Develop spirit of volunteerism - youth advised
The Executive Director of the Agricultural and Rural Development Association (ARA), Mr Kingsley Nii Addy, has challenged the youth to cultivate the habit of volunteerism which he says is a tool for accelerated national development.
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According to him, some of the challenges the nation is currently confronted with are as a result of the fact that the spirit of volunteerism among the youth is lost.
Volunteerism
Volunteerism is the practice of willingly devoting one’s time, talent and resources to support development.
At a symposium to mark the 20th anniversary of ARA in Accra last Friday, Nii Addy observed that in the past, the youth took up development initiatives in the communities voluntarily, without expecting any financial rewards, but that was not the situation now.
“The youth do not want to do any work for free these days. They want to be provided with some form of incentive before they work,” he stated.
He said currently the ARA had 60 volunteers, all foreigners, and described the situation as unfortunate.
“It is ill-fated to see our own people not volunteering to support the cause of development but leave it to foreigners to champion that cause,”Nii Addy said in disappointment.
Government’s role
The Deputy Director of Community Care at the Department of Social Welfare, Mr Peter Amos Tweneboah Kodua, stated that the youth needed to be sensitised to develop the spirit of volunteerism.
“The youth needs to be mobilised and camped for the habit of volunteerism to be inculcated in them, so that when they grow up they will not depart from it,” he said.
Mr Kodua entreated parents and teachers to teach children the virtues of self-help to motivate them to take up the spirit of volunteerism.
About ARA
The ARA is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that focuses on development in areas such as health, education and agriculture.
It has operated in Ghana for the past 20 years.