The participation of Maltese young people in the voluntary sector

Abstract

Voluntary work lies at the heart of our communities. Malta and the Maltese people have repeatedly shown that voluntary work is considered as a value and an essential element in developing our individual and societal conscious. As a nation we hold in high regard people who have committed themselves to 'a cause'. Effectively it's about giving of oneself without expecting monetary or other returns. Apart from that, one just cannot miss out the formal and less formal initiatives that happen in every one of our communities, our villages and our towns. We need to recall that welfare emerged from the need to negotiate and reinvigorate the social responsibility for collective needs. Voluntarism is one manifestation of benevolence, goodwill and compassion towards all those at the fringe of society. Social and community operators have developed myriad initiatives to meet the imperative of help for the casualties of the economic system. ls this what we are dealing with locally? Volunteering helps expand our moral currency. It is the road map that defines and develops this conscious. When it comes to young people, it's another path that leads towards full citizenship and societal engagement. What is exciting is that our country seems to be moving away from 'a charitable helpless model' to 'a forward looking helping model'. It was an effort that saw at the forefront the forthcoming principles of 'help' versus 'helplessness', 'solidarity' versus 'belittling' and 'participation' versus 'competition'. In more ways than one voluntarism started taking on and complementing the government's welfare responsibilities, minimizing social tensions and going against the grain of community deterioration. This study is another loop in attempting to decipher at what stage we are at, when it comes to the relationship between youth and civil engagement. This work will also lay out the strengths and weaknesses in this sector and the direction that our policy needs to take. Naturally this study is an indicator of the trends in this area. It can give us an idea of how things can work out and the road map we need to set out. It could well be the basis of a scientific nationwide study. A balance between creating 'a kitty mentality' and generating community is what is proposed in this study. The spine of a healthy community lies in the inclusion of all, volunteering is one way of guaranteeing this!