Building Character Through Volunteerism

Nations have embraced youth volunteer programs to instill good citizenship and work habits

UNIPATH STAFF

In Egypt, university students have united to triple the nation’s blood donations with the goal of saving thousands of lives. In the United Arab Emirates, squads of young people deliver groceries to the poor and gather litter from the desert. In Jordan, entrepreneurs have created a website linking tens of thousands of volunteers across Arabic-speaking countries with more than 800 charitable and nonprofit organizations.

Once relegated largely to religious charities and more tribal in orientation, volunteerism is gaining new adherents in the Middle East as governments engage youthful populations eager to help their neighbors, contribute to society and acquire practical knowledge applicable to their careers.

Much of this humanitarian movement is happening at the national level: The United Arab Emirates’ Takatof Program for Social Volunteering, the Qatar Center for Voluntary Activities and Bahrain’s Good Word Society are prime examples. A United Nations’ effort called Arab Youth Volunteering for a Better Future is providing further impetus to support the culture of volunteerism in the Middle East with projects focused in Egypt, Jordan and Yemen. 

Evidence suggests that volunteer engagement promotes civic values and social cohesion and increases the feeling of being part of society,” the U.N. Volunteers program noted in a 2013 report. “These values are extremely relevant in strengthening the capacity of the most vulnerable, such as youth, to achieve secure livelihoods and to enhance their physical, economic, spiritual and social well-being.”

Future employers — including the military, police, government and private industry — may be more inclined to hire or give preferential consideration to a young person who has participated in volunteer work that hones attributes such as self-discipline and service above self.

Engaging youth

The decision to promote volunteerism, defined as an unpaid activity done without coercion for someone else’s benefit, has come at a crucial time. Most nations of the region feature disproportionately large numbers of youths seeking opportunities not always fulfilled on the job market.

But society has traditionally offered few outlets for rewarding unpaid work. For example, a 2009 survey of 15,029 Egyptians between the ages of 10 and 29 revealed that only 2 percent participated in volunteerism, the U.N. noted.

Two examples of Egyptian philanthropies that rely on youth volunteers are the Nebny Foundation and the Resala Foundation. Resala claims to have 200,000 volunteers in Egypt performing such unpaid tasks as literacy training and caring for orphans and the disabled. A largely university-based program called The Triple Effect is attempting to raise the percentage of Egyptians donating blood from 1 percent to 3 percent, alleviating a national shortage.

Such good works harness the energy of young people whose discontent was illustrated by the “Arab Spring” uprising of 2012.

“Egypt’s young people represent one third of the country’s population — investing in their capabilities and assets will be essential for development,” U.N. resident coordinator in Egypt Anita Nirody said in a September 2013 news release.

In the UAE, the Emirates Foundation for Youth Development is a nationwide initiative established in 2005 under the patronage of His Highness Gen. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and the deputy supreme commander of UAE Armed Forces. Its largest program, with 33,000 volunteers, is Takatof.

Takatof provides humanitarian assistance to the needy but also donates the time of its volunteers to ensure the smooth functioning of international events such as the UAE-hosted Abu Dhabi Grand Prix auto race and the FIFA U-17 World Cup UAE 2013 football matches. Other good will endeavors included a “desert cleanup” to remove litter and efforts to renovate mosques fallen into disrepair.

A November 2013 awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi honored young high achievers such as Takatof’s Taghreed Azzam, who contributed 900 hours to the program. In addition, volunteers get a government certificate at the end of their service.

“It was a feeling inside that motivated me to want to volunteer,” Taghreed told The National newspaper. “It is good to do something in society to help others.”

In a sign of how important such programs are in the UAE, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, minister of Foreign Affairs and chairman of the foundation, personally thanks every young volunteer who wins an award.

“This year the foundation has made enormous progress and was able to reach out to nearly 64,000 young people and engage thousands through its various programs, platforms and initiatives,” Sheikh Abdullah told The National.

International assistance

Although volunteers spend most of their time meeting national and domestic needs, their generosity extends to the needy living abroad.

Takatof’s project in late 2013 to renovate schools in Tanzania wasn’t alone. Bahrain’s Good Word Society bundled and shipped 32 tons of clothing and blankets to Syrian refugees in January 2014. Additional shipments of dates and rice were to follow. The Qatar Center for Voluntary Activities launched a similar campaign to aid war victims from Syria.

International organizations such as the U.N. have returned the favor by providing support for Middle Eastern volunteer efforts. For example, an international conference called Youth Volunteering and Dialogue was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in December 2013 with assistance from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). To promote good works and responsible citizenship, the conference sought ways for governments, nongovernmental organizations and private enterprise to support volunteerism in the region.

“Volunteering and dialogue go together — they reinforce each other, guided by the common goal to unite people around a common cause,” UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in Jeddah.

More concretely, the U.N.’s Arab Youth Volunteering for a Better Future is exploring ways, through pilot projects in Egypt, Jordan and Yemen, to foster a sense of community through volunteering. That process has been hindered in some of these places by lack of money, infrastructure and leadership in the charitable realm.

“A lack of provision of youth services such as youth centres and government-sponsored youth institutions, coupled with a lack of dependable and accountable civil society organizations creates a challenging environment for young volunteers to engage in voluntary activities to contribute to the development of the country,” the 2013 U.N. report said of the situation in Yemen.

Public-private partnership

The world of business is trying to alleviate some of those shortfalls by creating a culture of volunteerism.

In Jordan, Nakhweh, an Amman, Jordan-based company founded by entrepreneur Kamel Al Asmar, operates an online directory of 800 charities and nonprofit organizations throughout the Middle East and North Africa. More than 20,000 volunteers have posted their credentials on the site as well, seeking some of the thousands of volunteering opportunities available in the region.

“We want to spread what we call positive jealousy between youth in the Arab World so that they can get inspired from other stories, so that they see their fellow citizens doing some work and so they get jealous and start doing something as good,” Al Asmar told Wamda, a website devoted to entrepreneurship in Arabic-speaking countries.

An additional benefit of volunteerism is the emphasis it places on unpaid job training and career enhancement. Saudi Arabia’s Society of Majid Bin Abdulaziz for Development and Social Services sponsors charity work, including a literacy campaign across the kingdom. But equally important is the Majid Society’s sponsorship of business startups, including female-run companies.

By providing easy-to-access loans ranging from 5,000 to 60,000 Saudi riyals, the organization hopes to promote “transforming activities … geared towards sustainable development.”   

Egypt’s Mushwary offers, among other services, career assistance and small business training for 45,000 youths up to age 24. In the UAE, programs such as Kafa’at, Esref Sah and Kayani focus on job preparation, financial management skills and career development.

Conclusion

Emerging from societies that have traditionally placed a high value on age and experience, this newfound focus on youth development through volunteerism is being welcomed by the old and young.

One enthusiast is Ali Khoori, a young Emirati who has provided uncounted hours of disaster relief, including hours spent overseas in Pakistan, through the UAE’s Sanid, a volunteer emergency response program that relies on 6,000 mostly young volunteers.

“Sheikh Zayed used to explain to us, when you have resources, you don’t keep them to yourself. You help others. We’re all human and we all live on the same planet,” Khoori told The National in November 2013. “… By volunteering, you’re giving something without asking for payout and in the end you benefit your country, you benefit your community and you benefit yourself.”