Empowering Youth Through Volunteering in Malaysia

The Evolution of Volunteerism in Malaysia

The spirit of community services among Malaysians first swept the country in the 19th century. Initially fuelled by religious and community revivals in the 1950s, the first generation of the service was drawn to charity in a very personal and religious manner (Hussain 1986). However, increasingly throughout the twentieth century, those who became wealthy withdrew from direct community involvement. Today’s service efforts are a reflection of this historical development and diversified growth of the Malaysian volunteer force in many ways. A trend pointing towards this continuous growth of volunteer demand is that many voluntary, public, and private human service agencies are recruiting volunteers to complement and enrich service delivery (Cnaan and GoldbergGlen 1991).

Mycorps: Motivating Youth to Volunteer

In Malaysia, one such effort is the creation of a new organization called Mycorps (Ministry of Youth and Sports 2010), a joint effort between the Ministry of Youth and Sport and relevant agencies such as Youth Council Malaysia (MBM), Malaysian Relief Agency, Yayasan Salam, Youth Council Mosques and other voluntary bodies within and outside the country. MyCorps aims to promote and enhance the spirit of volunteerism among youth through their involvement at local and international levels, as well as to create awareness in youth about issues related to domestic and international peace, war, conflict, cohesion, education, disaster, health and so on. It is a national institutionalized youth platform on which youth can engage and participate in community welfare and humanitarian activities. Encouraging youth to volunteer to serve the community and individual is widely viewed as beneficial to the society. Throughout history, volunteering is a contribution to the society in one form or another without monetary reimbursement. Although there is no financial return for volunteering, research has shown that volunteers do expect other considerations for the work that they do. Studies show that most youths participate actively in volunteering activities to satisfy their own needs while helping others in their community (Gage and Thapa 2012). Up to date, most of the studies on volunteering in Malaysia include examining the factors that influence people to volunteer (Turiman et al. 2011), the challenges in voluntary work (Kauthar et al. 2013), empowering youth volunteerism and motivating factors (Mardiyyah et al. 2013), altruism as motivational factors toward volunteerism among youth (Zaleha and Mohd Ramlan 2012) and psychosocial factors that influence the volunteers to offer their services to the community (Surjit et al. 2005). In the light of the growing interest among youths to engage in work-related volunteering activities and an increase in the kinds of the programs offered, studies on the understanding of youth participation are necessary. The current study focuses on youth participation and the reasons why they get involved in volunteering programs and activities in Malaysia.

Realizing young people’s right to participate voluntarily in community projects is vital to ensure the achievement of internationally agreed developmental goals, such as those by the International Conference on the Population Development (ICPD) and the Program of Action and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The youth must be empowered to contribute to informed decisions about their personal, family, social, economic, environmental and political development. Youth participation is a right protected by the Convention on the Rights Child (United Nations General Assembly 2011), which states that children have the right to participate in the decision-making processes related to their lives, including participation in volunteering activities.

There should be greater efforts to create a supportive environment for participation, engagement and volunteering for young people, including what can be achieved through youth-led organizations, to volunteer within their communities, to allow them to contribute to their own livelihoods, and improve their capability, and employability. The volunteers can thus be molded into active leaders and useful citizens. Studies show that young people engaged in volunteering also develop positive social behaviors that can help reduce negative risk-taking. Volunteering can also help young people prepare for employment and their transition to responsible adulthood.