The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport – in collaboration with World Vision (Cambodia) and national and international organisations – jointly celebrated the International Day of Volunteers on December 14 under the theme “Solidarity through Volunteering". MOEYS
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport – in collaboration with World Vision (Cambodia) and national and international organisations – jointly celebrated the International Day of Volunteers on December 14 under the theme “Solidarity through Volunteering". Over the course of the past year, more than 500 volunteers participated in activities across the Kingdom.
International Volunteer Day, officially designated as December 5, is celebrated annually with the aim of raising awareness about the importance of volunteering and providing opportunities for volunteers and stakeholders to celebrate their efforts, share values and promote the work of volunteers in the community, NGOs, UN agencies, civil society, state institutions and the private sector.
This year, International Volunteer Day was jointly celebrated on December 14 at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) in Phnom Penh.
According to World Vision Cambodia, over the course of 2022 a group of 503 young volunteers participated in 84 volunteer projects across the capital and 24 provinces, and those projects were divided into areas such as health, tourism, industry, services, entrepreneurship, agriculture, education and the environment.
“These 84 projects have cost a total of $5,951 as of September 21, 2022. Volunteer Programmes for My Community have a vision and mission in promoting the recognition and participation of youth volunteers at all levels of the youth, communities, institutions, educational institutions, and in all frameworks across the country,” it said.
After the government implemented the National Policy on the Development of Cambodian Youth in 2011, the education ministry began to celebrate International Day of Volunteers in line with the 10th strategy of the National Policy.
The ministry said 2022 is the 37th anniversary of the celebration of the International Day of Volunteers with the theme “Solidarity through Volunteering”, noting that Cambodia established the “Volunteers for My Community” programme in 2019, which is considered to be one of the largest national programmes on volunteering and community practice.
“In 2019, the Department of Central Management, in collaboration with the UN Volunteers, launched the Volunteers for My Community programme to create opportunities for local youth to explore and initiate new ideas and participate in building and developing the communities in which they live, as well as building personal capacity for future work in line with the vision and key policies of the ministry and the government,” according to the ministry.
Yeang Sithsamprathna, senior technical expert on youth, adolescence, gender and participation at World Vision Cambodia, said that in order to celebrate International Volunteer Day, the education ministry organised a competition to award three outstanding projects out of 86 teams working on eight major topics.
“The eight major topics are education, health, administrative services, tourism, agriculture, environment, entrepreneurship and the context of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 of 430 young volunteers who have implemented the project from six months ago in the community where they live,” he said.
