As part of International Volunteer Day, TECHO determine the impact that volunteering has on young people. To answer this question, we asked more than 800 young people from 18 countries about their experiences. Here are the results:
Change begins with the very first steps. Six out of every 10 people surveyed said that before they began volunteering, they were unfamiliar with or had never visited a low-income community. “This highlights the role that civil society organizations play in enabling people to gain a deeper understanding of their country’s reality and experience it firsthand, through commitment and action,” says Laura Sánchez, director of Teams at TECHO . Along these lines, 8 out of 10 began volunteering to participate in a social project, and a nearly equal number (76%) did so to reflect on the political and social reality of the country where they live.
With an average of 13 hours per week devoted to volunteer activities, the respondents stated that the most important aspect of this work is the ongoing, collaborative effort with communities living in poverty.
The survey reveals that during the volunteer experience, 76% of participants gained new knowledge, and 1 in 2 put knowledge they already had into practice. Regarding the experience’s impact on important personal decisions, 1 in 2 people say the experience even led them to change their career path. “The volunteer journey raises questions that challenge even the most substantial personal decisions, such as how to shape future steps into a path that helps build a more just society. That is the interesting effect of this journey: how this experience complements formal education and how it influences future decisions,” says Sánchez.
THIS CHALLENGES THE NOTION THAT VOLUNTEERING IS ONLY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE FREE TIME
To understand the challenges that survey respondents see as obstacles to development in Latin America, TECHO some of the questions asked in the Latinobarómetro survey. It found that for 9 out of 10 respondents, the main challenge lies in social policies, social inclusion, and poverty; for 71%, it is equal opportunities for the entire population; and for 7 out of 10, it is infrastructure related to transportation, energy, water, and sanitation. And although Latin America is the most distrustful region in the world (according to Latinobarómetro), TECHO report found TECHO of respondents said they trust organizations, foundations, and NGOs the most, 89% trust universities, and 76% trust social movements.
“Volunteering, far from being simply a way to spend your free time, is a commitment to your country; it’s about turning your civic participation into a tool to contribute to and shape reality,” says Sánchez. “It’s an enriching complement to other forms of participation, such as voting, because it involves you in the most intimate aspects of daily life as you grapple with key issues and solutions. Today, in a Latin America marked by such inequality and mistrust, we need to reconnect as a people through our core sense of citizenship and commit ourselves to taking action while living together in diversity—and that is the invitation offered by the practice of volunteering,” concludes Sánchez.
Profile of the Respondents
The survey was conducted among a sample of 851 people who volunteer or have volunteered with TECHO in 18 Latin American countries, with an equal distribution of men and women. Seventy-seven percent are between the ages of 18 and 26. Thirty-seven percent of the respondents are students, and another 37% are both students and workers, “which challenges the idea that volunteering is only for those who have free time,” notes Sánchez. The volunteer program is designed to allow participants to actively engage in various activities for at least two years. Ninety-nine percent say they would repeat the volunteer experience at another point in their lives.