society.

The problem faced by young people in today’s society is the presentation of volunteering as something “shameful” and a “waste of time”. It is of great importance that young people understand that a humane approach to others and their community makes them better people and that they do not succumb to negative and wrong marketing representations of humaneness as a weakness.

Meeting and working with numerous regional volunteers who have been making this world a better place for many years is of great importance to young people. To bring the essence of volunteering closer to young people who have not encountered it before, the information they receive about the benefits of volunteering must be from young people who are between 17 and 35 years old through organized workshops and education in a fun and detailed way that also presents key elements and factors in a way that their age group easily understands.

The result is young people who are informed about important legal acts (the Law on Volunteering in the RS and the Strategy for the Improvement and Development of Volunteering in the RS (2019-2023), what volunteering is, what it is not, what volunteer rights and protections are, what are the obligations of each volunteer (in accordance with the organizer’s instructions, data protection…) and whom the volunteers can help (work with children, older people, people with disabilities, animals…).

Volunteering contributes to peace and development by creating the potential for people and their communities. In addition, the benefit of volunteering is felt by the volunteer himself through personal development. Volunteers play an invaluable role in shaping the community’s values of solidarity, trust and individual belonging. Through educational workshops, young people will be introduced to platforms and volunteer programs that may not be known to the general public, and they can gain new life experiences from them.