Good turns – from old-school to TikTok

‘Are you Team Coffee or Team Maté?’ young­Ca­ri­tas asks on its Insta­gram chan­nel. Anyone looking to inte­rest the next gene­ra­tion in their volun­t­ary work projects needs to hang out on the right chan­nels. ‘It’s vital to us to have a good social media presence,’ explains Nora Engler, project mana­ger at young­Ca­ri­tas. In NGOs, old-school ideas on commu­ni­ca­tion come up against a gene­ra­tion that commu­ni­ca­tes in 15-second TikTok videos. Whether you see that as super­fi­cial or super-effi­ci­ent, if you want to commu­ni­cate with young people, you need to engage with their chan­nels. It can feel chal­len­ging when exis­ting struc­tures and recipes for success are called into ques­tion. But it can open up new oppor­tu­ni­ties. Scou­ting is a move­ment with a long tradi­tion. Last year alone, 30,000 scouts atten­ded the Swiss Natio­nal Jambo­ree. This was made possi­ble by the work of 500 volun­t­ary orga­nisers and 5,000 Rovers. The Scou­ting Move­ment was estab­lished in 1907, and its slogan was ‘Do a good turn daily’. The fact that the orga­ni­sa­tion still appeals to the next gene­ra­tion over 100 years later is largely due to one key advan­tage: scouts are invol­ved at an early age and given the oppor­tu­nity to take on respon­si­bi­li­ties. There is a smooth tran­si­tion from atten­ding the Jambo­ree to beco­ming a leader. But there is still poten­tial to be mined where the youn­ger gene­ra­tion is concer­ned. Accor­ding to the Swiss Volun­tee­ring Survey 2020, 33 per cent of 15–29-year-olds volun­teer with an orga­ni­sa­tion, ten per cent of them in an offi­cial capa­city. Both of these figu­res are lower than for any other age group. The highest figure when it comes to offi­cial volun­t­ary roles is among 45–59-year-olds, where it is 20 per cent. In terms of gene­ral volun­tee­ring, the peak figure of 45 per cent can be found in the 60–74-year-old age group. 

Digi­tal volun­tee­ring platform

It is worth noting, howe­ver, that the youn­ger gene­ra­tion also has a tendency to look for oppor­tu­ni­ties to get invol­ved outside exis­ting struc­tures. And they are prepared to invest a lot of time. Cyrill Hermann chose to repeat a year of school so that he could get invol­ved in climate protests. ‘There’s a huge amount of work and we’re doing it volun­t­a­rily and for free,’ he explains. The oppor­tu­ni­ties to get invol­ved with an estab­lished NGO did not appeal to him – unlike the Climate Strike move­ment, which he got to know by taking part in demons­tra­ti­ons. The movement’s acces­si­bi­lity and social media commu­ni­ca­tion won him over: all he had to do was turn up at the next meeting and get invol­ved. Sabrina Trachs­ler and Chris­tian Sche­fer from the orga­ni­sa­tion Helfer­herz are looking to create the same acces­si­bi­lity with the plat­form Karma Lama. The online plat­form aims to deve­lop and enhance oppor­tu­ni­ties for volun­tee­ring and make those oppor­tu­ni­ties more visi­ble. They have been running a pilot in the Zurich region since the begin­ning of Septem­ber. It is not their aim to present a finis­hed product: they are keen on a more parti­ci­pa­tory approach. ‘We’ve been boun­cing the idea around with volun­teers, experts and NPOs for the past three years and we’ve evol­ved our concept in work­shops,’ explains Chris­tian Sche­fer. Sabrina Trachs­ler adds, ‘Gathe­ring feed­back is vital. It allows us to adapt the plat­form to actual needs.’ They used crowd­fun­ding to finance the initial version for a pilot in Zurich. But further funds will be needed to realise the plat­form on a wider scale.

Flexi­ble taster opportunities

If the match is to work, howe­ver, orga­ni­sa­ti­ons also need to make sure that the volun­tee­ring oppor­tu­ni­ties they are offe­ring tie in with the needs and expec­ta­ti­ons of the youn­ger gene­ra­tion. ‘Young people don’t neces­s­a­rily want to sign up straight away to helping out every Wednes­day after­noon for the next three months,’ comm­ents Sabrina Trachs­ler. ‘They want to try things out first and get a taste for the work. They want to be more spon­ta­neous in their commit­ment.’ As a result, the two colle­agues are working with NPOs to deve­lop oppor­tu­ni­ties for the plat­form that are more suited to the target group. The charity Cari­tas speci­fi­cally crea­ted young­Ca­ri­tas to ensure success in this area. Its broad range of projects offers diffe­rent levels of parti­ci­pa­tion. Young people can choose how invol­ved they want to be. ‘Volun­tee­ring with young­Ca­ri­tas fits in with youn­ger people’s sche­du­les, and ever­yone can choose their own level of invol­vement’, explains Nora Engler, project mana­ger at young­Ca­ri­tas. At the same time, the charity offers deve­lo­p­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties, work­shops and a series of infor­ma­tive events. Young people can learn new skills and gain important expe­ri­ence. young­Ca­ri­tas values the importance of commu­nity buil­ding and networking. 

Expe­ri­ence

Of course, volun­t­ary work is not without its rewards. Take Thibault Béguin, Scout leader in the Duran­dal section, Val-de-Ruz. His scout shirt testi­fies to the memo­ries scou­ting has given him. A range of diffe­rent badges recall Jambo­rees and events, and signa­tures hold memo­ries of the people he has met, telling the stories of lasting experiences.