Voluntary work key to youth growth

LACK of volunteerism spirit amongst youths could slow the meaningful participation of youths in governance and development matters of the country, says National Youth Coordinator Gerald Chiluba.

Mr Chiluba said volunteerism has the capacity and potential to mould youths into impressive and prominent individuals.

Mr Chiluba said leadership was about servanthood to people and was not an easy task because it required all the right tools and abilities, therefore in order for youths to prepare themselves for leadership, they needed to understand that in leadership there was no self-interest.

“We the MMD die-hard youth wing have observed the lack of a volunteerism spirit amongst the youth as an invisible hand which has great potential to slow the meaningful participation of youths in governance and development matters of our country. Because volunteerism has the capacity and potential to mould youths into impressive and prominent individuals,” said Mr Chiluba.

He said young people should be seen as legitimate role players in community discussions and participations so as not to rob the respective societies the inherent creativity, inspiration and vision for the future bestowed on them.

Mr Chiluba said, social integration was critical to building the resilience of young people because it empowers them to function as partners of policy makers and programne managers thereby making the contributions of youths meaningful to achieving development goals.

“As MMD youths, it’s our deep felt belief that through volunteerism, youths can develop the ability to stand up and speak with much greater authority, clarity and conviction about critical issues.