Cambodia launches first Volunteerism Forum

By Sok Lak

Cambodia held first ever forum on volunteerism under the theme “Volunteerism and CMDGs, Missing link in development” on September 7-8 in Phnom Penh to courage young people to volunteer their services to contribute to national development to reduce poverty. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport with support from the United Nations Volunteers program (UNV) and a network of local and international volunteer agencies.

The forum coincided with the 10^th anniversary of the international year of volunteers (IYV + 10) this year and with the recent adoption of a new National Youth Policy, which incorporates volunteerism as one of the pillars to develop human resources for the country’s future growth. “The Royal Government of Cambodia sees volunteerism as one of the means for developing human capital and youths, who are the backbone of country’s development,” H.E. Im Sethy, Minister of Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport delivery his speech in the open ceremony.

“Nowadays, the education sector allows three million and five hundred thousand Cambodia people which equal to one fourth of the total population, to get access to education at all levels from kindergarten to university education in the form of formal and non-formal education and a number of students are receiving scholarships to study overseas,” he added.

He stressed that volunteerism is one form of practical learning which provide volunteers with a variety of useful experience such as building foundations for communication, networking, friendship, solidarity, and mutual understanding among people in the society.

According to one official statistics, youth between 15 to 30 years of age account for 30 percent o the total population (about four and a half million people). “If there are only fifty thousand of youths volunteering at various sector such as education, health, labor and humanitarian and so on, it will be a great contribution to the society and will benefit young volunteers themselves and it will be a driving force in strengthen volunteerism spirit as it benefits youths in building their capacities, but also their families and society as a whole,” minister remarked.

H.E. Penny Richards Australian Ambassador and UN Resident Coordination said that volunteerism strengthens solidarity, trust, and reciprocity in the society and it is powerful means of engaging people into development processes.

“Through volunteering young people can acquire and develop their skills and expand their experiences, but volunteerism is also a vehicle for young people to strengthen civic participation and engage themselves in finding solutions to development challenges,” She emphasized. Volunteering can be one way to meaningfully engage a new generation especially 700 young people enter the job market everyday in Cambodia.

The forum aimed to raise awareness about volunteerism in Cambodia, especially among the youth who hold enormous potential for the future development of the country. Youth are defined by the government as being aged between 15 and 30 years old and represent 33 present of the total population of 13.4 million in Cambodia. The Human Capital Study released recently by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) also placed youth development at the forefront to ensure adequate human resource and for sustained and resilient economic growth in the future.

In June 2011, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport adopted the National Youth Policy which makes youth’s volunteerism a pillar in the government’s long vision to build human capital as well as to provide young with the opportunity to develop their potential, take part in decision making and contribute to the development of families, communities, the nation and the world.