Commonwealth Secretariat
  1. Home
  2. What's New
  3. Who We Are
  4. What We Do
    1. Democracy
    2. Economics
    3. Education
    4. Gender
    5. Governance
    6. Health
    7. Human Rights
    8. Law
    9. Small States
    10. Sport
    11. Sustainability
    12. Youth
    13. Millennium Development Goals
    14. Funding
  5. News
    1. Events
    2. News Archive Search
    3. Picture Stories
  6. Media Room
    1. Press Archive Search
    2. Media Contacts
    3. CommonwealthTV
    4. Podcast: Pick of the Commonwealth
    5. Events
    6. In the Media
    7. Updates
    8. Downloads
  7. Resources
    1. Documents
    2. Image Library
    3. Libary & Archives
    4. Publications
  8. Publications
  9. Employment
  10. FAQs
    1. Acronyms
  11. Contact Us

Instilling Professionalism In Youth Volunteers

3 June 2004

Ms. Shirani Rajapakse Senior Programme Officer Commonwealth Youth Programme Asia
Ms. Shirani Rajapakse Senior Programme Officer Commonwealth Youth Programme Asia

Volunteer leaders from Commonwealth Asian countries will meet for a regional consultation in Singapore from 2 to 5 June 2004 to discuss the need for promoting and developing volunteerism among young people.

With the theme 'Youth and Volunteerism', the forum is being organised by the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) Asia Centre in collaboration with the National Youth Council Singapore. Participants will be from Commonwealth member countries in the Asia region -- Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

The consultation will be a platform for organisations and individuals to explore ways of promoting the spirit of volunteerism among young people. It will also focus on creating better visibility for youth volunteering by examining issues like recognition, facilitation, networking, participation, professionalism, transparency and accountability.

Commenting on the need to set professional standards among volunteers and voluntary organisations, Shirani Rajapakse, Senior Programme Officer of CYP Asia Centre, said: "Worldwide, the number of genuine volunteers is steadily decreasing. So it is necessary to gain a better insight into the motives, needs and ideas of today's young people to make youth volunteerism more attractive and satisfying."

Participants are expected to learn best practices in voluntary work through the sharing of experience and by re-examining their approaches, action plans and operational strategies. They will focus on the professional skills and competence required of volunteers.

This consultation follows the 'South-East Asia Regional Consultation on Youth and Volunteerism' meeting held as part of the International Year of Volunteers 2001 conference in June 2001 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For further information contact Shirani Rajapakse, Senior Programme Officer, CYP Asia Centre, Commonwealth Secretariat, Sector 12, Chandigarh 160 012, India. Tel: +91 172 274 5505/274 4482; Fax: +91 172 274 5426; E-mail: admin@cypasia.org.

CNIS - the Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 186 2 June 2004

Share this page
About this